If you’re in the early stages or retirement, or about to retire, you may think you’ve got everything sorted. You’ve saved and invested and you’ve done some research so what value could a retirement advisor possibly have for you?
There are 3 big benefits that my clients get from working with me as their retirement advisor and these are often things that have been overlooked.
1. If you are currently preparing for retirement, or in the early stage of retirement, a retirement advisor can create the big picture game plan for how you’re going to get from your current circumstances to the end of retirement without running out of money. Of course it’s hard to plan for retirement when you don’t know how long you need your money to last but working with an experienced retirement advisor will help you determine what steps to take to ensure that you don’t wind up running out of money part-way through retirement.
2. I help my clients optimize their choices and their retirement outcomes in 2 major areas. The first area is how and when to file for your Social Security retirement benefit to get the maximum amount of retirement income possible. Many people don’t realize the relatively small changes they can make that will have a substantial impact on how much money they can withdraw from Social Security.
The other area I work to optimize is how to take the assets that you’ve accumulated and create a predictable and sustainable retirement income that will last throughout your entire retirement. Your retirement income may serve you now but unless you’ve considered things like volatility, risk, sudden health expenses, and lifestyle changes, you may find yourself with a lower income than you really need to stay retired.
3. One of the most overlooked areas that I help my clients with is guarding against the unnecessary risks in 2 different areas. The first area focuses on minimizing volatility & loss that you may experience in your investments. You can’t control the markets, but you can take steps to reduce the risk of market volatility having a detrimental effect on your retirement.
I also help my clients obtain the insurance they should have to reduce or eliminate catastrophic financial loss during retirement. For many retirees, all it takes is one large financial event to throw their entire strategy off course so it is vital to protect yourself from these events as much as you possibly can.
The benefits of working with a retirement advisor are clear, so what stands in the way of so many people finding the best advisor for them?
The things that you need to be on the lookout for when it comes to finding an advisor you can trust can be broken down into the 4 Cs.
Chemistry
Finances are a personal topic so it is important that you get along with and have a pleasant working relationship with your retirement advisor. If you don’t, you may find yourself avoiding important meetings to discuss your finances.
Competence
If you’re going to be trusting the advice of a retirement advisor, it is important that you know that they are competent and the advice they are giving you is sound. This can be difficult to know before you start working with someone which is why the first step of my process, Test Today, is designed so that you can see if I’m the best fit for you or not without committing to working together in the future.
Character
A good retirement advisor puts your interests ahead of their own. That may mean advising the best course of action for you even if it isn’t the most profitable for them, or it may mean that they tell you they aren’t the best person to work with you because someone else would be better suited to help them in their unique situation.
Compensation model
I’ve previously written about how financial advisors differ and why it is important to understand which compensation model an advisor is using. It’s important that you’re comfortable with an advisor’s compensation model and that you know whether they have a fiduciary responsibility or not.
The Test Today process allows for mutual evaluation so that we ensure we’re the best fit for one another. It’s called Test Today because I review your current strategy, investments, sources of income, and your goals to determine if I can improve and optimize the outcome so it’s a test run opportunity for both of us. For the client, this is an opportunity to gauge the chemistry, competence, and character of the advisor before making a commitment to move forward. This process takes place in a no risk/obligation environment that shows you where the advisor can add value and how they’re compensated.
If you’d like to get started in a no obligation, no risk environment, click here to request your Test Today consultation.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.