Deciding on the right time to retire can be challenging and requires a joint focus on both your finances and your state of mind. Stearns Financial Group can help you envision the kind of retirement that is right for you while planning a financial future that supports that vision.
As much as we want to control our futures, however, we know that life can be full of transitions, both expected and unexpected. These can include not only retirement, but the sale of a business, the loss of a spouse, a divorce, health issues, re-marriages and even inheritances. Stearns Financial Group is committed to helping you make confident financial decisions during these critical, often life-altering, transitions. Our trademarked financial planning methodology—the Financial Independence Roadmap℠ — incorporates multiple scenarios, illustrating the long term financial impact of the various choices before you.
INTELLIGENT AGING
Healthier lifestyles and medical breakthroughs focused on the treatment, cure and even prevention of diseases are leading most individuals to live longer lives, providing an incredible opportunity for experiencing more, learning more and doing more. But planning for longer lives, or longevity planning, requires new thinking about what you’ll do with your time, who will be around to enjoy them with you and, of course, how you’ll pay for these extra years.
At Stearns Financial Group, we help clients think about what their personal “retirements” will look like.
Will these years capitalize on a favorite hobby? If so, will you do it for fun or do you want to develop a small business?
Will you have enough social stimulation and support to thrive when you’re no longer going into the office?
Where will you live in these later years? Is aging in place the right solution or do you prefer a community that offers services like transportation, healthcare and entertainment?
Our team can help you not only make the decision that is right for you, but can help you build a financial plan to support this decision. We offer the following services for retiring and retired individuals and families:
Retirement planning
Business exit planning
Divorce or widowhood
Housing and lifestyle
HOW WE'LL GET YOU THERE
At Stearns Financial Group, we believe it’s necessary to understand your priorities and dreams so we can create a personalized financial blueprint moving forward. Here’s how it will go:
1 | Where are you today?
It’s difficult to plan for the future if you don’t know where you are today. We’ll help you organize your financial matters, prioritize your needs and define your true risk tolerance.
2 | Where do you want to go?
We’ll help you define your vision of the future. It is important to know where you’re going and what you wish to accomplish. It’s also important to think about what you might later regret if you never tried it. We can help you explore these dreams as well.
3 | How do you get there?
It’s important to analyze different scenarios for reasonableness. We will help you develop the “most likely scenario” but will also address alternative future paths. These are important to consider since life sometimes takes unpredictable turns and it’s important to “stress test” various assumptions.
4 | How do you stay on track?
We meet regularly to review and discuss priorities, goals, planning opportunities and investments. Ensuring the assumptions we have made in your financial plan remain relevant is an important part of staying on track. Tying your financial plan to your investment performance is also integral to the holistic approach we employ.
KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR UNUSUAL TIMES
Here are some of the ways that Stearns Financial Group professionals will help you think more broadly about your future. We help pre-retirees and retirees consider and develop:
A financial roadmap for the future that includes fixed and variable expenses, plus inflation
An investment margin of safety, in other words, how much risk and reward are needed to achieve your goals in good times and in bad
Tax strategies that will help you keep more of what you make
Diversification opportunities beyond traditional public stock and bond markets
Risk mitigating strategies to help protect against unforeseen events, such as long term care needs
Wellness opportunities in the fourth quarter of life
PAULA MCMILLAN
CFP®, CPA/PFS, CGMA
(336) 810-3612
pmcmillan@stearnsfinancial.com
RESOURCES FOR PRE-RETIREES AND RETIREES
4th Quarter Fumbles: How Successful People Avoid Critical Mistakes Later in Life
This book highlights 25 key fumbles that have the greatest chance of ruining the last quarter of your life. Get ahead of these fumbles and take proactive action! Live a longer, happier, and healthier 4th quarter of life.
4th Quarter Champions: A Companion Workbook to Fourth Quarter Fumbles
This is a step-by-step guide to retiring or re-wiring for the next successful chapter of your life.
Gray Divorce, Silver Linings
Women of gray divorce are forging ahead, embracing life, finding new purpose, and building new lives with the wisdom borne of their experiences, both good and bad. Armed with passion and determination, these independent women are redefining the stereotypes of prior generations while, often unknowingly, completely redefining themselves.