3 Strategies for Maximizing Retirement Savings – and Enjoyment

Our customers often come to us with one long-term goal in mind: retirement. And while starting to save early is often the overwhelming advice offered most, it isn’t always the reality of what is possible for those early in their career (or it’s well in the rearview mirror of where customers find themselves).

That doesn’t mean that creating a stable plan for retirement is unattainable. There are several strategies that you can consider that will bring you closer to your plan for retirement.

Investing: risk aversion or attraction?

Depending on your stage in life – or in the case of the small or large business owner, the stage of your business – you will be positioned to evaluate investing strategies that pose different levels of risk and possible reward. Typically, financial advisors will encourage younger customers to take greater risk with their investments (e.g. utilizing stocks or mutual funds with the potential for higher gains – but which also have the possibility of increased losses should market volatility occur). As we move closer to retirement, products like permanent life insurance plans with guaranteed pay outs or fixed-rate annuities become a much more reliable investment option. The investing decision is complex – and it always helps to have an expert advisor on your side who can strategize with you as markets and various tax rules and regulations shift.

Building your financial dream team

It is extremely common to have different professionals that help with your wealth management. There is a lot to be achieved by having them work together on your behalf. These individuals can include:

• A wealth manager or financial expert that helps with management of accounts and advises as to how you can take advantage of new financial products
• A stockbroker who works with you to determine stock purchases/sales
• An insurance agent who can help you to determine options for saving on plans as well as advising on the purchase of long-term plans that act as separate savings accounts
• An accountant (or CPA) who helps minimize your tax vulnerability in accordance with current tax laws
• A banker who can offer guaranteed returns and lending solutions for options and flexibility

By making sure that you’re meeting with them regularly – and potentially, cluing them into the strategies you’re using to grow savings for retirement in various areas – it will help each member of your financial team to assess strategies for growth. For example, if you are making more fiscally conservative investments in one area, you may have the ability to take more risk in another. All savings and investments work as a system – so treating your advisors as a team ensures you’re maximizing your savings.

Spending on the future

Sometimes the best way to save, is to give. This can mean to causes that you care for (which also gives you a tax benefit) or perhaps to secure the future of your children or grandchildren. There are also ways to defer your tax liability through strategies such as the enactment of trusts or annual and lifetime exclusion gifts. Again, there are many products to consider and we’re here to help.

You’ve worked hard to get to where you are – and the work isn’t over. But the way in which you create or modify your retirement savings strategy today can mean a greater future ahead. Schedule an appointment with one of our bankers to evaluate your current situation and find opportunities to optimize and grow.