Traditional retirement savings products fall into one of four categories: annuities, investments, retirement accounts and life insurance. Each type generates and protects wealth with a different mechanism, and each is ideal for certain types of savers at different points in their life.
Your choice of retirement savings options will likely be guided by:
- Your age and how long you have until your desired retirement date
- Current market volatility and your tolerance for risk
- Life expectancy for you and your spouse
- The quality of life you seek and your goals for retirement
- Your bequeathment preferences
- The value of your assets and your liquidity needs
The amount of time you have to save and grow your wealth will, by necessity, push you toward certain types of investments. Younger people who have decades until retirement can afford to choose retirement savings products that carry higher risk but greater potential for rapid growth.
People who are nearing retirement age but have little to nothing saved may also, by necessity, be forced to aggressively save in their latter working years.
Estimating what you’ll need for retirement doesn’t have to be a guessing game. One of the benefits of working with retirement planners is getting assistance with these calculations. On a basic level, creating an accurate retirement savings target necessitates determining what your retirement will look like followed by an honest assessment of life expectancy.
The amount needed to maintain a comfortable quality of life will be drastically different depending on your retirement goals. One couple may want to travel the world then live in an upscale independent senior living facility. Another may plan on staying close to family in a home they’ve already paid off. The resources needed to maintain their desired quality of life will be significantly different in both scenarios.
Modern medicine and medical histories also enable people and their doctors to make informed predictions about life expectancy. Knowing you have a high risk for developing heart disease or Alzheimer’s may drastically alter the way you plan and save for retirement.
It’s important to take both factors into account when planning ahead and choosing retirement savings products.
The number of children and grandchildren you have and your personal belief or desires regarding generational wealth may also play a significant role in your decision making. Some retirees prioritize passing on wealth to family members while others may not have the resources or desire to do so. The types of retirement saving and estate planning products you choose, and how you structure those products, may vary dramatically depending on your preferences.
Products Fullerton Financial Planning Can Help You Set Up and Manage
- Fixed Annuities
- Variable Annuities
- Indexed Annuities
- Bonds
- Mutual Funds
- ETFs & Index Funds
- Individual Stocks
- 401(k) Plans
- 403(b) Plans
- Traditional IRA
- Roth IRA
- Whole Life Insurance
- Universal Life Insurance
- Variable Universal Life Insurance
We encourage you to read through our report on the topic to learn more about each product and how it can help you grow and protect your wealth.
How Might Your Retirement Plans or Expectations Influence Your Choice of Financial Products?
Some financial products are universally useful while others may be more valuable to specific types of investors or to accomplish specific goals. For example, every retirement saver may make use of ETFs or bonds at some point in their retirement journey, but their choice of a Roth IRA or Traditional IRA might be made based on their modified adjusted gross income (MAGI).
Whether an investor gets whole life insurance or not may depend on whether they have a spouse who will outlive them or a desire to leave significant tax-free wealth to children or grandchildren. A retirement saver’s faith in the market and their tolerance for volatility may be determining factors in their choice of a universal life policy or a variable universal life policy.
Annuities are another financial product where your retirement goals and expectations, and your resources, may play a role in your decision making. Your choice of a fixed annuity, variable annuity, indexed annuity or some combination of the three may be determined by your faith in the market, comfort level with risk, need for liquidity in retirement, your target retirement date, life expectancy and your overall retirement goals.
Our Team Can Help You Understand Your Financial Product Choices
If you’re a Phoenix retirement saver or retiree who wants expert advice on which financial products to choose for your portfolio, the team at Fullerton Financial Planning can help. We advise both experienced investors and those with little to no experience in the management of investment products.
Call us at (623) 974-0300 to get started.
