30 days to financial fitness

Day 22 of our step-by-step guide to getting in financial shape looks at managing your assets during retirement

Christine Benz & Holly Cook | 29-01-10 | E-mail Article

Day 22: Get a plan for your retirement portfolio
Degree of difficulty: Moderate ¦ See Week 1 tips ¦ See Week 2 tips ¦ See Week 3 tips

Amassing enough assets to retire is the heaviest lifting that any of us will do in our investing lives. But even after you've cleared that hurdle, it's still important to have a plan for managing your assets during retirement.

Because encountering a bear market early in your retirement years can have a devastating impact on portfolios that are too aggressively positioned, it's important to have a sizable dose of bonds and cash by the time you retire. But because no one can predict the future, there's no right answer about how much any of us should have in stocks, bonds, and cash. There's a raft of information online, including in our article archive, on asset allocation, though you may also opt to consult an independent financial adviser to help decide on the best allocation for you based on your expected retirement date and risk tolerance.

Another key task for retirees and pre-retirees is to determine a realistic portfolio withdrawal rate. Yesterday's task coached you on using online tools to help answer this question, and my book also includes a chapter on how to calculate your optimal retirement withdrawal rate.

Finally, if you've saved for retirement in various accounts--and most of us have--your retirement portfolio strategy must also include a plan for tapping those assets. As a general rule of thumb, you'll want to tap your taxable accounts first, before you start making withdrawals from tax-sheltered products such as ISAs.

Christine Benz & Holly Cook  Christine Benz is Morningstar director of personal finance; Holly Cook is editor of Morningstar.co.uk.  You can contact the author via this feedback form.
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