You are all in luck today; It’s our 123rd episode of the Money Wisdom Question Series! What we’re going to be talking about is just that – the 1, 2, 3 critical components of building a successful retirement portfolio.

Number 1: Growth-Oriented Assets

The first component of a successful retirement portfolio are those growth-oriented assets, or market-based assets, that are going up and down in value every day. These are your stocks, bonds, mutual funds, anything where risk lives.

We all know that it’s a game of risk and reward. Those vehicles, while they might be going up and down every day, what are they going to be worth 10 to 20 years from now? So, time horizon is important when determining how much of your portfolio should be in those growth-oriented assets.

Number 2: Income-Generating Assets

We need income. The biggest difference between working and not working is… a paycheck! Just because your paycheck stops, your bills don’t. So, we’re always structuring pieces of the portfolio to replace that paycheck and replace that income.

These are things like Social Security, pensions, maybe you have real estate, or maybe you’re identifying some of those market-based investments that you have. But the specific objective there is taking distributions. So, whether it’s dividends or interest-bearing accounts, again, the second step is to make sure you’ve got income.

Number 3: Safe & Secure Vehicles

The third successful piece of a retirement portfolio that you need is a safety net. We have already gone over those growth-oriented assets, things that are going up and down every day, and those income-generating assets.

To be comfortable with the risk that lives in those worlds, you need a safety net under all of it. What happens in a world in which the market is falling in value, and you still need to get your hands on money? The last thing you ever want is to be forced to take money out of accounts that are falling in value at the same time.

We’re building a layer of safe, secure, and insured guaranteed vehicles within our clients’ accounts. That way, if the market is falling in value, that piece of the portfolio isn’t. And again, if you need to get your hands on money, that’s where we’re going if those other accounts are falling in value at the same time.