Finances

Post-Retirement Financial Security: A Planner

By Adam Cmejla, CFP, CMFC

June 22, 2016

SYNOPSIS

At some point, all ODs exit practice and meet the new economic realities of retirement. Here are tips to start early to manage and maximize your post-retirement income.

ACTION POINTS

PROJECT SOCIAL SECURITY INCOME. Calculate when to collectSocial Security benefits–or how long to defer them.

OPTIMIZE PENSIONS. Calculate the pension payout options and calculations that will impact your retirement income and your spouse’s survivor income if you die before them.

RE-EVALUATE PORTFOLIO ALLOCATION. Evenly balance your more conservative investments with those that are riskier, but have greater growth potential.

Retirement looms for us all,and the stark reality is that paychecks cease and savings and retirement benefits must then provide enough money to serve all of your needs.

A first stepin planning your eventual retirement is to calculate the total of your revenue streams once you stop working—and what you can do before retirement to set yourself up for greater financial security.

Fortunately, there are a few strategies to help ensure you have the money you need after retiring: Adjust portfolio toward lower-risk investments, diversify that portfolio and minimize tax liability.

Understand Social Security

I wrote an article in ROB on this topic in 2014, and some of the strategies I talked about in that article changed due to a bi-partisan omnibus bill in 2015. ?

If you haven’t had a conversation with your financialadvisor, or understand what has changed with Social Security and the different election options that exist, now is the time to revisit that planning piece. Social Security will make up a portion of every retiring OD’s retirement income stream. How much that portion equates to is partly the OD’s responsibility of knowing how they are paying themselves throughout their working career, and also whether they are still eligible to take advantage of the claiming strategies that still exist under current law.

According to an Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) survey, 62 percent of current workers expect Social Security to be a “major source of retirement income.” The ability to understand the various election options can add up to significant dollars over one’s retirement.

Take the hypothetical recently retired client example below. Here we have two individuals, both the same age. We expect the husband to have a shorter life span in retirement due to pre-existing health conditions. Coincidentally, the husband was also the primary earner in the relationship, as indicated by the illustrated monthly benefits amount in the graph below.

Rather than electing his full benefit at his FRA (Full Retirement Age), by understanding the social security rules, he could file a “restricted application” and allow his benefits to accrue until age 70, at which point he could then switch to his own benefits. This benefits the spouse significantly, because her spousal benefit at his passing is an additional $840 per month for the rest of her life. The total summary of the example of filing a restricted application (“Custom Hybrid) is illustrated below:

If you are the sole (or majority) income producer in the household, understanding the different (and new) Social Security rules can have a profound impact on the cumulative benefits you receive in retirement.

Related ROB Articles

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Re-Evaluate Your Portfolio Allocation

As retirement nears, adjust your mix of assets toward lower-risk, lower yield.

Up until this point in life, your retirement investment portfolio was meant to do one thing: grow. You were reliant on your ability to see patients and have your back (figuratively and literally) do the work to bring home a paycheck. Now that you are retired, and you’re having to replace that income stream, you’ll look for your portfolio to do more for you than just grow.

However, don’t forget about the growth component of your portfolio. The common misconception about retirement and investing is that the achievement of one (retirement) means the cessation of another (investing) because we don’t want to “risk” our money now that we’re retired.

Calculate Power of Money vs.Currency

Money is a concrete dollar amount: $500,000 is the same today as it was 20 years ago, and the same it will be 20 years from now. This defines money. Currency is the purchasing power we have with that money: $500,000 bought you a lot more goods and/or services 20 years than it did today, and it will buy you a lot less in another 20 years.

Ensuring that your portfolio is positioned to keep up with increasing prices over the duration of retirement is an important factor to always consider.

Action Plan

Minimize Taxes. If you have assets that do not enjoy the tax-friendliness of retirement accounts like 401(k)’s, IRA’s, or other qualified plans, do your best to utilize investments that reduce or mitigate your income tax liability. This will most likely be a consideration if you successfully negotiated the sale of your practice and received a windfall lump sum at closing that does not enjoy the benefits of tax-deferred growth.

Understand the difference between risk tolerance and risk capacity. Risk tolerance is your view and comfort level as an investor taking a certain level of risk or degree of uncertainty with your investment portfolio. Risk capacity is the amount of risk that your investment plan must take in order to reach your investment and financial goals and intentions. Not taking enough risk means potentially falling short of your goals.

However, a portfolio that has been exposed to significant losses early in retirement due to market performances and a higher-than-needed risk exposure can have significant negative impacts on the longevity and sustainability of a retirement plan. That’s a fancy way of saying going through a market correction early in retirement can potentially derail your retirement plan—so make sure your investment plan isn’t taking on more risk than it needs to sustain your objectives and intentions.

Look for diversified streams of income. While we cannot discount and discontinue the growth component of investment, entering retirement also means that we’re looking for our assets to provide us with income to provide for our quality of life. Generating that income can come in multiple forms. This may mean looking to real estate investing (which can be accomplished through multiple channels), dividend-paying stocks, or different bond strategies. ?

The transition from working OD to retired OD is one that has many financial implications. It’s important to understand the key components of your retirement income so you know how long it will last you, and how well it will allow you and your family to live in comfort.

Adam Cmejla, CFP®, CMFC®, is a Certified Financial Plannertm and president of Integrated Planning & Wealth Management, LLC, a financial services firm that works with optometrists.For more information: Contact Adam at 317-853-6777 or adam@integratedpwm.com.

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