Evelyn Jacks: Back to Retirement Planning School

The fall “back to school” time provides a great opportunity enhance knowledge-based careers.

It’s a time to start again, take on a new challenge, get out of your comfort zone, meet new people, reconnect with your best friends. Back to school time is about challenging your potential to add to your “knowledge kit” by setting new goals for achievement. 

In today’s financial world that’s important because “old” knowledge and skills may not cut it anymore. That could be scary for many high achievers, especially if you are in transition – to a new career, to start a new family, or to begin retirement. 

Let’s take retirement planning, as an example. Everyone knows that saving regularly and starting early will bring better results, but for most people, those two goals are very difficult. Even if you have a good start on the nest egg you think you’ll need, the one unsettling question still arises: “Will I have enough?” 

This angst is well-founded in the unknowns – how long will I live, will I be healthy, how predictable are the rates of return I will earn, how high will the taxes be on withdrawal?   

Going back to school on tax efficient retirement income projections is important, according to a study by Gopi Shah Goda, a Senior Research Scholar at Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Her team found that doing retirement income projections along with general retirement planning induces people to increase their savings for retirement. Individuals who are more perfectly informed about the link between saving today and income in retirement can achieve their goals more effectively and, in fact, avoid over-estimating the income they will need in retirement. They can also overcome bias in their perceived asset values at retirement.  

Retirement income projections are the subject of Knowledge Bureau’s September classroom sessions, being held in Winnipeg on September 17, Calgary on September 18, Vancouver on September 19, and Toronto on September 22.

It’s Your Money. Your Life. New research tells us that when people can better assess their financial security, they will feel better informed and  more satisfied about their retirement savings adequacy. It’s time to go back to school on retirement income planning. Please join us.

Evelyn Jacks is president of Knowledge Bureau and author of 51 books on tax and personal wealth management. She is also the founder and director of the Distinguished Advisor Conference (DAC). The theme of the 2014 three day think tank in Horseshoe Bay, Texas Nov 9-12 will be “Think BIG: Find the Sweet Spots in Wealth Management”  Follow Evelyn on Twitter at @EvelynJacks.