Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.
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their ending salary at retirement to ensure a successful retirement. This assumes that "best-behaviors" have taken place all along including sav- ing from a young age, having had no interruptions in work, retiring around the age of 67, and investing in appropriate assets. Fidelity also recommends a retiring spending rate of 85 percent of your estimated pre-retirement after-tax income. While these guidelines can be helpful, there is no one-size-fits-all formula. "Working closely with a qualified certified financial planner, one can reasonably determine whether a comfortable retirement from a financial perspective is feasible," says Cadigan. "If you find you have the financial wherewithal to retire, the real trick is then ascertaining whether you are psychologically ready to leave the working world." "Financial planning is contextualized," explains Marcel Quiroga, Chief Relationship Officer at Capital Formation Group. "Financial readiness is a function of your personal values and lifestyle—not a national average." Many people choose to work with financial planners to help them devise a comprehensive plan that reflects their unique goals for retire- ment including coordinating tax and estate planning and insurance coverage. "A financial planner is the quarterback on your team of advisors that ensure that you will be ready to retire," says Bill Reeve, Professor in the financial planning department at Boston University and Northeastern. (In Wellesley, he also serves as Director of Financial Planning at Asset Strategy Consultants.) To determine how much is necessary, financial planners often take their clients through a retirement budget process. "It is important to distinguish between wants and needs," Quiroga explains. Rather than feeling constricting, this process often brings a sense of freedom. It captures the range of values associated with "how much is enough" across a variety of expense levels. Larger, discretionary financial goals such as purchases of second or third homes, philanthropic desires, and/or passing along money to 96 Are You Ready to Retire? W e l l e s l e y W e s t o n M a g a z i n e | s p r i n g 2 0 1 4 ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 1 0 1 ) 10-15% M O N K E Y B U S I N E S S I M A G E S / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M M E D I A B A K E R Y Fidelity recommends saving of your income 090-102_WWMa14_ready to retire_v3_WellesleyWeston Magazine 2/1/14 4:35 PM Page 96