KEEPING YOUR CASH FLOW STRONG

Evaluate Your Retirement in 3 Steps

Identify Your Retirement Vehicles

If you’ve been saving and contributing to your retirement funds over the years, way to go! You may find it a helpful first step to identify and evaluate the strength of your savings from those years. Gathering this information can take a bit of effort, but it’s an important undertaking. The list below is a good place to start, but don’t hesitate to contact your accountant or financial advisor for help.

There are 4 general sources of retirement income in retirement:

Social Security
Personal Savings and Investments
Retirement Accounts
Continued Employment

Estimate Your Costs

With your income sources in mind, it’s time to think about expenses. Knowing how much you expect to spend in retirement is crucial to establishing a strategy that works for you. However, estimating future expenses and creating a pragmatic budget for a lifestyle you don’t have yet can be difficult, even for the math whizzes among us. Luckily, there is a simple method that doesn’t require a spreadsheet.

Time for Some Math

Now for the fun part: you’re going to compare your estimated costs against your scheduled retirement disbursements. At this point, you may come to the realization that your cash flow is less than your anticipated retirement costs. While it can be unsettling, this is valuable information that you can use to modify your strategy, with the help of your advisor. However, if you have been working with a financial professional for a while, you may have a more positive outlook about what lies ahead. As always, we are available to help or answer any questions you may have.