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For many people, long gone are the days when you can retire from your job with the pension that your employer provides. Today it is important to have your own plan. It is all about taking control of your financial future and there a few steps you should take to help you achieve your retirement goals.

Here are nine things I think you need to know before you can retire comfortably.

1. What is your net worth today?
This is really the foundation of all financial planning. You need to understand your net worth in order to move forward. I suggest you make a list on one page everything you own; houses, cars, investment accounts, retirement accounts and education plans. Then take a look at your expenses or your liabilities; what do you owe? Now take your assets and subtract your liabilities and that gives you your net worth.

2. Where is all your money going to come from?
I want you to make another list here of where your retirement income is going to come from; retirement accounts, pension plans, government pensions and inheritances. We don’t need to know what the income is going to be only what the sources are.

3. What are your retirement expenses going to be?
You want to get very clear about what your expenses are now and what they are going to be moving forward.

4. What is your debt management plan?
So if you’re going into retirement and you’re going to be carrying debts, you really want to get a clear plan in place to get rid of those debts.

5. What does your base plan look like?
A base plan is a plan that lays out all of your information (your assets, your liabilities, your retirement income, your retirement expenses) and puts it into a system so you can get a clear picture of where you are today. This step helps answer the most important question can I retire with the lifestyle I’ve become used to?

6. What if scenarios.
I want you to think about and prepare for all eventualities in this step. For example, what if I really don’t like my job and I really want to retire five years earlier? Or what if we decide to downsize and maybe buy a summer home somewhere? All of these variables need to be worked into the plan.

7. What kind of planning are you doing?
There are two types of planning to consider here; goals based planning or cash flow based planning. Goals based planning provide you a clear idea of what you need to do to retire at a certain age within a certain level of income. Cash flow based plans do a much better job of mimicking your actual retirement income and the taxes associated the cash from your plan.

8. What about risk management?
This is important because when you are talking about financial planning there are three eventualities to consider. The first is you’re going to live a long healthy life. The second eventuality is you are going to live a long, unhealthy life. The third is you are going to die prematurely. We want to make sure all of our plans can sustain the level of income we will need to deal with all the eventualities.

9. Estate Planning
So what is going to happen to your family’s wealth when you die? What happens if both spouses die? Are you planning on leaving your wealth and assets to your children? We really want to be focusing on the efficient transfer of wealth from one generation to the next. If you want more information on estate planning, check out my recent post Keeping Your Cottage In The Family – Mistakes To Avoid.

Being able to retire comfortably takes planning. There is no doubt there is a lot to think about. A good financial planner can help you go through the steps so you can get clear on what you need to do to retire the way you want to. For more information on planning your retirement, check out my post Make Retirement The Time of Your Life: Ask Yourself Three Questions

If you are not sure where to turn, the team at IRONSHIELD Financial Planning can help. And of course take a look at this comprehensive and free Consumer Awareness Guide I wrote How to Choose and Work With a Financial Planner You Can Trust.