How to Make Financial Decisions Today That Strengthen Your Retirement Long Game
Many people begin their journey to retirement with a retirement savings plan – either with their employer or in a SEP or Traditional IRA. When children come along they may consider writing a will and buying term life insurance to protect their new family. If they have a loved one that suffers from a disabling illness they might wonder about some kind of protection from long term care costs. Whatever today’s pressing need might be, it stands to reason that when you can see where you are and you’re going a certain type of solution will make more sense than another.
That’s what completing a Retirement Analyzer review can do for you - help you build your long term strategy. Then, as each life stage comes along, you can review your plan and better understand what type of protection can help make the whole plan stronger.
Looking for an Immediate Financial Win
Recently I received a call from a young couple getting serious about starting a family. They told me they suddenly found themselves worried about making sure their family would be okay if one of them died early. They wondered how to make sure the surviving spouse could stay in their home and afford care for their young children. Although it seemed like a simple fix – buy term life insurance for each of them to help cover income loss – the reality was they weren’t ready to make a decision. They didn’t have a clear picture of their finances and weren’t sure how much insurance they would need.
Building a Long Game – a Long Term Financial Plan
Our next steps.
- Collect financial information and meet to fill out a detailed questionnaire.
- Enter in Retirement Analyzer then meet to discuss how their finances fit their goals.
- Discuss long term goals and what they need to get there.
- Choose the life insurance plan that protects their new family while building towards their future.
In this case, both spouses are self-employed and, although they have some emergency savings and savings for a down payment on a home, they haven’t yet started retirement savings plans. With help from a Financial Analyzer report, they may learn things like their budget becoming pretty tight once the first child arrives. That may mean they will only have money to either buy life insurance or start saving for the future. Protecting their new family is top priority for them. Because they’ll need a lot of money right away if one of them passes away, an indexed universal life plan for each of them may make the most sense. It can allow them to grow cash in the life insurance plan, offers a large amount of cash quickly at death, and means paying a single set amount for each of them. Buying insurance won’t cure their new parent nerves but sure could offer some peace of mind for the future.