Risk & Business Magazine General Insurance Services Fall 2019 | Page 8

RETIREMENT PLANNING THE BENEFIT OF CONFIDENCE S ponsoring a retirement plan is an important benefit for you and for your employees. Upon retirement, most people rely heavily on their Social Security benefit to meet monthly income needs. And unless you still offer a traditional pension plan, the retirement savings plan you provide to your employees will likely be a significant source of income for those who wisely save for the day when their regular paycheck stops. As a financial advisor, a large percentage of the conversations that I have with clients involve understanding where their regular monthly retirement income will come from and how much they can expect each month while planning for an average of 25 to 35 years in retirement. As you may expect, people who have saved and invested over time are usually more confident that their financial needs will be met during their golden years. Employer-sponsored savings plans such as a 401(k), a Simple IRA, and several other types of plans truly do make a great impact for those people who have had the ability and made the sacrifice to save regularly. One intent of this article is to encourage you as an employer and benefit sponsor to help your employees even more. Not necessarily with more matching funds or adding an expense line item to your benefits spend, but by helping employees to know that their retirement savings are invested correctly. Each one of us has limited resources, and ultimately, we must make a choice between how much we can save for retirement with each paycheck and how much to keep in our bank accounts for current household needs. So, if resources are limited, we should want to make sure those resources 8 are working for us as well as possible. Do most of your employees know if they are invested properly in your retirement plan? Does the financial advisor for your retirement plan offer to meet on-site with employees, and if so, are your employees taking advantage of that professional access? Some employees may be invested too conservatively or may be taking more risk than necessary to achieve their current rate of return. Some employees may be invested appropriately but they may not know it or understand what their investments are doing. They may be in great shape and just need some validation! In just about any situation, though, a good financial advisor will be able to understand an employee’s current financial state and help them evaluate some considerations to maximize future potential with investment performance, personal finance, and long-term risk management. Small improvements today can make a monumental impact over time. It can be easy to ignore, but don’t let your employees put retirement planning on the “back burner” and possibly wait too long before talking with your retirement plan financial advisor. I encourage you and your employees to take action today with a financial checkup. Don’t be embarrassed, don’t be ashamed, and don’t fall into the trap of regret—thinking that it is too late or that you didn’t do enough in your earlier working years. The job today is to look forward and position the resources that you have and will continue to save for retirement. There is always something we can do to improve your future financial outlook and help you gain knowledge of a strategy or investment philosophy that you may not know about today. Some of these improvements can be worth many thousands of dollars over time without having to save extra money right now. Your employees deserve access to this confidence, and the financial advisor for your retirement plan should be helping you to engage current and eligible participants. If you’re retirement plan needs a checkup and you would like to see greater employee engagement, we are ready to help! Daniel Todd, MBA Financial Advisor Investment Adviser Representative 219.809.2217 or [email protected]. + BY: DANIEL TODD REGISTERED REPRESENTATIVE, INVESTMENT ADVISOR REPRESENTATIVE, EQUITY SERVICES, INC. Daniel Todd is a Registered Representative and Investment Adviser Representative of Equity Services, Inc. Securities and investment advisory services offered solely through Equity Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC, 550 Polaris Parkway, Suite 550, Westerville, OH 43082, (614) 430- 8414. General Insurance Services, Inc. is independent of Equity Services, Inc. TC109457(0819)1.