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Joe Lucey

Create a Financial Strategy Now for Your Retirement

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While adjusting to a fixed income during retirement can be stressful, you can help alleviate the stress by knowing your numbers. Many of us live with a “general idea” of our monthly income and expenses. However, a fixed income means you need a firm grasp on what’s coming in and what’s going out every month.

To find out how much you’re spending every month, start with your fixed expenses. How much is your mortgage or rent? How much do you spend on insurance? Taxes? Utilities? Medical expenses? These are the hard-and-fast expenses that you’ll need to cover every month.

Next, track how much you spend on non-fixed expenses — things like eating out, clothing and gifts. Add this amount to your fixed expenses, and you’ll have a good idea of how much you spend every month.

Finally, get a solid picture of the income you should expect every month, and from what sources. This income could include Social Security benefits, savings, investments, annuities and pensions. Not sure what income you should expect? We can help you create a financial strategy using insurance and investment products that can help you work toward your long-term retirement income needs. Our goal is to help you live a retirement that is stress-free. Contact us today

The content provided here is designed to provide general information on the subjects covered. It is not, however, intended to provide specific legal or tax advice. Contact us at info@securedretirements.com or call us at (952) 460­-3260 to schedule a time to discuss your financial situation and the potential role of investments in your financial strategy.

Stress in Retirement? It’s More Common Than You Think.

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Many of us have an image of how retirement is supposed to be: You’re free! No boss to answer to, no schedule to keep, no demands upon you. In short, retirement equals no stress, right? But the reality is that some retirees report they still have stress after they leave their jobs.

So what gives? Why are retirees feeling stress in a time when they should be feeling footloose and fancy-free? Here are four stressors you may want to be aware of as you approach retirement:

  1. Financial concerns. According to a survey conducted by TransAmerica, outliving savings and investments is the No. 1 retirement concern of most Americans. The idea of living on a fixed income can create a sense of stress for many people, especially those who feel they haven’t saved enough during their working years.
  2. Health concerns. Health insurance provider Aetna reports that more than 70 million Americans ages 50 and older have been diagnosed with at least one chronic condition. These conditions may require expensive prescriptions or frequent visits to a health care provider.
  3. Changes in identity. Leaving a job is a major life change, even if you’re looking forward to retirement. For many of us, our jobs are a big part of our identity. Some people make an easy transition into retirement, but others might experience anxiety, depression and a feeling of loss.
  4. Caring for aging parents and spouses. Retirees may have to assume the role of caregiver for parents and/or spouses. While caring for a loved one can reap great rewards, it can also create continuing stress for the caregiver, especially if it spans several years or the caregiver is not receiving help or guidance from friends, relatives or medical professionals.

Tips to Help Avoid Retirement Stress

While it is not inevitable that you’ll experience stress during retirement, here are three tips to help ward off retirement stress before it happens:

Have a game plan. Many people head off into retirement with little thought of how they’ll fill their days. It’s important to take stock before you retire, to create a game plan. What does retirement look like to you? Is it volunteering? Time with family? Travel? It’s a great idea to go into retirement with a plan for what you might like to try or accomplish during this time.

Take care of your health. Obviously, not all health conditions are avoidable. However, taking a proactive approach to your health and lifestyle choices can help provide you with a healthier outlook throughout your retirement years. You don’t have to make major changes all at once: Start with physical activity and eating healthier.

Build your relationships. Many people find it harder to maintain social connections during retirement, especially if they worked in an environment where they naturally connected with a wide variety of people. You may need to reach out to new social groups or become involved with new organizations.

Don’t “Do-It-Yourself” for Your Financial Strategy

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We live in a do-it-yourself culture. From home remodeling to teaching yourself how to play an instrument, the internet gives us the resources to learn and do just about anything on our own.

That includes creating a financial strategy. The vast array of resources available out there make putting together a financial strategy sound simple. But the benefits of working with a financial advisor to create a cohesive, personalized strategy can outweigh the pros of going it on your own. Here are just a few reasons you should work with a financial advisor to put together your strategy:

  1. Time. You may have the ability to put together your own strategy, but do you have the time? Putting together a financial strategy can take lots of time — time spent pulling current statements, researching options and making changes. A financial advisor can save you time by presenting options to you and handling the legwork to establish new strategies. He or she also can monitor and update your strategy as needed.
  2. Knowledge. A financial advisor understands the options available and how they work in tandem with the other items in your strategy. A financial advisor also understands the latest features of the available investment and insurance products.
  3. Accountability. A financial advisor will not only help you create a financial strategy, but he or she will keep you accountable to it. He or she can help you keep the bigger picture in mind and help you understand the progress you’re making toward your financial goals.

Is your financial strategy up to date? If not, it’s time to make it that way. We can help you create a strategy that is unique to you and your life. We will help identify any gaps in your current strategy and analyze various options to help get you to your goals. Contact us today to get your personalized financial strategy.

 

The content provided here is designed to provide general information on the subjects covered. It is not, however, intended to provide specific legal or tax advice. Contact us at info@securedretirements.com or call us at (952) 460­-3260 to schedule a time to discuss your financial situation and the potential role of investments in your financial strategy.

The Importance of a Financial Strategy

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Like a life plan, a well-thought-out financial strategy helps keep us on track and working toward our goals. And pursuing our financial goals goes hand in hand with working to achieve our life goals. For instance, if you have a specific retirement date in mind, creating a financial strategy can help you plan for that date and see if you are on track to meet your goals.

Here are three reasons you should implement a financial strategy:

  1. It shows you whether your goals are realistic. Taking stock of where you are and where you want to be can help identify gaps and highlight potential shortfalls. Remember that specific retirement date you had in mind? A financial strategy can tell you whether that date is feasible or not.
  2. It’s a port in the storm. It’s easy to stick with a strategy when things are good, but when things get challenging, it’s tempting to jump ship. A well-thought-out strategy will help act as an anchor for you when you have an unexpected event take place.
  3. It helps you understand where your money goes. While some of us are good at following the money, some of us have no idea what we really spend our money on. Part of putting your financial strategy together is sitting down and accounting for your expenses.

We can help you create a financial strategy that helps you work toward your goals — just give us a call and we’ll schedule a meeting.

The content provided here is designed to provide general information on the subjects covered. It is not, however, intended to provide specific legal or tax advice. Contact us at info@securedretirements.com or call us at (952) 460­-3260 to schedule a time to discuss your financial situation and the potential role of investments in your financial strategy.

Help Stay on Course with a Life Plan

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Have you ever looked at your life and wondered, “How on earth did I end up here?” It’s probably happened to us all at some point. Author Michael Hyatt refers to it as drift: wandering so far off our original course that we don’t recognize where we are anymore.

How do you help avoid drift and live a life that stays on its intended course? One way is to create a life plan — a road map that spells out where you want to go and how you want to get there. A life plan helps us determine who we currently are and who we ultimately want to be.

It’s important to remember that a life plan is never set in stone. Events such as job loss, sickness and the death of a loved one can unexpectedly alter a life plan. Our life plans may also change as we change as individuals. In these cases, a life plan can help us in two ways: It can help us get back on course toward our destination after a detour, or it can help us chart a new course entirely.

What should a life plan look like? It depends on you. Every life plan is personalized and individualized. In a marriage or a family, you may have overlapping items in your life plans, but each individual will have specific, unique items in his or her plan.

Your life plan can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be. However, here are five steps you can follow to create your life plan:

  1. Assess the current situation. Where are you currently in your work, family, personal life and spiritual life? In what areas are you satisfied or not? 
  2. Choose your top priorities to focus on. It’s best to focus on four to five priorities; any more than that, and our attention gets too scattered. 
  3. Begin with the end in mind. Consider the priorities you chose in step 2. What are your ultimate goals in each of those areas? Write them down.
  4. Break it down. Now that you know where you want to go, it’s time to figure out how to get there. Break your ultimate goals down into smaller steps. How many steps is up to you; you can break goals down into annual, monthly, weekly and even daily goals.
  5. Get to work. Once you’ve set your destination, it’s time to start working toward it. If things start to feel off course, remember that your life plan is a flexible guide, not a directive set in stone. As you work through your mini-goals, new opportunities may arise for you to add to your life plan.

The content provided here is designed to provide general information on the subjects covered. It is not, however, intended to provide specific legal or tax advice. Contact us at info@securedretirements.com or call us at (952) 460­-3260 to schedule a time to discuss your financial situation and the potential role of investments in your financial strategy.

Innovations in the Baby Boomer Tech Market

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Today, technology companies boast a rapid-fire pipeline of new innovations designed to help consumers in the home environment. While many are designed to help elderly people around the house, in some cases, it’s boomers who buy, install and help monitor those devices for their retired parents.

The baby boomer generation is the fastest-growing segment of technology consumers. Various technology applications have made it easier for them to juggle family and career responsibilities while also keeping track of elderly parents. It’s a good thing, then, that boomers control 70 percent of disposable income spending decisions and, collectively, are expected to inherit more than $15 trillion over the next 20 years.

Boomers also will be the first generation to fully benefit from high-tech age-at-home innovations. These range from home stair lifts to wearable fitness devices that transmit data directly to their electronic health records to GPS-based devices to track when the dog escapes the backyard. While the downsides of aging are often emphasized, technological advances have the potential to provide more conveniences for boomers going forward.