Designing a Safer, Smarter Retirement Strategy

You worked hard, saved your money, secured a company pension, built up a 401(k), and invested well. In short, you made all the right choices in planning for retirement. But that was then; this is now. The stock market's collapse since 2007 has pummeled Americans' retirement accounts, wiping out more than $3 trillion in value, by one estimate.1

If that weren't worrisome enough, retirement expenses are also growing by the year. Our life expectancycontinues to increase — 77.7 years and rising, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control andPrevention2 — while the cost of living keeps going up as well. This means your retirement years are likely to be longer and more expensive than you thought.
Facing these unnerving facts, people who once invested heavily in the stock market are now playing defense in their retirement planning. Many Americans appear to be fleeing stocks and shifting more of their nest eggs to cash and fixed-income instruments in response to the latest downturn.3

Most financial professionals agree that a prudent strategy for limiting vulnerability in volatile economicconditions is to spread one's assets among a range of investments with varying levels of risk. Yes, stocks may still be part of the mix, but so may bonds and fixed annuities.
For people that have a “rainy day fund” with no immediate need for it — and want death protection — is life insurance. A single-premium universal life insurance policy such as NYLIAC's4 Instant LegacyTMis designed to guarantee* a financial legacy for the policyholder's heirs, generally free from federal income tax, while also providing a number of “living benefits.” One of the living benefits such policies offer is access** to your money when you need it, provided that your death benefit protection needs have decreased. In uncertain times, you may want to consider this kind of flexibility.

Contact: Jesse Maltzman, Financial Advisor of Maltzman Financial Strategies via phone at (914) 934-5612 or visit his website http://www.maltzmanfinancial.com