WHAT IS Retirement PLANNING?

It is never too early to start making a financial plan for your retirement. With costs of living on the rise, it is a good idea to be as prepared as possible for your retirement years—and maximizing your comfort goes beyond simply saving money. You will need to employ financial strategies such as investing and setting asset targets during your working years.

Working with our Bethesda, MD-based retirement planning firm, you can receive comprehensive retirement services, such as:

budgeting and cash flow planning. risk management. retirement account and pension planning. investment management. insurance analysis.
tax optimization. estate planning. employee benefit analysis. social security and medicare analysis. health care cost analysis.

Being able to retire comfortably requires more than just hitting a “magic number” in your retirement savings or choosing the right index fund for your Roth IRA. It requires a sophisticated plan that incorporates your goals and dreams for retirement, income sources and expenses, Social Security and Medicare, health and long-term care needs, tax optimization, and a thorough understanding of how and when to start withdrawing from your retirement investments without depleting your savings.

Whatever your financial goals may be, a comprehensive retirement plan can go a long way toward helping you achieve them. As a fiduciary, fee-only financial advisor, we familiarize ourselves with your situation and your unique needs for retirement so that we can tailor a retirement plan to fit you.

 The Retirement Planning Process 

Having a retirement plan starts with the understanding that your financial well-being is critical in retirement. Social Security benefits play an important role in your retirement finances, but they are not going to provide enough to support you at retirement age. That is why financial advisors emphasize investing and saving as early as possible.

However, if you are a late starter to saving, that does not mean you cannot retire comfortably. A financial advisor experienced in retirement planning will assess your situation and recommend steps to get on track for a retirement you feel confident about.

When you work with us, we help you understand your current financial situation and design a plan to get you set up for retirement—whether that be decades away or next year. While each advisor’s approach is a little different, our process includes:

consultation, fact finding, financial planning, investment planning, asset protection, and ongoing reviews

What Areas Does Retirement Planning Address? 

Your retirement plan should be comprehensive and ongoing. Some of the areas in which we commonly make recommendations include:

Budgeting/cash flow planning:

We help you balance your spending and saving so that you can enjoy life now while also putting money away for the future.

Investment management:

Your investment strategy is tailored to your personal and financial goals. We make recommendations based on factors such as your age, risk tolerance, and return needs. Your strategy is not static and will change as your life changes. For example, as people enter retirement, they often move into less risky investments, such as bonds. We provide fiduciary advice to help you decide what is right for you.

Retirement account/pension planning:

From determining how much to withdraw from your retirement accounts to determining your pension survivorship options, we work with you to create a retirement plan that helps you enjoy a sustainable, comfortable lifestyle.

Social Security and Medicare analysis:

The age you begin taking Social Security can have a significant lifetime impact on your finances. We help optimize your Social Security benefits, as well as help you determine the Medicare selections based on your financial needs.

Health care cost analysis:

An illness, especially a long one, can hurt your retirement plan’s viability. Yet long-term care insurance can be costly. We help you determine how to financially protect against future medical costs.

Estate planning:

A comprehensive financial plan involves documenting how you want your assets distributed after you pass. It also involves setting up documents such as advance directives and powers of attorney to help make sure you are taken care of should you become incapacitated. We coordinate with your attorney on documentation and review your estate plans with you regularly to determine if updates are needed.

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