As I was watching the World Series, I was reminded how specialty players are put in games based on specific situations. Specialization is a common theme in sports and it also has an application in your life. If you’re headed into retirement and still using the same basic financial plan and retirement strategies you had when you were working, listen closely.
In a world of choices and specialization, you are missing a big opportunity if you don’t take advantage of them. In sports, strategies change when teams go into the late innings in baseball or into the final minutes of a football game. You’ll notice that more personnel changes take place so that your team is in the best possible position to win. So when we see a specific strategy in the beginning of a game and a different one being executed later on, it’s because teams react to their environment (the other team), your own team’s performance and condition and whether or not you need to hang onto a lead or do something dramatic to take one.
Now that you’re in or looking at retirement strategies, your game could not be changing any more than it is. Instead of receiving a paycheck regularly, you’ll be writing a check regularly… to yourself. Instead of having plenty of time left on the clock to save, or allow the market to rebuild if it dips, you have to make a decision based on the facts as they exist today.
We are the team that fills this role for you. We’re in business to help you hold on to your lead by being very clear about the environment around us, the changes in your world and using the best tools for this part of your life. There’s a reason that a baseball team will bring out their closer with a lead in the ninth inning. They know they need to use their best tools for the greatest chance at success.
Here’s the important thing to remember: Step one is acknowledging that you need to have a different strategy in a different situation and step two is having the right tools (in this case a closer) to apply. In your case, the same is true when it comes to your retirement strategies. Acknowledge that whatever got you to this point is likely not the strategy to sustain you through thirty years or so in retirement. Next, ask yourself if you have the right tools to apply to an effective strategy.
We do both. We spend a lot of time with retirement strategies and have a toolbox of financial instruments that if applied correctly will give you the strategic edge. As fiduciaries, we aren’t bound to specific products, but can offer a huge array.
It is our view that this type of strategy can offer our clients the edge they need for profitable and effective retirement strategies. So if you’re at or near retirement and you’re not sure if you have a winning strategy, call us today for a free review.
