Planning for the right time horizon ^[1]
Market Risks ^[2]
Inflation ^[3]
Starting retirement ^[4]
Trust & Estate planning - Estate planning; Trust planning; Incapacitation; Long-term care; Gift & Estate taxes; Probate ^[5]

Planning for the right time horizon

It seems weird to consider longevity a risk, but when it comes to living out your retirement with enough money to do what you want, take care of medical costs and even keep a roof over your head, the longer you live, the more likely you are to have trouble keeping up.

Whether or not you realize it, longevity is the number one risk facing retirees. Your life expectancy if you are now 65 is at least 20 years, but that represents an average; many seniors live much longer. In fact, a 65-year old male has a 25 percent chance of living past 92, a female has a 25 percent chance of living past 94. Thus that 20-year number isn’t very useful when it comes to individual retirement planning.

Living beyond your expectations, then finding yourself modifying your lifestyle downward towards the end of your lifetime could be a nightmare. Therefore, investments in retirement should have a long term rather than short term orientation.

Go to top ^[6]

Market Risks

Retirees still need to invest a portion of their nest egg for growth, yet cannot afford to take on the same level of risks as a younger person because there is less time to make up for bad decisions that have a negative impact on your portfolio.

If you use static, average rate of return when planning for how long your savings will last you don’t allow for the reality that average is just that, some years are going to be better and some worse. If low or negative return years occur in the early years of retirement, the damage to your portfolio may significantly impact your future income projections. Therefore, investments in retirement should be deposited into “baskets” such that the baskets subject to market risk will not be used for several years.

Go to top ^[6]

Inflation

Most investors do not realize that your income must double every 20 years just to keep up with the average rate of inflation. Many pensions do not include a cost of living adjustment, thus your personal savings will have to either grow adequately to cover inflation, or be large enough to allow you to draw an ever-increasing amount of income each year. Hedging for inflations requires retirement investments that have a growth component such as stocks or real estate.

Go to top ^[6]

Starting retirement with too large a draw down

As discussed above, the amount of retirement income you need to draw from your savings, just to maintain your lifestyle will increase with time. Other costs such as medical expenses are also likely to rise, as you grow older.

It can be difficult to really envision what your life will be like in 20, 25, 30 or more years, and for that reason many retirees begin retirement taking too large a percentage of their savings. Sometimes the reason appears to make sense, “my portfolio gave me 6 percent this year so I’ll take 5 percent and leave the rest to grow,” unfortunately this line of logic doesn’t take into account market fluctuations that may cause next year to deliver no income, or perhaps you receive income, but your principal is reduced leaving less money to grow and keep up with inflation.

A study done by three professors at Trinity University examined this issue using historical rates of return and portfolios that were configured with different stock/bond ratios, to reflect varying returns and volatility. The study is too complicated to go into detail here, but it clearly suggests that the longer you plan to be in retirement, the lower your initial draw down rate must be.

Most retirees will need to start somewhere in the 3-5 percent range, then allow increases to that amount for inflation. Figuring out what you should take will require analysis of your life expectancy, the number of guaranteed/lifetime income sources you have (such as pensions or annuities), and the composition of your portfolio.

In conclusion, when it comes to developing your financial plan for your retirement investing plans you need to pay close attention to details that were less important when you were younger. Fortunately it is possible to structure most portfolios to protect yourself from running out of money.

Go to top ^[6]

You Hear a Lot About Estate Planning

Trust & Estate planning is an essential part of retirement planning although many people aren’t aware of all that it encompasses. So they put it off until it’s often too late. Let’s take a look at what trust and estate planning addresses and why it’s important to begin it ASAP regardless of your wealth.

Trust & Estate planning addresses these key questions

• Do you want input into how you’d like to be taken care of when you become
  incapacitated?
• Do you want to be sure that your assets go to the people you choose when you die?
• Would you like to eliminate or minimize needless loss of some or all of your assets when you need long term care?
• Would you like to minimize excessive taxes on what you want to give your beneficiaries?
• Do you want to prevent public exposure, costs and delays of probate?

These are important questions and virtually everyone will answer ‘yes’ to all of them. Making arrangements to satisfy each question is what your estate plan is all about.

But what’s especially important is making arrangements to address these questions ASAP because of these 4 circumstances:

1. You never know when you’ll die
2. You never know when you’ll become mentally incapacitated
3. You never know when you may need long term care
4. Arranging satisfactory solutions to some of these questions requires 3 to 5 years lead
   time - at least - before these circumstances occur!

Consequences of not addressing these questions are (i.e. no estate plan, no trusts): Incapacitation

• You’re treated in a manner you would never wish to be.
• Someone other than your choice determines how your money is used and distributed.
• Your assets go to someone not of your choice.
• With no will or trust, your assets will be distributed according to state rules - not your wishes.
• Without a trust, you must trust your current spouse to give assets to your previous children

Long-term care

Without long term care insurance or a lot of wealth, paying direct long term care costs can wipe out a small estate easily.

Gift and estate taxes

If your estate is worth some millions of euros, estate and gift taxes above an uncertain exclusion level in years beyond 2010, can rob half of it.

Probate

Public exposure on who’s getting what can trigger legal claims and hard feelings between potential beneficiaries and other relatives. It’s simply foolish not to have a trust for the probate avoidance and privacy.

Go to top ^[6]