RETIREMENT PLAN STRATEGIES
You should consider including the following in your retirement plan:
An income strategy that will reliably cover your expenses for the rest of your life. This, of course, means knowing what your expenses are. But it's also about maximizing your Social Security benefits, having a plan for inflation, knowing how a surviving spouse will adjust to any changes in income and expenses; and helping protect your assets against longevity risk, as retirement can now last 30 years or longer.
A financial strategy that will help protect and preserve the assets you don't draw from month to month. This includes assessing (or reassessing) your risk tolerance; looking at how you can minimize fees within your portfolio; understanding volatility and how it can hurt your portfolio, especially in the years just before and after you retire; and looking at ways to reduce risk while still working toward your goals.
A tax strategy that helps you morally, legally and ethically disinherit the IRS and keep more money for your family. Whether your tax rates go up, down or stay the same in the future, you'll need a plan. This means assessing the taxable nature of your current holdings (pretax vs. after-tax, for example) and the order in which you'll withdraw from different types of accounts.
A health care strategy that addresses rising medical costs and looks at long-term care options in case of a chronic illness.
A legacy strategy that ensures your money gets to your beneficiaries in the most tax-efficient way and your estate doesn't end up in probate. Working with estate and tax attorneys, you may wish to set up a trust or other protections to prevent your IRA from becoming fully taxable to your beneficiaries upon your death.
