Decker Retirement Planning Articles

Many advisors still rely on the outmoded 4% Rule to help people plan for retirement income. In our opinion, the 4% Rule is responsible for destroying more people's retirement than any other piece of financial advice.

When interest rates go up, bond funds lose money. This is called interest rate risk.

After you have accumulated assets for your entire life, it is now time to make sure those assets are protected. Do you have car insurance and insurance on your home? Of course you do, since it is required. But how about life insurance? Do you have it? Do you need it? Remember, we are fiduciaries and we put your best interest in front of our company’s best interest. Most of the time we recommend an option that pays our company nothing, but it is in your best interest.

Bankers and brokers usually have all of your assets at risk in their asset allocation pie chart. We don’t.  That makes no sense to us since you are exposed to both stock market risk (the risk of losing money in the stock market) and interest rate risk (the risk of losing money on your bond funds as interest rates go up).

We define liquidity as money that can be in your savings or checking account next day, no penalty.  If all of your money were liquid, then it’s not working for you.  If all of your money is locked up, that is equally silly. We try to have about 40% of your invested funds next day liquid so that when life happens you are able to deal with it and have liquidity without destroying your plan. The reason liquidity is a big deal is because many financial planners will lock up your funds and we want to warn you about that.

A fiduciary is required by law to put the client’s best interests before his or her own or their company's best interest. It's a higher ethical and moral standard in the finance industry.

The salespeople (not fiduciaries) at the bank or brokerage firm can hurt you in many ways.  I will just focus on 6 ways they can hurt you.

1) Work With A Fiduciary

1. Does your plan tell you how much income you can draw for as long as you live?
2. Are you concerned about running out of money before you die?
3. How can you be sure that you really can retire?
4. How much of your money should be at risk?
5. How are you protected against a bear market?
6. How much can you afford to lose before you have to go back to work?
7. How much of your IRA should you convert to a Roth?
8. Have you minimized the taxes you pay?
9. Are you taking too much risk?
10. Are your assets protected and do you have liability coverage?
11. What is your financial loss if your spouse pre deceases you?
12. Could your Will destroy relationships of your beneficiaries after you are gone?
13. Should you have a Living Will or a Power of Attorney Healthcare?
14. Should you have a Trust?

We are not attorneys nor do we play them on TV. However, we do see problems on a regular basis and want to help our clients avoid those problems.