Retirement Planning

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The financial services industry is bursting with ideas on creating a retirement plan, but these recommendations can vary widely based on your age, risk tolerance, bank-account size, access to Social Security or other personal details.

With so many options, how do you know the best strategy for you?
Mary García Strategic Management – M.G.S.M can help. We work to understand our client unique financial situation and investment goals to build an easy-to-understand, comprehensive retirement plan. Our team of retirement planning experts help you build a customized plan and keep you on course to achieve your goals, serving our clients make us unique in our industry. We can help you achieve your financial goals through tailored money management, world-class client service, unique perspectives and a fee structure designed for your success.

Your Investment Adviser

Retirement planning can be stressful. Investors often need guidance to develop a plan that can achieve their goals. There are plenty of financial service professionals—including brokers, financial planners, retirement advisers, and others—who claim to be able to help. But with so many voices, how do you know whom to trust? And how do you know you’re paying for the right advice?
Mary García Strategic Management (MGSM) simplifies retirement planning. We provide clear, straightforward advice with no hidden fees. Our fees are performance-based, meaning we succeed when you succeed.

Set Your Retirement Goals

Establishing your financial goals is the first step to successful retirement planning. Everyone has unique goals, but most fit into a few broad categories:

Avoid running out of money: This is a number-one priority—and number-one fear—for many. Being forced to go back to work or turn to children for income during retirement can be a source of anxiety for current and future retirees.

Maintain or improve lifestyle: People work hard for their retirement and want to enjoy it. As such, a common goal for many is to maintain—or better yet, improve—their circumstances during retirement.

Increase wealth: Some folks are able to enjoy retirement without the fear of running out of money. For these individuals, a goal may even be to grow their wealth over the long term—potentially to give to children, grandchildren or a charity.

Spend everything: This isn’t a typical goal, but some people think success is spending all of their money before they die. This is a risky proposition. There’s no way to know how long your retirement will last and it’s common to underestimate expenses needed in later years.

Your goals may fit one or more of these categories. They may also change as your circumstances and priorities shift. Having a well-designed, adaptable plan is what’s important. Clear and regular communication is crucial for success. Our Investment Counselors provide our clients with ongoing communication and education opportunities to help ensure their portfolios remain focused on their specific goals and priorities.

Preparing for your financial future can seem overwhelming—there are so many variables to consider. But, retirement planning doesn’t have to be stressful if approached in the right way. Like any “life-sized” topic, planning how to reach your financial goals can be easier to tackle in pieces—and with help.
After setting your financial goals, the next critical step in retirement planning is determining your investment time horizon—the length of time you need your assets to last. Most people assume their time horizon is the same as their life expectancy, but this approach ignores some important details. For example, if you’re married or in a long-term relationship, you should consider your partner’s time horizon—particularly if your spouse is younger or likely to live longer.

Some investors also want to pass a portion of their wealth to future generations. In those instances, you should factor in the children’s or grandchildren’s time horizons. Every situation is unique and a well-planned retirement accounts for your circumstances. Anmnd another important step in retirement planning is compiling an income and expense report (if you need cash flow from your retirement accounts.) Better understanding your income needs in retirement can help you identify any gaps that may need to be addressed.

Try to incorporate potential tax implications wherever possible. For example, do you have a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA? Both? What other sources of retirement income do you expect to have? Do you have a pension? Social Security? Rental income?
Starting your retirement plan early can increase your chances for success. Don’t fret about getting everything exactly right in the beginning. Projected financial information doesn’t need to be completely accurate early on, but the more data you can incorporate, the more realistic a plan you can make.
Just make sure to review and update your plan regularly. Our experienced Investment Counselors are there to help our clients create and stick to a plan designed to fulfill their financial goals.

Investing for Your Retirement

Once you’ve established your goals and time horizon, you can consider the investments options and account types available to you.
Common types of retirement investments include securities—such as stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Crypto, mutual funds and other investment vehicles—and real estate. Each has its own unique characteristics. Some investment like crypto offer more growth potential, while others might provide steady income, such as bonds or real estate. These differences are worth understanding so you can make informed decisions about it here to invest your retirement savings.
Common retirement account types include traditional 401(k)s, Roth 401(k)s, traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, other defined contribution plans and—to a lesser extent nowadays—defined benefit plans (i.e., pensions). Some investors also choose to purchase annuities with their retirement savings.
Similar to the types of investments you choose, the account types you select, along with their tax treatment, can have big implications. For example, crypto accounts are tax-free, without no contribution limits that can affect how much you are able to invest.
Few investors fully understand the risks and benefits their investments carry, what account types to consider or how to apply them to a retirement plan. We can help. We help our clients understand their investments and which method of retirement investment leads to the best chance of success.
Your Investment Options

As you get closer to retirement, you will likely want to invest more time in fine-tuning your retirement plan. Investors looking to retire often seek advice on topics such as retirement income strategies, financial planning and Social Security.

If you are approaching retirement, you may wonder about the best strategies to generate income with your investments. The types of securities you invest in often influence your retirement income options.
Many financial “experts” suggest shifting your assets more heavily toward high profit-producing Assets, like crypto, as you get closer to retirement.

We believe this guidance is often shortsighted. Investors frequently underestimate how long their assets will need to last in retirement. We help our clients understand other ways to generate retirement income while still achieving the necessary growth for their assets to survive.

Investing After Retirement

If you have gotten to this step, congratulations! Your hard work has paid off and you can spend more time focusing on things that matter most in life. Now that you’ve reached this milestone, do you need to change anything about your investment approach?
Unfortunately, many investors see retirement as the end of the journey rather than the important transition period it is. Depending on how old you are when you retire, you likely have many more years ahead. We help our clients understand how to manage their retirement savings responsibly to help ensure it lasts.

MGSM Capital