Time to Rethink Retirement Plans?

Retirement planning isn’t what it used to be. With many people living into their 90s, advisors need to help clients plan for lengthy retirements that can easily stretch 30 years.

That’s a huge shift from the tidy 10- or 20-year retirements of yesteryear, says Debra Brennan Tagg, managing partner at Brennan Financial Services in Dallas. “There are a lot more risks these days for retirees,” Tagg says. “Nobody can plan with certainty for 30 years because you just don’t know what’s going to happen over your lifetime.”

Inflation, for example, is impossible to predict over a 30-year span. “Most people can handle 10 years’ worth of inflation,” she says, adding that the cost of goods and services can be estimated a decade out. But 30 years is a different story entirely, she says.

Tagg will discuss these and other planning challenges at the upcoming Women Advisors Forum in Dallas on May 21 in a session called “The New Retirement Frontier.”

For Tagg, part of the solution to today’s retirement challenges is simply bringing to clients’ attention the sorts of risks that they are likely to face — and spelling out realistic ways to deal with them. “The issue is that you have to accept that you can’t look 30 years into the future,” she says. “So we have to put the best plan in place and try to figure out ahead of time, defensively, what we would do to mitigate any risks that are out there.”

The future of Social Security, for example, is a big worry for some of her clients. To help them address this fear, she goes through a Social Security analysis with each of them to determine if they’re in an age group that’s in danger.

Retirement planning is but one of the many topics to be covered at the forum, which will include continuing education sessions, networking opportunities and a keynote by Catherine Cuellar, executive director of the Dallas Arts District.

During a practice growth session, participants will have an opportunity to explore ideas to diversify and differentiate their outreach and promote their services. Brandon Moss, managing director at United Capital Financial Advisors, will discuss best practices for reaching the next generation of advisors (and clients). Other sessions will cover topics ranging from estate planning to charitable giving.

Join the Women Advisors Forum group on LinkedIn to get more information on the forum in Dallas as well as other cities, and to continue networking in person and online with other female advisors.

Margarida Correia is associate editor of Bank Investment Consultant. Follow her on Twitter at @MCorreia101.

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Practice management Financial planning Retirement planning
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