Retiring

Retirement will mark an exciting new phase of your life, when you can redefine what's important to you – and how you'd like to live.

A successful retirement doesn't just happen, however. To help you get organized, there are several steps you should consider to better understand and manage your personal and financial situation.

• Immediate Steps to Consider Before You Retire
• Develop a Comprehensive Retirement Income Plan
• Manage Your Assets in Retirement
• Review Your Insurance Coverage
• Protect Your Assets and Create a Lasting Impact
• Keep Track of Financial Milestones

Immediate Steps to Consider Before You Retire

As you plan the transition to retirement, there are vital issues to consider and important actions to take.

Steps to Consider

• Make sure you are ready to retire, both emotionally and financially, before you make any final decisions.
  • Ensure you are ready to change the routine of your working and home life, and potentially give up the sense of identity and societal relationships that come with having a particular profession.
  • Be certain you are financially ready: Develop your retirement income plan to confirm you're in a financial position to retire.
• Choose what to do with your retirement plan savings. As you near retirement, you will be faced with important decisions about what to do with the assets in your workplace savings plans, including pensions, 401(k)s,
  403(b)s, and 457(b)s.
• Mark important financial dates on your calendar. As you enter retirement, you need to be aware of several important financial milestones.
• Set aside emergency funds to deal with unexpected expenses. This financial buffer will help keep your budget on track by avoiding the use of assets earmarked for income or growth purposes.

Fidelity Solutions

• Visit the Retirement Resource Center to use our educational and interactive online resources to help you envision and plan for a successful retirement.
• Investigate your retirement plan savings investment options.
• Keep three to six months of living expenses for your emergency account in a liquid, interest-bearing account, such as a money market fund¹.

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Develop a Comprehensive Retirement Income Plan

Just as it was important to have a financial plan to accumulate assets to reach retirement, you will now need to consider a well-thought-out approach to help make those assets last for the rest of your life.

Steps to Consider

• Understand and minimize five key risks to financial security that all retirees face to help ensure your money will last.
• Realistically estimate your retirement expenses and seek to ensure that you have a predictable income stream to cover them.
• Determine how much income you need to provide from your assets or additional sources of lifetime income.
• Potentially maximize your remaining savings and investments by establishing an investment mix that's right for your long-term needs.
• Establish an appropriate withdrawal strategy to help ensure that your assets last your lifetime.
• Develop an income management strategy to monitor your plan to stay on track for the retirement you envision.

Fidelity Solutions

• Develop and implement a comprehensive, written retirement income plan using the Retirement Income Planner.

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Manage Your Assets in Retirement

As your financial needs shift from saving for retirement to living in retirement, your money management needs will change as well.

Steps to Consider

• After developing your income plan, it's important to actively manage your finances to maintain the right mix of investments.
• Simplify the management of your finances by consolidating or rolling over your assets into one place.
• Get investment help if you don't have the time, inclination, or experience to actively manage your assets in retirement.
• Monitor back to your retirement income plan by tracking your actual income withdrawals and spending levels to help ensure you stay on track

Fidelity Solutions

• Use Portfolio Review to make sure your asset allocation strategy is in line with your income plan and goals.
• Consolidate your investments by Transferring Assets to Fidelity.
• Investigate professional money management alternatives with Portfolio Advisory Services^SM.
• Learn more about the Fidelity Income Management Account and how to simplify and organize your finances - including asset allocation¹, income, expenses and withdrawal rates - so you can stay on track with the retirement you planned for. Tour the Income Management Account demo by clicking on the link above.

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Review Your Insurance Coverage

Protecting the health and financial security of you and your family is always important. As your retirement approaches, the protection provided by insurance becomes even more vital.

Steps to Consider

• Review your life insurance coverage. The loss or reduction of your retirement income could adversely affect your surviving spouse or family members. Life insurance can provide financial resources they will need during a difficult time.
  • Investigate retiree health care plan options from your current employer
  • Learn about Medicare eligibility requirements and coverage
  • Consider whether you need Medicare supplemental insurance
• Consider long-term care to supplement baseline Medicare coverage. Roughly 50% of Americans now turning age 65 will be admitted to a nursing home at some point in their lives. Estimates show that one year of such care ranges between $33,000 to over $91,000². Long-term care insurance enables you to cover many of the costs of skilled, intermediate, and custodial assistance.
• Review and update your homeowner's insurance policy. Your home is probably your single most valuable asset. Protecting it from physical losses such as fire damage, or financial losses due to liability claims, is a key to the secure retirement you've worked so hard to achieve.

Fidelity Solutions

• Refer to our Resources & Seminars to learn about key Medicare information.
• Visit Fidelity's Insurance Center to investigate term life insurance choices and to see if you have adequate coverage.

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Protect Your Assets and Create a Lasting Impact

Regardless of your level of assets, ensure that they will be used to help the people and organizations that are most important to you.

Steps to Consider:

• Ensure you have an up-to-date estate plan and the foundation of your estate plan begins with a current will. If you don't have a suitable plan, state and federal laws will govern how your assets are distributed.
• Depending on your situation and the size of your estate, you may also want to consider establishing one or more Revocable Trusts.

Fidelity Solutions:

• Visit the Estate Planning Action Center^SM for information and tools to help you create or update your estate plan.
• Explore establishing a legacy for charities and causes that are important to you through the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund^SM.

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Keep Track of Financial Milestones

As you approach retirement, you need to be aware of several very important financial milestones. By reviewing this age-related information in advance, you can plan on taking timely action.

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1. Asset Allocation does not ensure a profit or guarantee against loss.
2. Source: Fidelity Investments, Viewpoint: Retirement Issues Consumer Research Report.