Saving for your golden years may not seem like a priority compared to daily expenses, debt repayment, and short-term savings goals. Yet the sooner you start, the better you can leverage compounding interest, and the more your money will grow. Getting an early start on retirement and pension planning also provides flexibility if you decide to tweak your strategy. But you don’t have to plan your retirement all on your own. A pension advisor Boston, MA, can help you build a plan to save for a retirement pension and make your income last.
What Is a Pension Advisor?
A pension advisor is a financial professional whose services center on helping clients save and prepare for their future retirement. They typically focus on investment management in your retirement accounts, retirement income planning, insurance planning, tax management, and more.
Retirement advisors can carry any number of financial designations. These various titles describe the training and expertise an advisor has and the types of services they offer. They also usually involve the advisor enrolling in specialized education courses and completing one or more exams.
Pension advisors, Boston, MA, can operate independently or work for an advisory firm or bank. One is not necessarily better than the other. The type of retirement advisor you choose largely depends on the help you need and the type of relationship you’re looking for.
What Do Pension Advisors Do?
A pension advisor helps you set financial retirement goals and develop a plan to reach them. They can also help prioritize, qualify and quantify your retirement objectives. Additionally, your advisor can act as the person who keeps you focused and motivated as you approach retirement age.
The services that a retirement advisor can offer you will depend largely on their professional certifications and experience. But generally, a pension advisor should do most or all of the following:
- Help you identify your retirement savings goals and the action steps you’ll need to achieve them.
- Pinpoint potential gaps in your retirement savings plan.
- Help you devise a strategy for eliminating debt if you’re carrying student loans, credit card bills, a mortgage, or other loans.
- Discuss how to best plan for healthcare expenses and long-term care needs.
- Guide you in choosing an asset allocation that balances risk and reward.
- Inform you about products designed to preserve supplemental retirement income, such as annuities and long-term care insurance.
- Help you determine where Social Security benefits fit into your overall retirement plan.
- Assist with managing the tax implications of retirement account withdrawals and insurance payouts.
- Suggest solutions for managing assets beyond retirement accounts, such as real estate or collectibles.
Once you choose a pension advisor to work with, you’ll speak with them extensively about what your current financial situation looks like, as well as what your goals are for the future. Only then will you and your advisor decide which of the above services is necessary for you.
Finally, consider the type of clients an advisor typically works with. People in their 20s who have yet to start a family likely have very different retirement planning needs from someone who’s in their 50s. Ideally, your advisor will have experience working with clients with similar financial backgrounds and aspirations to your own.
