Helping you address your retirement planning priorities
Managing Your Retirement
Volumes have been written and spoken about retirement planning. While working, the focus is on the accumulating enough to retire. This includes calculating (how much is enough?), with such tools is as our Standard of Living Analysis. But what is essential is the management process that defines the 20-40 years of retirement. Once a person is retired and there is no paycheck your, “wealth business” becomes paramount in maintaining your standard of living over time. Ongoing monitoring, evaluation and management is a process for maintaining your required returns and cash flows to meet expenses based on inflation over a period of years.
During retirement it is not unusual to experience multiple Investment Seasons. Since different asset classes can have above or below average returns depending upon the investment season we conclude that it may be necessary to evaluate and adjust your Asset Allocation based on the environment you are in or will be evolving to. Proper management and knowledge of a forward looking management process can assist you from being imperiled by emotional responses to the volatility of the economic and market cycles.
Three different investment seasons have been part of the last 40 plus years. We have had a period of double digit inflation and high interest rates and more recently a cycle where interest rates on low risk assets are near zero. Changes in tax rates and rules, changes in the way the official rate of inflation is calculated (See What Rate of Return?), changes in stock market cycles, create a changing landscape for retirement management. Retirement may be a goal but management during retirement is a process. The process can be challenging and complex depending on the changes taking place and the pace and magnitude of those changes.
The one thing that seems to be consistent over that last several decades is that the cost of most everything we use keeps going up. (Consider how much you paid for your first car?) We cannot know what the future will bring for healthcare, we can only observe that the system is broken and so far no fix is on the horizon. When you consider that older people use more healthcare than any sector of society, we can only surmise it is going to cost more as the population grows older.
When assets and wealth have been accumulated the issues facing one becomes more complex not less. In addition to portfolio design and management, issues to consider; just to list a few:
- Long term care needs
- Tax efficient distributions from retirement accounts - required minimum distributions
- Periodic review of wills, trusts, named beneficiaries of various accounts
- Estate planning and transfers for different types of assets
- Tax efficient distributions from annuities
- Review of existing life insurance policies
- Review of healthcare polices
- Debt reduction (if applicable)
- Consolidation of accounts
- Social security issues and planning
- Business succession/sale
- Stock options
- Special needs issues
Client Profile
Our client tends to be older with investment assets and wealth management issues that evolve around retirement planning and investment management through 20-40 years of retirement. The focus is making their assets last the rest of their lives and many times beyond. Multiple generational planning and/or philanthropic arrangements are logical conversations once capital is accumulated and well-maintained. The focus of our younger clients who have not yet reached this station in life is often more on the wealth accumulation process and tax planning issues. Having a background transcending several decades and multiple generations serves us well to address your issues and wealth management needs for years and decades into the future.
Understanding that no one can know everything we make it a point to partner with other professional organizations for their expertise in law, taxes, insurance and philanthropy. We are also pleased to have a relationship with Raymond James which gives us access to their High Net Worth Team and the Raymond James Trust Company. While we are under no obligation to use their services we find it refreshing they share our passion for an open platform as they seek out the additional professionals they bring to the relationship.
Our resolve is to be small enough to provide a truly personal client relationship yet through our network of professionals have access to the capabilities that are required to meet the complex challenges that personal wealth management can present; and do so by being your source of education and knowledge that goes beyond conventional wisdom.
Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected, including diversification and asset allocation.
