The idea of a retirement filled with travel, hobbies, and spending time with loved ones is a common dream. Transforming this vision into reality requires thoughtful planning. Let’s explore how you can plan for retirement.
Start with Your Vision
One of the first steps in retirement planning is defining what your "endless summer" looks like. Do you see yourself traveling the world, exploring new hobbies, spending time with family, or relocating to a warmer climate? Identifying your goals helps in creating a roadmap tailored to your desires.
Assess Your Finances
Understanding your current financial situation is helpful for success. This involves a look at your assets, liabilities, income, and expenses. Ameriprise provides tools and resources to help create a detailed financial profile, forming the foundation of your retirement plan. Use this calculator to determine how much monthly income your retirement savings may provide for retirement.
Plan for Longevity
With advances in healthcare, people are living longer, which means your retirement savings need to stretch further. Retirement planning isn't only for the retired. Rather, it’s a long game that requires consistent saving and intentional investing—at every stage in life.
Diversify Your Investments
A diversified investment portfolio is helpful to managing risk and growth. Regularly reviewing and adjusting your portfolio can help you stay on track to meet your retirement goals.
Consider Health Care Costs
Healthcare can be one of the most significant expenses in retirement. It's helpful to plan for these costs by considering options like health savings accounts (HSAs) and long-term care insurance. Our team of advisors at StackStone Wealth can help factor in anticipated health care expenses and recommend strategies to help prepare for these costs in retirement.
Create a Withdrawal Strategy
A key part of retirement income planning is understanding which types of income are subject to the IRS minimum distribution (RMD) rule. Your plan should consider which accounts to draw from first to reduce taxes and help to ensure sustainability. As you near retirement, our team can help in creating a withdrawal strategy for RMD’s and other retirement income while remaining compliant with the law.
Embrace Flexibility and Enjoy the Journey
Life is unpredictable, and your retirement plan should be flexible to adapt to change. Whether it's market fluctuations, changes in personal circumstances, or unexpected expenses—having a flexible plan helps to make adjustments without derailing your retirement goals. Regularly reviewing your progress, celebrating milestones, and adjusting your plan as needed can keep you motivated and on track.
By taking these steps and leveraging the insights and resources available through our teams in Dubuque, IA, Lake Geneva, WI, Marquette, MI, and Rockford, IL, you can better prepare for your vision of an endless summer.
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