Designing Your Retirement: The New Reality
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A new grandchild arrives. Your son moves across the country for his new job. The family home requires more maintenance than your travel-intensive lifestyle allows. A health challenge arises.
Whatever the reason, expenses that significantly affect your long-term finances should trigger a meeting with your financial adviser.
What to expect from a financial checkup
At Wells Fargo Advisors, we can help you explore ways to support your new plans and model how certain changes could affect your future income. And even if starting a new business, for example, was part of your retirement plans all along, you’ll want to work with your financial adviser to make sure the assumptions you made are in line with the financial reality.
Of course, special circumstances aren’t the only reason to review your retirement finances. The regular checkups with your financial adviser that were part of your working years should continue during retirement — and may even be more important.
“You can verify that everything is going according to plan and adjust if it isn’t,” said Donna Peterson, senior vice president in Retail Retirement at Wells Fargo. “Your financial adviser can also remind you about upcoming deadlines. Is it time to start drawing Social Security, taking required minimum distributions or getting legacy plans in order?”
You also will want to catch and manage any divergences from your retirement strategy that you might not otherwise have noticed, particularly in expenses and investments.
“Some retirees find that their spending increases in the early years of retirement instead of decreasing as they try new activities,” Peterson said.
Conversely, you may discover you have budgeted more than you are actually spending, which means you’re holding more cash than you intended. At a checkup, your financial adviser can review your discretionary income allotment and portfolio allocations with you. You may decide to reduce the amount you’re drawing from your portfolio, or take advantage of the opportunity to boost your retirement lifestyle.
Your financial adviser will also ask about any life events that may affect your finances. That new granddaughter may prompt not only changes to your estate plans but also an increase in your travel budget if her parents reside elsewhere — or you may choose to purchase a home near the newly expanded family.
All these decisions should be made in the context of your larger retirement goals, but they may also involve practicalities that your financial adviser can help you think through.
“Relocation is not just about finding a new home and moving,” Peterson said. “It also means finding everything from a new social structure to new doctors.”
How often is ‘regularly’?
Some retirees plan a checkup each November before they take required minimum distributions from their IRAs and 401(k)s. Others choose an annual meeting during the first quarter of the year, before tax deadlines. Many retirees use their birth date as a reminder to check in with their financial adviser. No matter when you choose to hold a regular meeting, you can always conduct an additional checkup whenever a change occurs in your life.
Regardless which approach you choose, talking with your financial adviser regularly can keep you confident about your financial reality — whatever surprises retirement has in store.
Wells Fargo Advisors is not a legal or tax advisor. This article was written by Wells Fargo Advisors and provided courtesy of Jonathan Buoni in Northampton, MA at 413-585-1432. Investments in securities and insurance products are: NOT FDIC-INSURED/NOT BANK-GUARANTEED/MAY LOSE VALUE Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, Member SIPC, is a registered broker-dealer and a separate non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. ©2013 Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC. All rights reserved.
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