Approaching Retirement: What Should Change in Your Portfolio
By Dragan Mark Filipovic, CFAFounder and Chief Investment Officer
The years leading up to retirement are different from the decades spent accumulating. Contributions slow or stop. Withdrawals become more likely. Sequence of returns, liquidity and the amount of risk in the portfolio start to matter in a more immediate way.
That does not mean every investor should automatically move to a generic “retirement” allocation at a certain age. It means the portfolio should be reviewed against the life that is actually about to begin.
Risk looks different when withdrawals start
A decline that occurs while money is still being added to a portfolio is not the same as a decline that occurs after withdrawals have begun. The second case can force the sale of investments at an unhelpful time. Understanding how much risk is in the portfolio — and whether that risk is still appropriate — is one of the most useful conversations to have before retirement.
Liquidity is a planning question
Retirement spending is rarely a smooth monthly withdrawal from a single account. Taxes, Social Security timing, required distributions and large irregular expenses all affect how cash should be available. A portfolio that was built to grow may not be arranged to fund those needs without disruption.
These are not questions that should automatically be answered with a generic age-based portfolio.
Your investment strategy should reflect your assets, expected needs, risk tolerance, time horizon and retirement objectives.
Questions worth asking now
- Am I taking more risk than I should?
- Is the portfolio positioned for withdrawals, or only for growth?
- How much liquidity do I actually need in the first years of retirement?
- Would a market decline force me to sell investments I would rather keep?
- Do I understand the fees I will continue to pay once I am no longer contributing?
A retirement-planning review at Gold Coast Capital Management starts with those questions and the portfolio you already own. The goal is a strategy that can be lived with — not a model built for a different stage of life.