You are not alone if you want to retire sooner rather than later. According to the Pew Research Center, more individuals will retire in 2020 than in any other decade. A growing pandemic has heightened focus on objectives and the need to complete tasks as soon as possible. Importantly, we have had a decade of rising asset values – from stocks to real estate – so household wealth for some is at levels that can sustain not only retirement but also leave a legacy for future generations.
To provide our clients the assurance they need to retire with less worry, we help them answer three crucial questions:
#1. Is it time for me to retire? If you're a high-net-worth individual, the question isn't whether you have enough money to retire, but rather how to re-align your fortune with your life and legacy. This typically necessitates a change from amassing money to accessing and redeploying it. While this transition can be extremely fulfilling and liberating, it can also be rather frightening at first. This is a significant psychological and financial adjustment, particularly for persons whose net worth is invested in a business, investment real estate, or other less liquid assets.
To address this question, we collaborate with you to determine optimal diversification, income production, and tax efficiency. For increased cash flow, you could sell some properties, transfer ownership of others, or even redevelop. Should you hold your assets outright or transfer them to an LLC or a trust? Each case is different, but we bring a team of experts in investments and real estate, trust and estate planning, and business ideas to each one.
How do you sell in the most tax-efficient manner? How may your children and other family members benefit, if desired? What does reinvestment look like in a market where prices are at all-time highs and interest rates are approaching all-time lows? Retirement angst is replaced by renewed vigor by assisting you in answering these and other issues.
#2. Is there a buffer built in? In retirement, there are many unknowns, including the big ones like health and longevity, as well as investment returns, tax policy, and laws. We specialize on controlling or decreasing risk across your entire asset base, from your investment portfolio to residential real estate and collectibles, using a wide range of tools and tactics.
We review where you have gaps in insurance coverage, look into self-insurance possibilities, and come up with backup plans in case things don't go as planned. We develop spending plans for people up to the age of 100 with varying levels of certainty based on asset growth and personal spending levels. We regularly monitor these and notify you of any potential shortcomings.
#3. Is there any built-in flexibility? Retirement, as my colleague Rodney Van Belle shows out in this excellent piece, Retired and Resilient, is a significant stage of life that can last 30 years or more. It is far from static for the majority of people. You might choose to ease into retirement by working part-time, or you might retire and then decide five years later that you want to start a new business or live abroad.
We show you what each new issue or opportunity means for your money and asset base. You can then consider the trade-offs before making a decision.
Retirement preparation is more than simply a financial concern. It all comes down to you, your life, and your legacy. We bring together investment analysts, wealth planners to create a plan for you that works effectively on several levels, is scalable, and can be changed as your priorities shift. Knowing all of this enables our clients to relax into and enjoy retirement.