Retirement Planning: Get the Right Professional Help

While algorithm-driven investment managers like FutureAdvisor that can help you and your spouse invest smarter, we can’t help you to figure out what exactly what you want out of retirement. So what kind of professional help do you need to plan for your retirement?

FIrst, let’s talk about what FutureAdvisor can do for you.

Only you can decide how much money you want for your retirement. But if you have clear, concrete financial goals, we can help you figure out what you’ll need to save and invest to reach them. You can use our retirement planning calculator to see how much money you need to save to get there. We’ll even take into account your risk tolerance. That’s one service retirement advisors provided in the past, and we’re giving it away for free.

If you work for a larger company with a 401(k) plan, there’s a good chance you can also get resources through your human resources department. This is particularly useful for people who want to be more hands on about their investing.

The HR department should have information to share about retirement planning, and the specifics of the company plan. But they will leave it up to you to make the right decisions about how to invest.

An algorithm-driven investment service like FutureAdvisor can take a lot of the guesswork out, as well as reduce the amount of money you’re losing in fees -- the biggest drain on your retirement nest egg. Your bank is another place that may offer free or low-cost services to help you plan for retirement. Especially if you have a credit union or community bank, that financial institution has a vested interest in helping you to retire responsibly.

To that end, banks often offer classes and online education that will clarify your options and help you think about which one works best for you. With that knowledge, you might even start to “set it and forget it,” putting in automatic deductions and letting the bank carry through with diligence you might not have yourself.

Unfortunately, one-on-one personal retirement managers only serve high-net worth individuals. When they are available, they can help keep savers and investors accountable by checking in on their goals. The simple act of having to report into someone and tell them what you’re doing with your money from time to time can make a huge difference in terms of being able to stay on task with your retirement.

Many tasks that financial advisors perform can now done by algorithm-based services like FutureAdvisor. For example, keeping a diversified portfolio used to require a skilled financial planner with a vested interest in your retirement. Now, you can set allocation on autopilot, leveraging your adjustments in the most tax-advantaged manner possible with the sophisticated algorithms of FutureAdvisor.

Such algorithms will help you keep investment fees low while also lightening the tax burden on your investments as much as possible. That’s a balancing act that is difficult for even the most skilled retirement planner. We do it automatically for hardworking families across the United States.

So look for professional help planning your retirement. Just make sure that it’s the right kind of professional help. In the age of Internet and automation, there’s no reason to pay too much for any service, least of all a service that’s supposed to help you save for retirement.