Retirement Planning Specialist

As an example, let’s say a retired household needs $75,000 per year to pay expenses. At a 2% inflation rate, you’ll need an additional $1500 the following year to pay those same bills. At the 5 year mark, your account will need to pay you over $82,000 in order to keep the same lifestyle you had. As you might expect, in 10 years, your annual income needs jump even more due to inflation. At that point, you’d need about $91,000 in income each year to have the same standard of living as in previous years.

Thankfully, you can learn ways to properly plan out your income needs. At Marathon Group Financial, we are retirement planning specialists. This means we can review all your retirement accounts, go over your income plan and needs, and make recommendations. In addition, we can discuss options for protecting a lifetime income for yourself. We can also look at all the factors that may impact your plan, such as inflation.

One area some retirees don’t think about: budgeting. However, this aspect of retirement planning can actually make or break you. Also, it is important to talk about your expected expenses with a person who knows this area of finance. For instance, our group works with our clients to help them think about all possible expenses in retirement. First, you can make a list of all your monthly necessities. This includes transportation, housing, food, and utilities. Next, you should consider your lifestyle expenses. For example, restaurants, gifts, and vacations may all be in this category. Additionally, you may want to have a donation fund or charitable giving budget item as well.

Also, have a “miscellaneous” section of your budget can be valuable, too. Unexpected items or emergencies may arise, so having a budget for this is helpful. If it turns out you don’t need that budget item, it can instead go into your savings. When you have some “wiggle room” in your retirement income plan, it can help put your mind at ease.

Years ago, there were very few conservative options for your money. Regular savings accounts and CDs seemed to be less than desirable for most retirees. Also, pensions are becoming less common. Even government workers are finding that more money needs to be put into their retirement plans with a smaller retirement payout at the end of employment. Sometimes, people get to retirement and feel disappointed by the amount of income they will receive.

Alternatively, the stock market doesn’t seem to be the 100% answer, either. For instance, the up and down nature of the market means your money is at risk. Depending upon the investments you choose, your money could be at high risk. Unfortunately, many, people had this experience during the 2008 and 2009 market dips as well as some loss in 2020. For this reason, we believe in working with clients to develop a plan for protection in retirement.