A financial planner told me that before they retire, his clients get a clear picture of their living costs, asset allocation, and retirement accounts.
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Jen Glantz
One of my biggest financial goals of the year is to have a firm plan in place to help me grow my financial assets so I can retire in the next 15 years, before my 50th birthday. But as I've been looking at my overall portfolio, it seemed like if I wanted to meet that goal, I'd either have to drastically alter my lifestyle or find new streams of income.
"If you're thinking that you'd like to have a certain lifestyle when you're retired, you can determine how much money it will cost you every year to live that way," Jay Pelham, certified financial planner and president of Kaufman Rossin Wealth, told me. "Knowing that will help you understand how much money in assets you need to retire."
He calls that your expected standard for retirement, and if you expect it to be similar to your current day-to-day life, you have to plan ahead. He shared the four most important factors that enable his clients to retire early without making a big lifestyle change.
An easy first step toward planning for early retirement is doing a deep-dive into your spending habits. Pelham said that people are usually surprised at the different opportunities they find to save money every month, which can then be used as savings or investments to help with retirement goals.
"Of course, if you buy less expensive clothing and cars, that would make a difference," he said. "But if you're trying to maintain your lifestyle, there are other areas to look at."
Pelham said to start by examining your services and insurance policies. "You might get a discounted rate for consolidating these services under one provider," he said.
"Life insurance is one policy that's worth double-checking to make sure you have the best price for the level of coverage you want," he said." Additionally, it's worth looking at combining homeowners, auto, and other policies to receive discounts.
Another area of spending people can look into is how they are managing to pay off their debt. "Some types of debt might even be tax deductible," he said. "Check to see if you can consolidate debt, get lower interest rates, or change terms." You may want to have a financial advisor or accountant take a look at your debt to help you strategize.
If you've felt tempted to change where you live, Pelham recommended looking into relocating to an area with a lower cost of living to help you with your future retirement savings.
"When you trade a high cost of living location for a lower one, you're able to cut your expenses down quite a bit," he shared. "Plus, if you own a house, you could cash out the equity once it's sold and buy a less expensive house in that new location and use the rest of the cash to help you save or invest for retirement."
For example, Pelham said that some of his clients who live in Miami — one of the most expensive cities in Florida — but work remotely, decided to sell their house and move to other parts of the state.
"A client of mine moved to Gainesville, which costs less to live in, and they were able to maintain their income, lower their expenses, and cash out the equity from their homes," he said. "Those steps could help position them to retire much earlier than they originally planned."
"One thing people can control, as they plan for early retirement, is their asset allocation," he said. "Look at how much money you've invested in different categories or perhaps assets you haven't invested in that could be beneficial to your overall portfolio."
The biggest benefit of this exercise is to align your allocation with your overall goals and timeline to retirement.
Additionally, Pelham suggested working with a financial advisor or tax professional who can help you optimize your asset allocation, including understanding which assets are better in a tax-deferred account versus a taxable account.
"For example, if you're saving $20,000 a year in a savings account rather than in a 401(k) plan, which helps reduce taxable income, that's a change that can help a person save more for retirement," he said.
Another opportunity Pelham shared to maximize your finances now for early retirement is to look at your retirement accounts. He often sees people with old 401(k)s that haven't been touched in years.
"Some people who have worked for multiple different employers might have untouched 401(k)s that they forgot about or didn't ever combine," he said. "The money might be sitting in those accounts on autopilot without any type of investment strategy."
Pelham said that rolling those older 401(k) funds into an IRA could provide access to more investment options and integrate these dollars into your overall plan.
