What if your financial advisor had a Crystal Ball and was able to determine with uncanny accuracy:
- How long your retirement will last.
- The best way to optimize your Social Security benefits for you and your spouse.
- The most efficient way to minimize taxes through your retirement
- To invest and allocate your money in a way that would ensure it would last beyond your last breath and protect you during periods of market declines.
- Project your total health care costs throughout your retirement and set aside the right amount of money, so you don't have to worry.
If your advisor had the right technology and research tools and access to government data from 570 million healthcare claims, they would be able to do that. If they haven't already shared this information with you, maybe they forgot or didn't have this Crystal Ball.
If you already have an advisor, let me suggest you ask them if they can provide you with this valuable data and, more importantly, use that data to customize your plan and not just cookie cutter it like their other clients' plans.
Maybe this has never been part of the conversation? Perhaps it's always been more about your account and not about you, your life, and what you need? Maybe you are just an account or a number to that adviser?
If you aren't impressed with your advisor's answer, perhaps it's time to consider other relationships?
If you don't have an advisor, consider if you had access to this kind of information, could it bring clarity and peace of mind to your life in retirement?
Finally, give this some thought.
What is better? An advisor with this (crystal ball), who is a fiduciary, creates a written, dollar, and date-specific financial plan and helps you implement and monitor the plan over the years—or an advisor who sells you a product or manages an account in a cookie-cutter model portfolio?
I know my answer, but hey, I am biased.
If you think the former sounds better and you have an open mind, I would be willing to have a 15-minute conversation to see how I can help. In the meantime, I will polish my Crystal Ball! 😊