Weekend Reading: For Real Financial Security, Do NOT Do What Everyone Else is Doing
This article appears as part of Casey Weade's Weekend Reading for Retirees series. Every Friday, Casey highlights four hand-picked articles on trending retirement topics and delivers them straight to your email inbox. Get on the list here.
As one of the most inspiring mentors I look up to, Strategic Coach founder, Dan Sullivan, has a saying: “Our eyes only see and our ears only hear what our brain is looking for.” This advice can be applied to many areas of life, and that includes the process of creating a comprehensive retirement plan.
READ THE ARTICLEBeyond status quo strategies: While no ideal investment or financial vehicle exists, there are ways to encapsulate strategies in the creation of your ideal portfolio; however, it will require some out-of-the-box thinking. Above all, you should focus on ways to maximize your financial situation. Four categories listed here to help streamline your path to financial security include:
📌 Long-term growth: Although public stock markets possess the highest growth potential long-term, other highly underutilized areas which come along with less volatility include real estate, private equity or utilizing a private banking strategy that capitalizes on the features of a whole life insurance policy.
📌 Consistent income: Consistent income flow is crucial for a confident retirement, and while the public stock market is a popular pick to generate income, it's the least manageable. Alternatively, annuities and private market investments are highly suitable for replacing your paycheck and can be strategically incorporated into your portfolio by a professional.
📌 Access to cash: Having liquid cash is a big part of many retirees’ financial peace of mind, but bank accounts earn little-to-nothing and are taxable. Instead, a whole life insurance contract can store cash with tax-free growth and tax-free access.
📌 Tax mitigation: As stated here, “Tax deferral just kicks the can down the road”, and while a Roth conversion can be utilized as part of a tax-efficient strategy, first minimizing the taxes of that conversion is key.
Bottom line: You will never find the one perfect investment to solve for all of your goals and needs, but if you get granular enough in your strategies, you can find the best tool for the specific job. Ultimately, this will help you create the most efficient plan that covers all of your bases.