What will your retirement look like? Do you plan to downsize your home? Stay at home more or travel more? Will you begin a new business or work part-time? Retirement prompts a lot of questions, and many challenges will be faced during those years. Planning with a risk-based mindset will make the process all that much easier.

Surprising facts about retirement:

  • Retirement will likely last longer than expected.
  • Few spend adequate time creating a plan. Most folks spend more time planning their vacations than they do retirement.
  • Many remain in the workforce in some form after retirement,
  • A lot of folks invest only in 401(k)s.

The best way to tackle the risks of retirement is diversifying your retirement portfolio.

Annuities:

Fixed or variable, annuities are a good way to add to your retirement income and diversify your funds. Fixed annuities offered guaranteed returns while variable annuities provide a higher yield but come with much more risk and potential loss. And when it comes time to retire, you can receive distributions calculated based off your life expectancy. This guarantees it for life!

Permanent Life Insurance:

Life insurance, while not often thought of, can provide tax-deferred income, and protect your family. You may access this money from your premiums in the form of cash-value such as loans or direct withdrawals. Note, however, that accessing the cash-value will reduce the policy benefit).

Long-Term Care Insurance:

Expenses may seem unforeseen, but that does not mean that during retirement planning cannot account for them. As we live longer, we are more exposed to needing long-term care. Long-term care happens when we are limited and unable to perform daily activities such as dressing or eating. And long-term care insurance can help with this!

The insurance provides coverage for at-home care, assisted living facilities, and even community-based care. Structuring of policies varies, some provide monthly benefit while others are structured with traditional life insurance (and may offer more death benefit if the long-term care is never used).

Important: planning continues and needs maintained during retirement, too.