While working your whole life, earning a paycheck and saving for retirement, you are in the accumulation phase. Once you retire, you are transitioning to the decumulation phase. The retirement income is made up of several components. First is your fixed income, including Social Security, pension, annuities, etc., which for most people is not enough to maintain their desired lifestyle. For example, if your desired income needs are $5,000 a month, but your fixed income is only $3,500, how do you accommodate for that gap? The Retirement Buckets^® Income Plan was created to help you decumulate your retirement savings into a continuous income stream throughout retirement, adjusting for the cost of inflation, supplementing the gap through 10, 20, 30+ years of retirement.

After inputting all your assumptions about desired income, fixed income settings, and life expectancy, the plan will generate the Retirement Income Overview. This will show how much total savings you will need to fund all four buckets on the implementation day and the initial amount in each bucket. Following the implementation, you will receive a quarterly task to rebalance the buckets, and a task every 5 years to do a bucket transfer. This will keep the buckets balanced and on track throughout your retirement. It’s that simple.

First, we always want you to feel comfortable before thinking this is the right solution for you. We give everyone a 30-Day FREE TRIAL to get used to it and see how easy it is to navigate. By taking that time, using the software and changing the assumptions, our clients have uncovered many ways they can maximize their retirement income. In addition, with digital banking and online sales, people have become accustomed to the convenience of doing things on their time and retirement should be no different! Being able to take care of your investments and manage your retirement from anywhere you chose is important when you have a busy schedule and are enjoying the free time you’ve earned.

Many people overestimate what they need, while others underestimate. This is an important decision, so we recommend you use an expense worksheet to get an accurate amount required. Also, working longer and postponing collecting Social Security will help in a few ways. You will be drawing retirement income later, you can continue to contribute to your retirement savings while working, and your social security benefits will increase every year you postpone up until the age of 70. Use the Social Security Estimator to determine when to begin collecting your benefits. Adjusting your portfolios to reflect a much more aggressive return to supplement your shortfall is not recommended.

Financial professionals often charge their clients an asset-based fee, traditionally varying between 1% to 2% of the amount you have invested with them. This means that a portfolio with $100,000 will cost $1,000 to $2,000 in fees annually. The Retirement Buckets^® Income Plan provides the guidance necessary to replace asset-based management fees with a single, low monthly subscription fee that makes financial management affordable, and it puts you in charge of your money!

There are many clients who do not need to have a professional financial advisor. Their only need is to be able to decumulate their savings to create lasting retirement income, which is what The Retirement Buckets^® Income Plan was designed to do. But that does not always cover every need. For legacy planning, estate planning, long-term health concerns, as well as many other services a financial professional could provide, it is recommended to meet with them to ensure you are retiring with everything in place. Do it early, so that you don’t have to worry about it and you can spend the rest of your time enjoying retirement.