Is Market Risk Holding Your Retirement Nest Egg Hostage?

A man holds a wad of cash out of reach of two other people, only their hands showing.

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Much of financial planning is based on this concept: Put your money to work in a basket of diversified investments, add to it and let compounding interest do its work. That is the resounding message told to all people, whether they’re 20, 40, 60 or 70.

But two critical ingredients are needed to make that concept work:

Income, so you don’t need to use the money while it compounds
Time — not simply months, but years, if not decades

Look at the rise of Warren Buffett’s net worth — 99% of it came after he turned 50, even though he started investing at age 13.

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Unfortunately, retirees lack those two essential ingredients. They don’t have the same income they used to (limited to Social Security and maybe a pension), and they certainly don’t have lots of time. That’s why, if you’ve achieved a level of financial success where you can consider retirement, you can and should think differently about your investments and the purpose of investing.

The importance of comprehensive planning

Many retirees lack comprehensive planning. Let me give you an example of how that plays out through the portfolio of a client I’ll call Joe. Joe came to me after working with two different advisory firms for a number of years. He had statements and reports, but he didn’t have a good grasp of how his money was going to work for him to meet his retirement lifestyle needs and wants. Joe had a reasonable lifestyle that fit his small pension and Social Security. He used his savings to cover travel expenses, house repairs, surprise expenses and much of the extra stuff he wanted to do.

As we had conversations and did a detailed audit of his investments, he was surprised to learn that he was taking far more market risk than he’d thought. He felt he needed to save money month by month from his pension, Social Security and required minimum distributions (RMDs) — he was already over 70 years old — in order to travel and before he could do house remodeling.

The result was that he was putting off the aforementioned things he wanted to spend money on for months, if not years, until he saved enough to do them. Yet, at over 70 years of age, he had $1 million more than he actually needed for his living expenses. But his previous advisory firms hadn’t helped him to integrate all the essential parts of a retirement plan or communicated well with him, leaving Joe overinvested in the market while they collected fees in excess. This left much of his nest egg unused, when it could have been adding to his retirement enjoyment.

Here was a retired man with a reasonable lifestyle who wanted to travel some, maintain his home and do a few home renovations. But those things were delayed because he had been beholden to the market-returns philosophy of the traditional financial industry. It was not the right philosophy for him at 70 years old.

After going through an integrated planning process, he said he felt comfortable for the first time in his years of retirement, saying to his adult daughter that he would buy a needed washer and dryer for her. That’s because he finally understood the money he had and could use it without concern of running out.

It’s about so much more than the market

Another cautionary tale involves a couple we’ll call Suzanne and John. She handled the investments; he hired the financial advisers. Several advisers came and went, and after a while, Suzanne and John felt they were on their own — even though they were paying the fee to the adviser and a product fee for the investments that were in their portfolio. But they didn’t know how much they were paying, nor what their investments had evolved into.

Over time, it gradually became unclear what they owned in their investments and how those would work to provide the retirement they wanted. Ultimately, it was left to Suzanne to figure it out on her own after her husband passed away in the middle of their golden years of retirement. She quickly realized she didn’t have a retirement plan, and the adviser didn’t know her or help her understand her money or what it would be able to do for her.

Like Joe in the previous example, she was hesitant to touch her millions in savings because the advisers had relegated her thinking to market returns and investment performance. She lived mainly on pensions and Social Security, and the millions she and her husband had saved were being left for someone to manage without them being able to use it for things they wanted — traveling, helping their kids and helping provide for their grandkids’ education.

Market returns are only part of a retirement plan

The financial industry often talks about diversified investing and financial solutions and even encourages comprehensive planning. This can often fall short of expectations, especially for retirees and those nearing retirement, when it means so much more. In fact, a J.D. Power study found that 89% of those promised comprehensive planning never got it.

Remember: Market returns are only one small piece of an integrated retirement plan. “Integrated” entails: your layers of cash flow and which account they come from over time; tax planning and legal tax minimization; protecting investments from market risks and possible future health care expenses; making sure there’s money to cover health and long-term care; predictable income to meet your lifestyle needs and some wants; and legacy planning.

Looking at it from all those angles allows you to integrate a true retirement plan that enables you to get your head out of the market, go live, give, travel and enjoy the money you've saved over the years. Perhaps even upgrade your retirement lifestyle!

Dan Dunkin contributed to this article.

The appearances in Kiplinger were obtained through a public relations program. The columnist received assistance from a public relations firm in preparing this piece for submission to Kiplinger.com. Kiplinger was not compensated in any way.

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This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

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Barry H. Spencer is a financial educator, author, speaker, industry thought leader, financial advisor, retirement planner and wealth manager who has appeared in Forbes, Kiplinger and other publications. He has also appeared on affiliates of NBC, ABC and CBS and was interviewed by Kevin Harrington, an original panelist on ABC’s hit show Shark Tank. Spencer’s latest books include Build Wealth Like a Shark, The Secret of Wealth With No Regrets and Retire Abundantly. As Creator/CEO of Wealth With No Regrets®, he and his team help financially successful people create a Retirement Built for Confidence™.