The Three Forms of Retirement Income

When you’re planning for retirement, most people are typically looking at three forms of income. After all, we want you to be stable, so that you can really enjoy your retirement.

Those forms of income are:

Social Security. This, of course, is the federal program into which you have paid taxes for the duration of your working years. The benefit you receive each month will depend upon several factors, such as how many years you worked, your wages earned throughout your career, and the time at which you retire. Typically, those who earn more will pay more into the system, and therefore enjoy a higher benefit upon retirement. And, those who retire earlier will accept smaller checks than they otherwise would have earned by waiting until a later date.

We have many different ways of maximizing Social Security benefits, so work closely with us in the years before retirement. We can help you make important decisions that will affect your final benefit amount.

A pension. Hopefully, your employer still offers pensions, but these are becoming less common. Otherwise, your “pension” might be derived from other income that you establish yourself.

Guaranteed income for life. This is the third leg of the stool, with regard to planning for a stable retirement. You want to establish some form of income that not only provides for your living expenses, but will last for the rest of your life. We have various ways of accomplishing this goal, but they all require careful planning in order to set them up correctly.

As you can see, retirement planning involves a variety of factors, and they all need to come together just right to provide the retirement income you will need. So, remember that planning for retirement is an ongoing exercise, and is not something most people can accomplish overnight! Come see us, and we’ll evaluate your current strategy. Then, together we can decide upon a strategy to address any of the above three types of income that might need some additional work or planning.