How to Stop Worrying About Money in Retirement

Alright. So let’s talk about how to stop worrying about money in retirement. Now that’s a tough one. That’s something that, you know, you might always have a little bit of worry in the back of the mind. But it’s our job here at Centennial Wealth to help reduce that worry, to minimize it as much as possible. You know, I stumbled upon a recent survey from Allianz where it stated that 61% of retirees are more afraid of running out of money that they are of dying. So that’s just goes to show you how important it is to make sure that you have a plan in place where you can lean on that and hopefully reduce that worry. But what it really boils down to, and I think that a lot of that worry stems from just not having that plan in place, not just the fear of the unknown. Right? Will this pot of money, that I’ve been working my entire life, will it last me for the rest of my life. I mean it could be 20, 30, 40 years in retirement. Do you have enough money to last you? And that’s the real big question. You know, I got my dauther’s birthday is coming up next month. And, you know, it’s my job typically to cut the birthday cake. Okay? And so when I think of this, you know, I’ve got to figure out a way where I make sure that every little kid that’s been invited and comes to the birthday, gets that slice of cake. Okay? You know then I think about this, it’s like well if I cut the cake too thick, right, you know, maybe the first 10, 15 kids that come by, they get a nice, big slice of cake. But then maybe the next 10, 15 kids, you know, that cake slice starts to get thinner and thinner and thinner. And, you know, if I run out of cake, well then little Timmy, he’s going to be very upset. Right? He wants his cake. And then the opposite is true too. I mean, if I’m cutting the cake slices too thin for the first kids that come along, you know, they are not getting their fill of cake, but then I could be stuck with a whole bunch of cake left over and then, you know, typically my wife is going to make me eat all that. But, you know, when you think about that, it’s kind of like your retirement portfolio. Right? You’ve got to make sure that, you know, the pot of money, the cake that you got saved for retirement, is going to last you all those years. So how do you go about figuring out how to cut that cake? How to take income from that portfolio to make sure that it lasts you, right? And, you know, what it boils down to and way to start is to figure out what you actually need from that portfolio. And to do that, you’ve got to come up with a budget. Okay? So take a look at and tally up all those various expenses that you have. Mortgage, maybe you’re still paying on that. You’ve got the car. Utilities. But also include that fun, okay. Make sure you’re budgeting in fun because these are your golden years in retirement. Right? You want to enjoy them. Okay so now that you have your expenses all tallied up, what are those guaranteed income sources that you have, okay? That could be, maybe you have a pension, you’re one of the lucky ones that actually has a pension still. Also, Social Security, for both you and your wife if you’re married. Okay? Make sure that you add all of that up and come to your figure. Okay, so you take your income versus your expenses, and what’s the gap there. If there is a gap there, that’s where you’re going to lean on your portfolio, okay, to supplement your income with that. So that gives you that figure. So now you can say okay, I’ve got this portfolio, I’ve got this cake here and I know how much I need to take from the portfolio to meet my needs. But how do I go about doing that, right? How do I cut the portfolio or how do I cut that cake so that it will last for the rest of my life? And that’s where we come into play. Right? That’s how we’re going to help you plan that out. And there’s various tools that we can use to help get you a certain rate of return and so forth. But you want to make sure that you’re not biting or taking to much of that cake at one time. Right? Because you want it to last. So like various tools that we have out there that gets you a guaranteed rate, I mean we are talking annuity products, okay. So there’s multiple different types of annuities that are out there. But there’s one that’s called an income annuity. Okay? So it guarantees you and cuts that cake perfectly for you for the rest of your life. Okay? But obviously it’s not for everybody. So that’s where you want to sit with somebody that has access to all these different tools and can show you how it can help you cut that cake evenly for the rest of your life. So it all starts with a plan. Make sure that you’re sitting down with somebody, developing that plan. To get the icing on the cake. Alright, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. Don’t forget, follow us on YouTube. Go to youtube.com/retiringwell, like, share and subscribe to that channel. Thanks so much!