The answer is simple: A wrong move could be disastrous! Once, Americans were carefree passengers who enjoyed the benefit of a secure pension to provide income in retirement. Today, retirees receive a lump-sum 401(k) distribution and are encouraged to wing it. These pilots have as good a chance of successfully managing their own investments as they do spontaneously landing an airplane. When a seasoned pilot prepares to land an aircraft—whether a Cessna or a 777 Jetliner—he or she follows a careful checklist to ensure a smooth arrival.

The pilots who fail to use checklists are easily identified; over 100 aircraft pancake on runways each year because pilots forget to deploy their landing gear. The wealth advisors at Heron Financial Group follow a careful checklist to ensure clients optimize all their resources to secure an enjoyable life in retirement. “You can’t plan for retirement the day of,” says firm president David Edwards. “We show clients 15, 10, five years in advance of retirement the tradeoffs between investment risk and reward.

Read the entire article at Forbes.