Roadmap to Retirement: Obstacle #1 – Longevity Risk

Takeaway: Longer life, bigger risk.

Pretend you are driving down a long, desert road with no gas stations in sight. Suddenly, you look down and realize your fuel gage isn’t working.

A flood of thoughts rush through your mind:

• How many more miles can I go?
• Where’s the nearest gas station?
• Will I have enough fuel to make it?
• Did I pack enough snacks (it’s easy to hungry while roadtripping)?

If you knew you only had a couple miles until the next station, you probably wouldn’t be that concerned. But what if it’s longer than that? The longer you go, the more likely you are to run out of gas.

The same is true about retirement. Longevity risk is living longer than planned. It’s a risk multiplier for the other roadblocks to retirement (we’ll look at those later). The longer you live, the more obstacles that could detour your financial plan.

If we knew exactly how long our retirement was going to be and the obstacles that would disrupt our plans, we could cruise forward without a care.

But we don’t know exactly what the future holds. That’s why we need a plan that takes longevity into account. We want peace about our future, not having to worry if we’re going to run out of money.

We want to operate based on facts, not fear. Your retirement plan should be built to last your lifetime.

We realize money isn’t everything (Are we even allowed to say that? Yes, we can. Mainly because it’s true), but what happens to your financial plan if you live longer?

ACTION ITEMS:

• How many years do you think you’ll spend in retirement? (Obviously, we don’t know this, but consider thinks like your own health and family history).
• What happens if you live longer than you think you will?
• Let’s see if your current plan helps avoid this Retirement Roadblock. If not, let’s talk about how it can.

To get started on your Roadmap to Retirement, request an appointment by calling our team at (877) 313-4080 or going online at www.equity1inc.com/contact.