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We are a couple retiring next year at 63. Projected Retirement income (2 Gov’t pensions and SS) will meet current expenditures (discretionary & non-discretionary). Medical not an issue(Military Tricare). Mortgage paid off in 9 more years and is the only debt.
Friends are recommending we visit a Financial/Retirement/Fiduciary advisor. We have a little stock that might pay for an overseas vacation someday, but I do not see the need for such an advisor.
An advisor would tell you how to invest your stock assets and charge you 2% for the privilege. He might also advise you on when to take social security. But you probably already know you should delay social security if you reasonably can.
No, you don't need an advisor. If you are not sure where to put your stock $, you can put it into a broad-based index fund.
Now if you had an advisor, you could jump into the conversation about "what my guy says" with "what your guy says."
We hired a Financial Advisor at a whopping 500 for the year. He came to our house 3 or 4 times and we found that the information he gave us and what we knew about our own financial situation matched up. The wife was a bit skeptical when I told her we were ready. She learned differently with a different voice and a clear explanation.
So if it eases the mind it is okay to ask one. If you have looked at your finances and see needs and wants being covered by your incomes then that is all that is needed.
Unless you have some specific questions it seems like it would be a waste of time and money.
You can always visit one in the future if you feel the need.
We also retired at 63. Like you, we were comfortable with our income flow, medical coverage, no debt. Where we were unsure was in will and estate planning but that's something we put off until a year or so after retirement. We'll likely sit down again with our advisors (a trust mgt group at our long-time bank) again at age 70 to review everything.
Unless you have some specific questions it seems like it would be a waste of time and money.
You can always visit one in the future if you feel the need.
We also retired at 63. Like you, we were comfortable with our income flow, medical coverage, no debt. Where we were unsure was in will and estate planning but that's something we put off until a year or so after retirement. We'll likely sit down again with our advisors (a trust mgt group at our long-time bank) again at age 70 to review everything.
the problem is we only know what we know and we don't know what we don't know .
i always considered myself savvy financially but i have to say, there was so much i didn't know i didn't know .
we could have had a much better plan today had i gotten help years before .
retirement planning can be far more than buy index funds and have a nice life .
how you structure your accounts can have a big impact on taxes , taxable income effects everything from getting ss taxed , to rmd's , what you pay for medicare , surcharges , capital gain rates and making use of the zero capital gains brackets .
there can be state tax estate planning involved too . i almost got myself in tax trouble here in ny when ny started to raise the estate tax thresholds .
i did not know if you go over by more than 10% the entire estate gets taxed from dollar 1 not the overage , so we had to get some disclaimer trusts in place until ny exceeded the limit of what we had over the years .
my experience in looking for an adviser who can play the 2nd half of the game well has found fee only to be the most lacking in the retirement planning end .
most would not be fee only if they had proper training and certification in other areas and most were still running on old myth and wrong old school training .
today retirement planning has been found to be better when more comprehensive methods and products are incorporated and my experience has been fee only are very weak in the more modern studies and methods because they lack the training in those areas . . .
We are a couple retiring next year at 63. Projected Retirement income (2 Gov’t pensions and SS) will meet current expenditures (discretionary & non-discretionary). Medical not an issue(Military Tricare). Mortgage paid off in 9 more years and is the only debt.
Friends are recommending we visit a Financial/Retirement/Fiduciary advisor. We have a little stock that might pay for an overseas vacation someday, but I do not see the need for such an advisor.
Am I wrong? Would we benefit from hiring one?
Thanks!
As you mentioned the majority of your retirement income is being derived from some combination of Government pensions and social security, and the remainder being a little stock that can buy you a vacation one day, with that being said I am assuming the value of those stocks are not significant enough to factor into a steady long term retirement income flow. Myself who will be a Federal Government retiree under the FERS pension system having a similar retirement income scenario as you, I suggest if you are going to see a financial advisor be sure that person is someone who is very knowledgeable about your particular pension system. An individual such as this can help you determine in your particular situation the best election of survivor benefits and post retirement FEGLI life insurance coverage if that is a benefit available to you, as well as the best timing for each of you to claim social security that can enhance your benefits. And although you did not mention if the TSP/401K will be part of your retirement income, if that is something you will have there are a number of withdrawal options from full, partial, and annuities, so getting advise from a person knowledgeable of TSP can help you make more informed withdrawal decisions.
Believe me, the HR retirement specialist who you are assigned to is not going to give you any advise regarding what are the best benefit elections to take that meet your specific retirement needs because that is not their jobs since they not financial advisors. They are only going to calculate the elections you tell them that you want, and if you do not have a good knowledge base to help you make the best election decisions and you discover down the line you made an election error, sometimes these errors unfortunately can't be corrected.
As you mentioned the majority of your retirement income is being derived from some combination of Government pensions and social security, and the remainder being a little stock that can buy you a vacation one day, with that being said I am assuming the value of those stocks are not significant enough to factor into a steady long term retirement income flow. Myself who will be a Federal Government retiree under the FERS pension system having a similar retirement income scenario as you, I suggest if you are going to see a financial advisor be sure that person is someone who is very knowledgeable about your particular pension system. An individual such as this can help you determine in your particular situation the best election of survivor benefits and post retirement FEGLI life insurance coverage if that is a benefit available to you, as well as the best timing for each of you to claim social security that can enhance your benefits. And although you did not mention if the TSP/401K will be part of your retirement income, if that is something you will have there are a number of withdrawal options from full, partial, and annuities, so getting advise from a person knowledgeable of TSP can help you make more informed withdrawal decisions.
Believe me, the HR retirement specialist who you are assigned to is not going to give you any advise regarding what are the best benefit elections to take that meet your specific retirement needs because that is not their jobs since they not financial advisors. They are only going to calculate the elections you tell them that you want, and if you do not have a good knowledge base to help you make the best election decisions and you discover down the line you made an election error, sometimes these errors unfortunately can't be corrected.
Ebisu the bold and underlined statement is something you really have to understand. When you get your benefits package especially the TSP if you have it is going to be critical. As Nightengale mentioned TSP has particular rules. A wrong step there is going to be impossible to correct. Congress is working on new changes to TSP rules but they haven't passed anything yet. There are a number of things to consider and a FA might help but.... they need to know your system (FERS) well. So that should be the first question you ask if you do look for a FA.
Dens't sound like you have any assets? Since you just mention a small amount of stocks.
If its not possible for you to save, I'd get help. Frankly I wouldn't retire in your situation.
Yeah you will probably be OK, if luck is on your side. But one of you dies, what about the other?
No life insurance, no LTC? What about health insurance?
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