Refinancing Your Retirement

Retirement is really hard for a lot of people. Suddenly the paycheck stops coming in, and the uncertainty starts. You wonder, “Am I doing this right? Will I run out of money someday?”

As a financial advisor in Charlotte, I’ve helped hundreds of people retire, so I’ve seen it; savers who’ve saved their whole lives for retirement suddenly freeze and find it hard to spend anything.

When you’re working, paychecks automatically separate your earnings from your savings. But then, in retirement, that paycheck has stopped and now you’re paying yourself out of your savings, and it’s a whole different ballgame. You have to create your own income to cover your living expenses. With nothing coming in a lot going out, it’s easy to get nervous. You have to balance Social Security, pensions, taxes, withdrawals, reserves, emergencies, longevity, healthcare… and all these other things you weren’t as worried about before in life when you had a paycheck.

When you think out further ahead, it’s even more intimidating. How can you be confident that your savings will keep up with inflation and the cost of living if you are spending too much? Obviously reliable income is key. If a retiree is confident they can keep up with inflation and the cost of living and still cover all their household expenses, then they feel better about spending their savings.

That’s why we like to talk about “refinancing retirement.”

A lot of people still think having a big 401(k) with a certain “number” in it, be it $1 million or whatever, means they are set for life. But they don’t consider that with a traditional 401(k), that money will be taxed at ordinary income tax rates. So, you might have 20 to 30% less than you think, depending on your tax bracket.

Refinancing retirement is about using math to run projections out about your taxes, inflation factors, withdrawals, etc., then finding ways you can generate your own income to add to your Social Security and other fixed income sources. That’s where I come in. I focus on retirement, and on providing retirement income that comes with contractual guarantees from insurance companies. That’s why I became a  Certified Annuity Advisor^SM, so that I could show you and help you compare options that can allow you to “refinance” your retirement while interest rates are high right now.

If you’ve ever refinanced your house, you understand the concept. Basically, we will give you a second opinion to see if refinancing part of your financial portfolio might make sense for you. And sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. It all depends on the rate you will get, and the guarantee you will receive based on the contract. We will compare between dozens of contracts from insurance companies, because we have access to so many. We can completely tailor options to your goals.

You’ve been working anywhere from 20, 30, 40 years, maybe even more and putting money away. Now you’ll need to live anywhere from 20, 30, 40 years on the money you’ve put away. Let’s talk about refinancing your retirement!