Creating a Retirement Game Plan

Whether your team won or lost this Sunday, we can all agree that it’s no easy feat to make it to the big game at the end of the season. This game is the culmination of the both teams’ practicing, strategizing, and collaboration all season long. Creating a game plan for football is a lot like creating a retirement plan: You have to know when to protect your lead and when to be aggressive, how to adapt to new challenges, and recognize the importance of good coaching when planning for your future.

Even if a team is losing by the end of the second quarter, they still have time to catch-up and win the game. At half time the coach may adjust the game plan based on how the game is going. Similarly, planning for retirement isn’t a one-time event – it’s an ongoing process. Changes in health, market volatility, the birth of a new grandchild, and new personal retirement goals are just some of the events that could make you want to reevaluate your retirement plan. A good coach considers what can happen ahead of time, and is prepared with a plan.

The best football teams aren’t always the ones whose athletes run the fastest or throw the furthest; it’s the teams that can read what they’re up against and respond to short-term challenges while keeping their long-term goals in mind that succeed. And, that’s why it’s so important to have a coach with experience and the expertise to help the team achieve its full potential. Or, in your case, it’s the importance of having a trusted financial professional to help guide you to and through a safe, secure, and enjoyable life in retirement.

Good coaching can be just as critical in retirement planning as it in football. Finding a balance between conservative and aggressive investing plans and creating a plan that can respond to change is difficult. This is where your trusted financial advisor can step in and help you call the plays. Assessing what constitutes a touchdown in your retirement, whether it is travel, leaving a legacy, or surviving volatile markets, is the first step in creating a retirement game plan.

If you need a timeout to help create or assess your retirement game plan, let the professionals at Madrona Financial help. The best teams are ones in which the players and coach are on the same page, so click here to schedule your no cost, no obligation financial review.