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Created: July 12, 2019
Modified: October 23, 2023

6 Things You Need to Have on Your Retirement Planning Checklist

Have you ever started thinking about your retirement and how you might get to that point but ended up feeling helpless or overwhelmed? Before you even have a chance to wrap your head around what’s needed to reach financial independence, you turn away frustrated and tell yourself you’ll figure it out later. It might feel like you’re trying to drink from a firehose, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Retirement is a matter of planning correctly and Joel Johnson, CFP® has laid out an easy-to-follow checklist on his latest podcast, Money Wisdom. The Ultimate Retirement Planning Checklist consists of six key areas of focus that will help you cover all of your bases and hopefully take away some of the stress that comes with planning.

Let’s take a look at the six things you need to make sure get added to your retirement checklist:

  1. Get a financial game plan.
  2. Have a plan to pay for healthcare and long-term care.
  3. Proper treatment of Social Security.
  4. Minimize your taxes by having a tax strategy.
  5. Proper treatment of your IRA and 401(k).
  6. Have a diversified income plan.

Listening to this episode will give you insight into each of the items on the checklist with information you need to know. For example, did you know that the suggestion for couples is to have $250,000 set aside just for long-term healthcare? That’s one of the things you’ll learn from the checklist and this podcast, which you can listen to at the top of the page.

Plus, here’s a full list of the main topics on this episode of The Money Wisdom podcast (Just click on the timestamp to jump to the specific clip):

[1:56] – What can you do right now to prepare yourself for retirement?

[2:41] – An overview of a good pre-retirement checklist Joel recently read

[5:23] –The Ultimate Retirement Planning Checklist discussion begins.

            #1: GET A FINANCIAL GAME PLAN

[7:08] – #2: HAVE A PLAN TO PAY FOR HEALTHCARE AND LONG-TERM CARE

[9:48] – #3: PROPER TREATMENT OF SOCIAL SECURITY

[11:31] – #4: MINIMIZING YOUR TAXES BY HAVING A TAX STRATEGY

[13:17] – #5: PROPER TREATMENT OF YOUR IRA AND 401K

[14:32] – #6: HAVE A DIVERSIFIED INCOME PLAN

[16:58] – Reviewing the Ultimate Retirement Planning Checklist

[19:07] – One very important point to remember about retirement

Information presented here is considered current as of the created date. Over time, some information presented may become stale. We recommend you consult with your Financial Professional before making any changes based on information contained here.

Johnson Brunetti is a marketing name for the businesses of JB Capital and JN Financial.
Investment Advisory Services offered through JB Capital, LLC. Insurance Products offered through JN Financial, LLC.
The guarantees provided by any type of insurance contract are based on the claims-paying ability of the insurance company.

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