Planning for retirement
What do landing an aircraft and planning for retirement have in common?
If you set up wrong, the results can be disastrous! Which is why most people don't fly their own planes and instead rely on expert pilots to fly them to safety.
The Glidepath to Retirement Guide includes An Interview with David Edwards, MBA, President & Wealth Advisor at Heron Wealth
This guide offers plenty of financial planning. Literature calls for families to start planning for retirement in their 20s, and we know that’s not realistic. People in their 20s, 30s and 40s are focused on getting married, starting families and businesses, buying property, and paying for children’s educations.
We find that age 50, 55, or even 60, when a family is still 10-15 years away from retirement, is a good time to engage a “pilot” to establish and review their “retirement checklist.” A family certainly could prepare for retirement without our experience, but if that family gets only one chance to “land the plane,” getting their retirement plan wrong could be catastrophic.
why do we talk about the glidepath to retirement?
When a jetliner flies from London to New York, the aircraft does not arrive at JFK at 35,000 feet, then, suddenly drop to the runway.
An hour in advance of arrival, while the plane is still cruising above the North Atlantic, the pilot reviews a checklist which includes: calling ahead to air control to find out about local weather, alerting the cabin crew to prepare for landing, placing the aircraft in gradual descent on the approach to LongIsland, calculating the heading to the runway, extending the flaps for flight at low speed and, most importantly, lowering and locking the landing gear.
We know the pilots who don’t use checklists because annually in the United States 100 aircrafts land with the landing gear in the “up” position, which is both dangerous and expensive!
Plenty of financial planning literature calls for families to start planning for retirement in their 20s, and we know that’s not realistic. People in their 20s, 30s, and 40s are focused on getting married, starting families and businesses, buying property, and paying for children’s educations. We find that age 50, 55, or even 60, when a family is still 10-15 years away from retirement, is a good time to engage a “pilot” to establish and review their “retirement checklist.” A family certainly could prepare for retirement without our experience, but if that family gets only one chance to “land the plane,” getting their retirement plan wrong could be catastrophic.
Our clients are successful executives, business owners, and rising professionals. We seek to optimize every element of a family’s financial plan to achieve short-term goals now, while ensuring an enjoyable and comfortable retirement later.
how we work with you
When you work with an accountant, you’ll speak with that professional once, perhaps twice a year. When you work with a trust and estate attorney, you speak with that professional once, perhaps twice a decade.
When you work with a wealth advisor, you will connect with that advisor on every important transition in your life - when you change jobs, get stock options, get married, have a child, send that child to college, get divorced, get remarried, worry about your parents, buy property, buy more property, deal with an injury or sickness, or grieve over the death of a spouse, a parent, or even a child. You must like, know, and trust your wealth advisor, because that person is going to live those transitions with you for years, or even decades.
Ask yourself, “Would I be comfortable inviting my wealth advisor to a dinner party with my friends?”
If you say, “Yes,” you’re probably on the right track. If no, give us a call!