Retirement – The Easy Years Are Over
Wait…That doesn’t sound right! Retirement years are supposed to be “the easy years,” right?
There is a saying (paraphrased) that states that what messes up most in life is the picture in our head of how things are supposed to be. Retirement is a prime example of this. We assume that if we work hard, save all we can, and be prudent with our budget that retirement will come easy and stay that way. The hard truth is that this simply isn’t true.
Take Bill and Sally. They lived the perfect American dream. They bought a home, raised their kids, didn’t overspend, and saved all they could. They both worked great jobs and loaded up their retirement plans and aimed to retire at 65. Everything was “supposed” to be just peachy!
Then reality hit. They were facing a retirement in which they would pay just as much if not more income tax on their retirement income than they did on their earned income during their working years. Healthcare costs and tax rates, which were out of their control, controlled the risk in their retirement plan. They soon discovered the projects and goals they had planned for in retirement would cost them 30% more simply due to taxes. Of course, they were also concerned about the cost of living continuing to rise as it had the previous few years. How would they afford a retirement if it is 20% more expensive in five years? And last but not least, they discovered they had ignored one big “what-if” that could really rock the boat—an early death, or worse, a long-term healthcare event.
They had done everything right, except for one thing. They didn’t plan for the complexity of their finances during retirement.
The accumulation years are the easy years…if any years are really easy years. And frankly, that is when you need to start thinking and become proactive about your retirement years.
- Do you know your budget? Are you even keeping one?
- Are your assets protected—both for now and in the future?
- Are you ready at anytime for the what-if of any early death or long-term healthcare event?
- How tax-diversified are you? Do you have a plan for taxes going up?
- How will your dollars support you in retirement—do you have an investment plan that works hand in hand with your tax plan?
- Are you planning for the cost of living going up?
- Are you planning for healthcare costs to climb?
- What about the unknowns? How do you know you are addressing all of the risks you need to address?
Most people retire one time! How much of your retirement are you willing to bet that everything will work out just right?
Most people haven’t even thought about all those specifics – you don’t know what you don’t know – or how to address them. Otherwise, they would make planning for these golden years a bigger priority.
So now you cannot help but think about it. Don’t let your retirement be the “hard years” and do some planning now! We’re here to help.