Hi, I'm Jason Vincent, president and CEO of Matco Financial. Today, I want to talk to you about the five steps to retirement.
Nobody on their deathbed has ever said to me, I wish I would have worked more or put in more overtime. We all want to achieve our own definition of financial freedom. By far. The question I get asked the most often by individuals who are nearing retirement, whether it's 50 years of a plus, is do I have enough to retire? My answer is always somewhat predictable and almost always the same. Have you completed these five steps? Let's get started.
Step one start the planning process earlier rather than later. It's okay if you're a bit later, but I have people show up on my doorstep when they're retiring tomorrow. We can help, but it's a lot better. The more time we have to plan and the earlier we have to plan.
Step two build your financial roadmap. For those who have been involved with our Matco Wealth program for some time as an accumulator, they already have a roadmap in place with a completed and monitored financial plan. If you're just starting, as I said earlier, starting your journey okay, but it's virtually impossible to maximize your lifestyle in retirement. Without a financial roadmap. If you fail to plan, you should plan to fail. I encourage you, if you haven't already done so, to watch our video outlining what you need to complete.
Step three maximize your assets. This is an important step. There is a big difference between growing assets and harvesting assets. The key takeaway at this step is ensuring that your net worth. But more specifically, the nature of your assets can support you throughout your retirement, albeit specific to each of your each financial scenario. The challenge is converting nonproductive assets into income producing assets, while at the same time lowering and monitoring your risk levels.
Anxiety is typically really high at retirement because you get no second chance to grow your assets. Essentially, we're trying to solve the problem of replacing your employment income with investment income on a monthly basis. Most individuals typically gravitate from a growth portfolio to a portfolio has a lower risk premium and with more predictable income, providing a consistent revenue stream to replace your salary, a change in your risk profile. This step is probably needed, which will result in a change in your asset allocation.
Step four plan for the unknown and thoughtful adjustments. After 32 years of working as a with retirees, there will certainly be modifications along the way. Mike Tyson had a great quote. Everybody has a plan until you get punched in the face. Financial planning is similar. Despite all of your planning, we know that we need to be flexible as nobody can predict the future. There are going to be legitimate reasons to modify, such as health surprises, family matters, and these unpredictable expenses that we see now and then.
Matco always builds a buffer or some conservative base into your financial roadmap. Is planning and real life are not perfectly correlated? Last but not least, step five enjoy retirement and have confidence in your roadmap. This is more important than you think as retirement. As I said earlier, it can be a very anxious time.
I tell clients I've retired hundreds of times with them. If your roadmap is built and monitored correctly, large, unpredictable events like COVID should not require a change in your lifestyle nor a planning redo. It should incorporate it. Your roadmap will bend, but it should not break and it should absorb these events. And this keep your retirement lifestyle on path.
Your Matco wealth program has got you covered for things that have you covered. One. Your plan or financial roadmap? Two. Your investment strategy really defined by your risk profile and cash flow to pay for your retirement. Three. Your estate plan, which includes a will enduring power of attorney and health directive. And four. Last but not least consolidate a reporting. It's really difficult to monitor your plan without understanding all of your assets and how they fit into your retirement plan.
If you found this helpful and would like to explore further, or perhaps you want to start your journey, contact me.
