Helping a new client create, implement and enjoy a successful retirement plan can be one of the most rewarding and appreciated services I can provide.

The first step is to determine how much money a client will need to support his or her desired lifestyle, and what resources will be available to build it. Most people can get the money they need for retirement without gambling heavily on equities; they don’t know where to look. I’m in the business of helping Baby Boomers retire, and post-retirees stay retired. My clients enjoy a hassle-free retirement; our planning assures safety, lifetime income, and potential for attractive returns—all while maintaining control of your money.

Whether it is the result of poor planning, bad advice or plunging markets, retirement losses can be a deadly poison. Many retirees and pre-retirees have saved enough to win the “retirement game,” but they continue to risk “losing their retirement” by owning risky investments. It is wise for those preparing for retirement or recently retired to set aside enough money in safe places to pay for a guaranteed lifetime income plan. My planning will take you through all the current and future considerations necessary to determine the risk-free amount needed to safeguard your guaranteed retirement income.

Once the arithmetic is done, conclusions can be drawn.

(1) There’s more than enough money available, so investment risks are okay for the excess; discretionary expenses such as travel, entertainment or gifts to children and grandchildren might be important to you, or

(2) only the required amount has been saved for retirement and must be protected. Then the advice is simple: “Stop the investment risk in retirement, stop jeopardizing this year’s returns to next year’s market declines. Managing retirement money does not have to be difficult, but it is routinely presented as a complicated maze to persuade retirees to believe that “investment risk” is always suitable and needed to have the quality of life desired.

A comfortable retirement was once a certainty for many people. Now the retirement equation has changed. There’s an ever-growing interest in a guaranteed income stream for retirement. If ever there was a time for this specialty new-world product planning, it is now. These products are guaranteed, their crediting rates are tied to outside markets which will replicate inflation, their value will not be diminished, and at any time they can convert to a single or spousal shared lifetime pension payout to use to meet your basic needs. Now with your basic needs covered, you can take risks if you want with the rest of your money. These risk assets can fund spending that is nice, but not necessary.

No other product provides this wonderful combination of high-interest crediting potential, guaranteed principal protection, guaranteed lifetime income, and access to the remaining value. It is considered by some to be the best financial retirement income vehicle offered to date for those people looking for peace of mind and the ability to make sure they have taken care of their fixed needs in retirement.