FINANCIAL FOCUS

Countdown to retirement

Getting ready financially

By Robert May

Assistant Vice President

Frost Commercial Banking

For most of your career, you’ve dreamed of and worked toward the day when you say goodbye to the routines of 9-to-5 and hello to more “me time.” Travel beckons, hobbies and new pastimes await, and the promise of a brand new chapter to write for yourself is just over the retirement horizon. If 2022 is the year you’re ready to say, “I’m retiring,” you’ll want and need to spend some time preparing for the big event.

• Decide what you’ll do in retirement. Though you may have spent years building a retirement nest egg, it’s not likely that you’ve spent as much time defining exactly what retirement looks like for you. Work part-time? Travel? Take classes? Try out new pastimes or interests? Something else? Give some thought to what excites you about a new season in your life and what you’d like to achieve in retirement. Doing so, say financial experts, can help you more precisely define your future financial needs and enable you to outline at least a rough retirement budget. • Visit with your financial professionals, including your wealth advisor, CPA, and if appropriate, your tax attorney. They can provide guidance about specific actions to take and decisions to make as you prepare to leave full-time work life behind. They may also be able to suggest professional resources who can discuss retirement benefits, such as Social Security and Medicare. • Talk to your employer about retirement benefits to which you may be entitled, such pensions and retiree health insurance, and employer-sponsored retirement savings plans in which you participate to understand how they work in retirement. Many large companies offer preretirement counseling through their human resources department to help

employees transition to retirement. • Research how Medicare works, what supplemental insurance coverages you will likely need and what typical costs are. Good resources include Medicare insurance specialists and recent retirees who have found their way through sometimes confusing requirements. • Decide when you want to claim Social Security benefits and determine how Social Security and any resulting tax consequences will fit into your finances. • Ask questions all along the way. Much of what you need to know for retirement may be new and sometimes confusing. In the end, preparing for retirement is all about asking, learning and acting.

Would you like to talk to a financial professional? Contact Robert May at 713.388.7821 or Robert.May @frostbank.com.

Investment and insurance products are not FDIC insured, are not bank guaranteed, and may lose value.

Brokerage services offered through Frost Brokerage Services, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC, and investment advisory services offered through Frost Investment Services, LLC, a registered investment adviser. Both companies are subsidiaries of Frost Bank.

Investment management services, financial planning and trust services are offered through Frost Wealth Advisors of Frost Bank.

Additionally, insurance products are offered through Frost Insurance.

Deposit and loan products are offered through Frost Bank, Member FDIC. Frost does not provide legal or tax advice. Please seek legal or tax advice from legal and/or tax professionals.

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