Are you someone that loves to stay organized and get ahead whenever possible? If so, you’ll enjoy this episode of Money Wisdom because we’re going to run through a pre-retirement checklist that may help with retirement planning.

The six items on our list will help you formulate your plan by getting a better grasp of your income and expenses in retirement. Planning takes some time so take a look at the checklist and start tackling it so you won’t be in a rush when retirement comes around.

We’ll also spend a little time on this show discussing market corrections. Volatility will impact your retirement and your planning so understanding what market corrections mean and how they can actually benefit you will give you the knowledge to take each up and down in stride.

Here’s a look at what we discussed with timestamps that you can click to take you to specific conversations in the show.

Market Corrections

“The sky is falling!” Have you ever gotten that impression watching the news or business shows recently? Of course, you have. There’s a lot of doom and gloom in the media right now. When it comes to finance, it’s easy to predict a downturn when the market’s been going strong for a decade. But at what point does a correction become a bear market?

Joel wanted to spend some time clarifying this because clients have different ideas of what a market correction entails. It sounds like a slight drop but it’s actually 10-12%, which can really impact your portfolio. But it can also be a great opportunity if you have some time to offset the losses.

[1:22] – What do your clients think about when they hear ‘market correction’?

[2:00] – Here’s how we officially classify a correction.

[2:53] – An actual bear market is drops of 20% or more.

[3:31] – Market corrections can actually be a good thing.

[4:26] – The smarter you are, the more dangerous you are to your investment success.

Pre-Retirement Checklist

Our main focus for this show is providing you with a checklist that you can use before retirement to make sure you have a plan in place that meets your needs and wants. By running through each of these items, you’ll be able to build a budget and get a hold of what income you’ll be receiving after you stop working. Your mindset is going to change and so should your strategy for managing all of your assets.

To get a complete picture, you have to realize that there will be expenses beyond your day-to-day that need to be accounted for. Have you factored in long-term care? This is a huge piece of the puzzle that many people put off or ignore. And what about your financial legacy? If that’s important to you, there are steps you need to take for that as well.

Joel will lay it all out and explain each item on the checklist, so you’ll be able to put yourself in a position to enjoy a wonderful and stress-free retirement. 

[5:27] – Let’s run through the pre-retirement checklist you need to run through.

[6:24] – First item: Do I know how much I need?

[8:02] – Second item: Have I identified all my sources of income?

[9:13] – Third item: Have I thought about longevity and will I outlive my money?  

[10:52] – Fourth item: Am I prepared to handle market volatility?

[12:35] – Fifth item: Do I have a plan to address long-term care costs?

[14:58] – Last item: Do you have your legacy plan in place?

Mailbag

Let’s close out today’s show with a mailbag question. Remember that you can always send them in to us and we’ll try to work it into a future episode. Today, we got a question from a listener who has to make a decision that many pre-retirees in the northeast face. What should you do when your employer stops funding the pension plan and gives you the option of a lump sum or saving it for income down the road? It’s not an easy answer but Joel lays out the options.

[17:09] – Email question: My employer just announced they will no longer fund our pension plan and we have the option to keep it in place for income down the road or take the current amount as a lump sum. Which is better?

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