How can you enjoy retirement if you’re worried about dying broke?
Once You Retire, You Can’t Earn It Again!
Surveys show people are more worried about dying broke than just about anything else in life (except, perhaps, public speaking.) Who wants to drive across town at 80 years old to borrow money from your kids for a burger or to pay the rent after all?
The good news is we help people just like you stop worrying about dying broke!
No, we don’t sell them a product, nor do we have some “secret sauce.” The real secret is our financial planning process and the award-winning software we use to make sure you can live your dream retirement with massive money confidence!
But What About Dying Broke?
Our retirement planning process is incredibly robust and specifically tailored to alleviate your fear of becoming destitute in retirement. We use several sophisticated tools and strategies to give you massive money confidence!
Monte Carlo Analysis.
A mathematical calculation of 1,000 different possibilities of your future investment returns and how they interact with your retirement plan. Depending on your age, a Monte Carlo of 70 MAY be great (meaning 7 out of 10 times your plan is successful.) For others, a Monte Carlo above 90 is a must! Everyone is unique, and we explain your chances of success in great detail during the retirement planning process.
Asset-Liability Matching.
Asset-Liability Matching is the process of structuring guaranteed streams of cash flows to ensure your retirement income needs are met even during bad markets. This is done through a series of bond investments which match your spending assumptions sequentially over time. The remainder of your portfolio is allocated to growth in the stock market. As markets are good some growth investments are liquidated and reinvested to the last bond(s) in the series.
Income Annuities.
(NOTE: We NEVER sell insurance or investment products, but we do model them in your planning) Income annuities can be a valuable addition to your retirement plan. However, as with any investment, there trade-offs. One strategy is using a QLAC (Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract). A QLAC may be a great way to build in retirement income you can’t outlive and defer your Required Minimum Distributions (and your tax obligations) from your IRA.
Bear Buckets.
“Bear Bucket” is a term we coined to explain how we use an ultra-low risk “side pot” of money which can be tapped for your retirement income needs during bad markets. This allows us to rebalance your core investment portfolio, buying growth assets cheaper.
Bear Sliders.
“Bear Slider” is a term we coined to explain how once your Bear Bucket runs out (IF it runs out) we make a conscious decision NOT to sell growth assets while they’re depressed. Rather, we’ll purposefully liquidate less volatile fixed-income assets, allowing your growth investments to recover over time.
Riskalyze Risk Scoring.
Part of alleviating your worry of dying broke is making sure you’re in the right investment portfolio from the start. We use a combination of modeling your risk required and risk capacity from your Retirement Architect plan, and your risk tolerance from proven—award-winning—tools like Riskalyze.
HECM Modeling.
(NOTE: We do NOT sell mortgages of any kind) A home equity conversion mortgage can be an excellent way to enjoy everything retirement has to offer. The best part is you may never need to use it! It’s a small cost for the peace of mind knowing you’ll never run out of money in retirement. We’ll model your retirement plan showing how a HECM may—or may not—be a great way to live the retirement of your dreams with confidence.
We focus heavily on designing a retirement you can feel good about enjoying! And you can’t possibly feel good about retirement if you’re worried about dying broke.
Greg Phelps, CFP®, CLU®, AIF®, AAMS®