BEND, OR / ACCESSWIRE / February 3, 2021 / Retirement is one of the top 10 most stressful moments in someone's life. Why? It is likely because of all the unknowns and changes.
When fear is at the forefront of our minds, we tend to want to avoid the topic altogether. This is why the advisors at Elevation Capital Strategies, continue to see retirement plans that are either incomplete or non-existent. The key problem? A lack of understanding of what questions to ask and how to put together a complete retirement plan.
This is why Cathy Mendell and her team at Elevation Capital Strategies put together a simple process that helps solve complicated issues. They call it the Elevate Your Retirement Process.
There are three steps to the process:
- Step 1: Identify Your Expectations
- Step 2: Create Your Blueprint
- Step 3: Polish Your Plan
Those who follow these steps, and address the topics within, are positioned to come out on the other end with an elevated sense of retirement preparedness and clarity. Now, let's break those steps down.
Step 1: Identify Your Expectations
Your retirement experience is as authentic as you. You have your own wants and needs. What keeps you up at night may be different than someone else. All of these factors play a significant role in planning your retirement.
Unfortunately, many financial professionals today recommend cookie-cutter plans that can feel like a square peg being forced down a round hole. If you take away one lesson from this article, please remember that your retirement plan must be custom and unique to you.
Spending time with your advisor is critical. Set the expectations upfront. Determine if they are a fit or not. Ensure they can offer you an array of investments, not just the ones that the house is pushing.
Step 2: Create Your Blueprint
The number one question in retirement is: "will my retirement funds cover my income need?". If your income is planned, everything else seems to fall into place. That is why deciding how much income you need is the starting point when creating your retirement plan. Once this is established, you can then apply strategies to minimize taxes or maximize legacy for any excess assets that are leftover. This is a blueprint, not a final plan.
When building your retirement blueprint, consider the following to guide you in your journey to elevate your retirement:
Elevated Planning - When your retirement plan brings together and optimizes all income streams to increase your income while lowering your taxes. Often someone will delay retirement because they don't know how to bridge the income gap between now and when they want to file for Social Security. Don't let these unknowns cause you to delay.
Elevated Income - Understanding when and how to pull income from your assets. First, maximize your Social Security, pension, and other income streams. Second, diversify your assets so you can always pull income from accounts that have not lost money. When you draw income from accounts that are down, you are accentuating the damages to your portfolio. Give yourself the ability to draw elsewhere while accounts recover.
Elevated Diversification - Diversify by risk, tax burden, asset class, and purpose. For most pre-retirees, all they know is how to diversify by risk to grow their assets. When you retire, the diversification strategies must change.
Now, you have a basic understanding of how to elevate your retirement blueprint! Make sure to focus on the "Big Three" in retirement; income optimization, tax minimization, and risk management. These three areas sum up most areas in retirement. If you are comfortable with your blueprint in all three of the areas, chances are, you are on the right path.
Step 3: Polish Your Plan
Now that you have a blueprint that sets you up to enjoy retirement, you want to begin polishing. Polishing your plan is never-ending, and that's OK!
As you launch your plan, adjustments will need to be made. It could be a slight adjustment on your retirement date because work asks you to transition out later than expected. Maybe you decide you want to work another year, or perhaps you need to retire earlier than expected. Having a plan doesn't mean you are stuck for life. It means you have a plan, and that plan can be adjusted to fit the unique events that will unfold in your life.
Once all the adjustments are made, including any investment adjustments, you are ready to advance into your retirement.
Conclusion
From this point forward, each year, all you need to do is polish your plan once a year based on how the markets are doing and if there have been any tax law changes.
With the level of clarity you can get by elevating your retirement, your fears and anxieties tend to disappear.
Remember the steps, identify your expectations, create your blueprint, and polish your plan. When implemented correctly, often, it can lead to retiring earlier than expected and with more income.
Media Contact:
Company Name: Elevation Capital Strategies
Contact Person: Cathy Mendell
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 541-728-0321
Location: Bend, Oregon US
Website: www.elevationcapitalstrategies.com
SOURCE: Clear Retirement News