It’s no mystery that building a successful retirement requires planning. What can be mysterious, however, is what the process actually looks like, leaving many aspiring retirees to guess, hope and essentially throw darts and pray a few land at least near the bull’s-eye. This is a shame; you can do better.
What can happen when retirement planning isn’t done well? What does it look like when you don’t have a solid plan carefully crafted before the big day arrives when you shut the machine down for the last time? Ironically, not much. At least not right away. The effects of a poorly structured retirement usually don’t show themselves until years later, when it’s too late to do much about it. That can be a tragedy; that’s what we want to avoid.
When I have an opportunity to sit down with families to begin planning their retirement, I suggest we immediately get to work on solving their retirement math problem: How much monthly income do you need and want, and what kinds of assets and income sources do you have in place to support these goals? In other words, how much is enough, and do you have it?
Originally published on Kiplinger.com. Written by Scott Dougan.
