Retirement Money Belongs in 3 Different Worlds

A young man lying on the grass and watching the Milky Way. Taken in A Veiga, Orense. — (Image credit: © 2015 Carlos Fernandez)

If you’re at or near retirement age, you’ve likely become accustomed to the ups and downs of saving and investing.

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You’ve saved and splurged and saved again. And you’ve no doubt watched your retirement accounts grow and shrink a few times over the years.

You’ve learned to stay calm and stay the course.

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But with retirement looming and so many decisions to be made, everything seems to get more complicated. The options for saving and investing keep increasing, and dealing with your money suddenly can become overwhelming and scary.

But if you stick to the basics, it doesn’t have to be. Just think of your retirement money as being divided into three different worlds:

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The challenge, of course, is in deciding the proper amounts to devote to each of these three worlds. The mix will be different for each individual, so it’s important to strike the appropriate balance that meets your individual needs.

Let’s say you have $1 million. You may decide to put $100,000 toward your emergency fund and $500,000 toward income. That leaves $400,000 for growth.

You’ll have your emergency fund and your income set — so you can take a little more risk with your growth money and hopefully not disrupt your plan. You hope you won’t land in a position where you have to sell if you don’t want to. It’s meant for the long term.

So many people come to our office for the first time with a plan that leans one way or the other. For some, it’s way too conservative and all their money is in safe cash accounts. For others, it’s way too aggressively invested in stocks for someone close to retirement.

That’s why it’s important to work with the right financial professional — someone who has the tools and ability to help you build a plan with the proper strategies that can help you feel confident in your financial strategy.

Segmenting your assets in this way will help you work toward your retirement goals with fewer complications and a lot less stress.

Kim Franke-Folstad contributed to this article.

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Disclaimer

Investment Advisory Services are offered through SHP Wealth Management LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser. Insurance sales are offered through SHP Financial, LLC. These are separate entities, Matthew Chapman Peck, CFP®, CIMA®, Derek Louis Gregoire, and Keith Winslow Ellis Jr. are independent licensed insurance agents, and Owners/Partners of an insurance agency, SHP Financial, LLC. In addition, other supervised persons of SHP Wealth Management, LLC are independent licensed insurance agents of SHP Financial, LLC. No statements made shall constitute tax, legal or accounting advice. You should consult your own legal or tax professional before investing. Both SHP Wealth Management, LLC and SHP Financial, LLC will offer clients advice and/or products from each entity. No client is under any obligation to purchase any insurance product. SHP Financial utilizes third-party marketing and public relation firms to assist in securing media appearances, for securing interviews, to provide suggested content for radio, for article placements, and other supporting services.

Disclaimer

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

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Derek Gregoire, co-founder of SHP Financial in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is insurance licensed and is licensed as an investment adviser representative, which allows him to provide financial and investment advice, as well as personally manage investment portfolios as a fiduciary adviser. For seven years, Gregoire has been host of the popular radio show, Retirement Road Map, which airs on WBZ, WRKO and WXTK.