DIY Retirement
What is DIY Retirement?
You have saved enough and are ready to retire. During accumulation, you figured out how to do-it-yourself and you are looking for tips for a DIY Retirement.
There are a ton of advantages to figuring out a retirement plan on your own. But you know, especially compared to saving money, that retirement planning is more complicated.
DIY Retirement is for folks who have saved enough and understand that there are difficult decisions yet to be made. Instead of overpaying a professional for so-so advice, why not a DIY Retirement?
Advantages of a DIY Retirement
What are the advantages of a DIY Retirement? There are many!
First off, if you are the one deciding on how the plan fits together, then you are going to have a lot of knowledge as to how the sausage is made. If you have a plan for your social security, your healthcare, and everything else, then you personally can make the best decision for you and your family. After all, there are a lot of moving parts, and you figured them out.
Beyond a greater understanding of the moving parts, you can also save a lot of money through a DIY retirement. The financial-industrial complex wants you to think that investing and money in general is too difficult for you to understand. You need to pay them 1% of your assets a year, or worse, in order for you to have the privilege of retiring. Well, that is not true! Most advisors out there are no more educated about retirement planning than you are! Their goal is to make things complicated so that you feel that you need their help. Trust me, if you have saved enough money to be considering retirement, you can DIY your retirement.
And there are ways to get help that don’t cost an arm and a leg.
Disadvantages of a DIY Retirement
Complexity. Part of the problem of a DIY retirement is all the moving parts. There are a lot of considerations, and TAXES! Taxes are an important part of the retirement plan, and often a retiree’s largest expense. Figuring out taxes takes study and consideration.
I have news for you: the advisors don’t understand taxes either! They typically say “see your CPA” and don’t provide you the planning you need to meet your retirement goals.
So, you can get expensive, non-comprehensive advice, or you can DIY your retirement!
There are advisors who specialize in retirement. This is an option as well. But, as they say, what got you here won’t get you there. That means that you need to have a level of understanding even if you are going to use a specialist.
Should You DIY Your Retirement?
You need a checklist of issues to address. The list is long! But you don’t need to know everything now.
For instance, there are thousands of claiming strategies for social security. You, however, only need to know what is right for you. There are thousands of ways to plan your estates. Here, there are also many different ways to skin the cat, and you need to understand the varied options.
Most importantly, you need to understand your goals in retirement. No one can help you there; the process of outlining your goals just takes time and effort. You need to do the work.
Once you understand what retirement needs to do for you, you can better understand how your money can get you there. Goals come first, then strategies, then solutions.
If you have brought yourself to where you are now successfully, you can and should DIY your retirement.
It is not for everyone. But we are here to help.