Financial Perspectives

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Early Bird Gets the Worm

A little bit of Tuesday wisdom…

Often we find that clients start thinking about retirement too late in life. For most people the question is, “Do I have enough resources to afford the lifestyle I envision at retirement?” The later in life people start planning and saving, the more their lifestyle could be impacted.

Understanding early in life the resources necessary to have the lifestyle you hope for makes it all the more likely you’ll be able to achieve your goals, given the time frame required to build those needed resources. And beyond building your resources, you have to plan ahead for where to hold them. That takes time, too. Just think about the difference between having all of your retirement assets in tax-deferred accounts (like 401(k)s and traditional IRAs) vs. in after-tax dollars. Planning is necessary to ensure that your retirement funds are not only sufficient, but also in the most tax-efficient buckets when withdrawals are needed.