Overview: Balance growth potential, volatility, and the need for reliable spending money. Retirement planning is personal, so use this guide as a framework for questions and decisions rather than a one-size-fits-all answer.
Reassess your time horizon
Retiring does not mean every investment must be short-term. Money earmarked for later decades may have a different horizon than expenses due next year.
Understand sequence risk
Poor investment returns early in retirement can have an outsized impact when withdrawals are made during a market decline. Examine how your plan handles this scenario.
Think in terms of a diversified portfolio
Diversifying across appropriate assets may reduce concentration risk, but does not eliminate losses. Keep fees, taxes, and rebalancing in mind.
Match cash needs to available assets
Consider how near-term spending will be funded without relying on a favorable market price on a particular day.
Avoid chasing returns
Higher promised returns often come with greater risk, and past performance cannot guarantee future outcomes. Treat any promise of risk-free high returns with skepticism.
Review periodically
Your desired risk level, liquidity, and asset mix can change as employment, health, and family circumstances change.
Choose one action from this guide, write down the information you need, and schedule a date to review it. Consider speaking with an appropriately qualified professional for your specific situation.
This article is general educational information. It is not individualized financial, investment, tax, or legal advice, and does not promise results.