Success Story

Planning to Retire

The Background

Jen & Chris – 64 & 65 years old  

Jen and Chris had a lot of things going for them. After years of consistent employment and dedicated hard work, they had substantial 401(k) balances, dependable employment income, and no debt. But things were starting to pile up. They had questions about Social Security, particularly around when they should start taking income to get the most out of the program. They were also wondering about making a plan for supplemental income in retirement, seeing as the idea of living on fixed income was troublesome in periods of high inflation. With retirement in sight, they also wanted fresh advice on how to manage their investments to better match their age and time horizon. Jen and Chris were also supporting their adult children, which was threatening to delay their plans for retirement. With each of them also having Rollover IRA’s from prior employers plus non retirement investment accounts, they needed a strategy to bring it all together.  

Goals

  • Create an exit strategy from work they could depend on  
  • Get organized  
  • Make a plan for Social Security and Healthcare  
  • Reduce expenses  

How We Helped

  • Create a timeline for when to start Social Security that would maximize their income by running a Social Security analysis on them both 
  • Manage dependable sources of supplemental income in retirement via strategic income annuities 
  • Take a fresh look at their investments to make sure they matched their current comfort level with risk in the market, then make appropriate changes with confidence  
  • Understand what income would look like in retirement by running detailed retirement projections showing after tax income 
  • Review their life insurance to maximize coverage and minimize premiums 
  • Consolidate their accounts to make record-keeping less burdensome 
  • Obtain a document showing all accounts, beneficiaries, and future income projections 
  • Start thinking about their Estate Plan and how they want assets to be transferred to heirs  
  • Reduce overspending by taking a look at all current expenses with special attention to the costs of supporting their adult children  
  • Communicate their plan to their children so everyone is on the same page  

This success story is for illustration purposes only and is not an actual client.