Free Guide · Prepare for the years ahead
The 10 Problems That Can Derail Your Retirement. And How to Prepare for Each One.
Two retirees with the same savings and the same average return can end up in very different places. This plain-English guide explains ten risks that can do the most damage early in retirement and practical ways to prepare for each.
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From Doug Aumont, CFP® · Financial Thinking Partner® Wealth Advisors, a Colorado-registered investment adviser
What's inside
Ten risks, in plain English. Each with a practical next step.
Markets & decisions
- The market drops the year you retire
- Carrying the wrong risk at the wrong time
- Emotion makes the decisions
Money over time
- Outliving your savings
- Inflation erodes buying power over time
- Turning a pile of savings into a paycheck
- Taxes take a bigger bite than you planned
Care, benefits & costs
- Health and long-term care costs
- Claiming Social Security at the wrong time
- Costs and conflicts of interest
- 01
The market drops the year you retire
Two retirees with the same savings and the same average return can end up in very different places, depending on the order in which returns arrive.
- 02
Outliving your savings
No one knows how long retirement will last. A plan built to a shorter horizon than you live can leave the later years underfunded.
- 03
Inflation erodes buying power over time
There's no crash and no scary headline. Just a check that stays the same size while everything it buys gets more expensive.
- 04
Turning a pile of savings into a paycheck
You spent 40 years learning how to save. Nobody taught you how to spend it down.
- 05
Taxes take a bigger bite than you planned
Withdrawals from pre-tax accounts are generally taxable, so the balance on a 401(k) or IRA statement is not all spendable.
- 06
Health and long-term care costs
A market decline is not the only threat. Health and long-term care costs can reshape the plan.
- 07
Claiming Social Security at the wrong time
When you claim can materially change lifetime benefits, taxes, and the benefit left for a surviving spouse.
- 08
Carrying the wrong risk at the wrong time
The portfolio that helped you build savings may not fit the job of funding retirement.
- 09
Emotion makes the decisions
The math might say one thing. Fear says another.
- 10
Costs and conflicts of interest
Advisory fees, fund expenses, and commissions all reduce what you keep, and each can create incentives. Ask any advisor, including us, how they are paid.
About the author and firm
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® (CFP®)
Fiduciary duty as an investment adviser
Published fees and conflicts — see Pricing
Client accounts held with Altruist, a third-party custodian
Colorado Registered Investment Adviser
Who this is for
People within 10 years of making work optional who want investments, income and spending, taxes, insurance and care, and loved ones and legacy coordinated in one plan.
Get the 10 Problems guide
A plain-English guide to risks in the first decade of retirement. Complimentary.
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