When and How to Update Your Retirement Plan

Setting up a retirement strategy is one thing, but when and how do you adjust it? Here are three key times to revisit your retirement plan strategy presented by Leisl L. Cording, CFP®, CDFA®. 

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Transcript

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Welcome to You And Your Money. Empowering you to reach your goals with tips to help you Plan Well, Invest Well and Live Well. Today's episode features Leisl Cording, senior vice president and financial advisor at Weiss, Hale and Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors. Let's dig into today's topic. Welcome to You And Your Money. Joining us today is Leisl Cording, senior vice president and financial advisor at Weiss, Hale and Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors. Welcome back Leisl. Thank you very much Ben, good morning. Always great to be here. Always a pleasure. Today we'll be discussing the importance of reassessing your retirement strategy and when it's necessary to make adjustments. Now let's dive right in to today's topic. Why is it critical for individuals to periodically revisit their retirement strategy? Well, good question Ben, and I'm actually going to relate this to a little bit of a story. Let's let's assume that you're a pilot of a plane, okay. And you're taking off from Connecticut, going to be landing in California once you get to California, that's your retirement. Okay. I’m the air traffic controller and also the advisor in this situation. But as the pilot, I mean, you're pretty much once you get up in the air, you're set to autopilot. You check in with air traffic control here and there to make sure you're still on track. And so that's what we do as as advisors is really checking in to make sure that you're still on track so that once you get to California, you're ready to retire and you've landed in the right airport and you're you're set to go. So it's just really important. I mean, there will be things along the way, major events that that will have you maybe shifting your course on that to California. But you just want to make sure that you're you're on track. And checking in with an advisor is key. That makes a lot of sense. I like the analogy as well. Can you elaborate on some of the situations that warrant a re-evaluation of one's retirement strategy? That's why working with an advisor is is really key to stay on track for some. I mean, there's always going to be life changes whether it's a get in a new job or you've had a baby or you've gotten married or divorce. Any of those life changes really would warrant you to to check in on your plan because it could impact it. And you just you want to make sure that you're on that right glide path. And if you have to make adjustments and then there's also external factors like tax policy and things that you need to be aware of as well that may impact your plan. It’s clear that there are various circumstances that should prompt individuals to revisit the retirement strategy. Can you provide some examples of how these situations can impact someone's financials? Sure. Yeah. And I'll give you an example of a client I had that had a major job transition. So they were living in Boston with their family and they wanted to move actually back to the northeast corner to be close to family and have more flexibility. Well, that meant that the wife was going to have to take a different job and so was making less money. So when you check in on the financial plan there, you want to make sure that the the savings that they're able to do now with that lower, you know, combined household income, they're able to still stay on track and retire they want to. So either you have to make some adjustments elsewhere and reduce some spending. But that's one example. I mean, there's there's other examples, too. Again, marriage is is and if you're going through a divorce, those are some where you want to check back in that's going to have a major impact either in a marriage you're combining now your assets and in savings. A divorce, you're splitting things. So that that's makes it a little more challenging. And then again, there's the other piece to this, too. When it comes to those changes, there may be a change and we call it risk. And in our today, we were talking about risk capacity. But that's that's really your ability to take on more risk if or less risk depending on the situation within your your financial plan. So making sure that by taking on that less risk or taking on more risk, you're able to still achieve your plan. Those are all significant factors to consider. See what you're talking about. Yeah. Are there any external factors or regular maintenance tasks that individuals should be aware of when reassessing their retirement strategy? Yeah, and I touched on it briefly. The major tax policy or or laws that come in to, you know, they get passed. More recently we had Secure Act 2.0, which was sort of a revision in addition to the original Secure act that was passed in 2019. But just one example there. There's a provision within that new law that allows those that are between 60 and 63 to actually in addition to the over 50 contribution on retirement accounts, they're able to save even more into a 401k account. So there's things like that that maybe you might not be aware of that actually allow you to save more. And there are some other impacts too, where especially with retirees, where they had to start then taking distributions, required distributions later. So all of this has an impact, but reviewing and revisiting that retirement plan on a whether it's annually or semiannually, depending on what you have going on, is really important to to keep up with these things that change and you have to adapt to them or else your plan, you got to stay on track. That's important. For sure. It's clear that staying proactive and keeping one's retirement strategy up to date is crucial because you highlight the importance of working with a strategic financial advisor in this process. Yeah, of course. And and I sort of gave an example in that last bit there. But having a retirement plan is alone is not enough. You need to have a strategic partner that's thinking of things like, oh, you can save an additional amount in your 401k because you're between these two ages. So there's there's a lot of things that go into that. A financial planner can help you think more strategically on how to save in retirement accounts, whether or investment accounts. But a well-designed strategy considers all of your investments that you have and both now in the present and also in the longer term. So how are you going to meet those goals to then have a nice retirement? So all very important. And here at WHZ our Plan Well, Invest Well, Live Well process that's exactly what we do with with every one of our clients and it allows us to build that strategic plan to help our clients live well and make the most of the money that they've saved all their lives. So. Gotcha. Well, that's some excellent advice Leisl. For our listeners who are interested in seeking assistance from Weiss, Hale and Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors, how can they get in touch with you? Well, if you're ready to build that strategic plan that I'm talking about and secure your financial future, you can request a complimentary consultation on our website at whzwealth.com or you can give us a call of course at 860-928-2341. Wonderful. Thank you for joining us today. Yeah, thanks so much for having me, Ben. That's it for today. Thanks for listening to You And Your Money. Find even more episodes, videos and other resources at our web site whzwealth.com. Be sure to come back next week for more tips to help you live fearlessly and pursue your financial and life goals. Until then, live well. Weiss, Hale and Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors offer securities and advisory services through Commonwealth Financial Network member FINRA/SIPC, a registered investment advisor. Fixed insurance products and services offered through CES Insurance Agency. They practice at 697 Pomfret st, Pomfret Center, Connecticut 06259 and can be reached at 860-928-2341. Weiss, Hale and Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors do not provide legal or tax advice. The tenured financial services team strive to support clients in achieving their financial life goals. For more information regarding wealth management and customize financial planning with Weiss, Hale and Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors, please visit. www.whzwealth.com.