Will I Outlive My Money?

 Wolfgang Financial and Insurance Agency LLC

What’s the number one fear of retirees? With Science and Technology improving, people are living longer than ever before. This is just one reason we are afraid of outliving our money. Income planning for retirement is not as simple as it once was. In the past, retirees relied on their pensions and Social Security, which are guaranteed income vehicles. In today’s age, pensions are a thing of the past. Retirees have to use the assets it took them a lifetime to build to live off without losing or using it before it’s too late. With interest rates at an all-time low, retirees are forced to look elsewhere to place their assets and hope it will last. But there are still great places for retirees to put their hard-earned money while protecting it.

In order to plan for the right amount of income through retirement you need to know your cost of living. What does it cost to maintain your lifestyle? Once your cost of living is determined, you need to cover it with guaranteed income. Social Security is a big part of this, and determining the best time to file for your situation will help maximize your Social Security throughout your lifetime. This is one of the biggest retirement decisions retirees face when planning for retirement. Most advisors have access to Social Security software that walks you through a step-by-step process to help you decide when to file, based on your situation, to maximize your Social Security throughout your life expectancy.

Now that you’ve determined the best time to file for Social Security, you need to look at other guaranteed income programs to cover the gap between Social Security and your cost of living, plus inflation. Pensions are great if you have them. Another smart solution is a guaranteed annuity. Many people don’t understand that, just like Social Security and pensions, some annuities offer similar benefits. There are many types of annuities, so working with the right advisor—who has been working with annuities for a long time and has access to numerous options—would be highly recommended.

The important goal is to cover your cost of living plus a reasonable inflation increase on a yearly basis with guaranteed income. Utilizing your assets with annuities in conjunction with pensions and Social Security allows you to accomplish this goal. This approach takes speculation out of the picture and replaces it with guarantees. Most people I meet would rather not speculate when it comes to their retirement. It is also important to plan for the income a husband or wife will lose when a spouse passes away. Once this is done, you have taken away the number one fear that retirees have today, which is outliving their money.