Kevin McCormack, President, Pension Parameters
Invest in as much of yourself as you can, you are your own biggest asset by far — Warren Buffett
According to a LIMRA Retirement study, pre-retirees and retirees who work with advisors (such as myself, If I may be permitted) are more confident about their retirement outlook. As I see it, that optimism is well founded indeed as we begin to put 2015 in our rear view mirror. It’s been widely reported that the Federal Reserve’s raising of the short-term interest rate is seen as a vote of confidence in the American economy and there’s certainly a strong sense in the financial community that there has seldom been a better time for employers as well as employees in planning a retirement strategy.
All of our blogs that run several times a week, gathered from what we consider among the most useful of financial pieces from a broad range of outlets, as well as my own occasional commentaries, attempt to cover a wide array of subjects—from portfolio reward/risk strategies, 401(k) choices, Flexible Spending Plans and investment products to social security, health costs and changing IRS regulations–that, in one way or another, influence the long-range prospects of your retirement outlook. And, as we hope you continue to consult our website for information about Pension Parameters Financial Services, Inc., we trust that you will continue to find the material and opinions expressed in those blogs to, at the very least, be food for thought.
This time of year is known for making resolutions, and there’s good reason to make some of them financial ones. Along those lines, we remind our clients in a year-end report to take stock of their retirement objectives and ask themselves some basic questions:
• Are their financial goals on track?
• Have spending habits changed, and if so, with what financial impact to their bottom line in the present and possibly future?
• Should they reassess their risk tolerance? Have there been changes in their family life?
• Do they need to minimize their tax bill?
• Review your investment performance, and ask: is it time to rebalance your portfolio?
• Will their current contribution level get them to their retirement goal?
• Have they taken a fresh look at Beneficiary information, and have life events affected existent designations?
Good questions all, and I will end this by reminding all of you that we’re here (always an actual live voice on the phone, or an immediate e-mail response) to help give you answers that, when it comes to your retirement, provide you with—yes, those two words again—optimism and confidence.
So let that be a hopeful sentiment to close out our best wishes to all of you for a healthy and most prosperous new year.—-Kevin F. McCormack, President, Pension Parameters Financial Services, Inc.