These days we are hearing more about retirement income planning than ever before.  And probably for good reason.  It is estimated that 60% of middle class baby boomer and retirees will outlive their entire savings if they retire and maintain their current standard of living.  60%!!!  It is becoming more obvious every day that the financial advisor that led you through the last couple of decades (in your accumulation and saving period), might not be the right one to lead you through the second half of your life, the income phase.

So who should you trust these days if you are a baby boomer or soon to be retiree?  Unfortunately, there is no fail proof answer, however, there are a few simple steps you should take to find out if you are dealing with the correct financial advisor.  Step 1 would be asking your financial advisor if he or she is a certified Retirement Income Professional?  Recently, the American College launched a “Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP) designation and credential for advisors that have mastered retirement income planning.  The RICP is an advanced professional designation for financial professionals that focus on clients in the retirement phase of life.  It is set up just like taking college courses with final exams that must be passed, etc.  The designation is an in-depth study of everything from Medicare, Social Security, retirement income, annuities, and more.

Secondly, there are many financial professionals that have avoided stocks, mutual funds, and securities to solely focus on safe money strategies such as retirement income, tax free retirement, and fixed growth and income allocations.  This group of financial professionals usually go by the term Retirement Income Specialists.  A great place to look up Retirement Income Specialists is Annuity123.com, who was the first company to come up with a free baby boomer and retirement income specialist matching service.  The free service allows you to search by zip code or city to find the closest specialists to you.

Finally, one of the best things you can do is either ask your financial advisor for a list of happy referrals that he or she has personally done a retirement income plan for, or just ask your friends for a referral to an advisor that they are pleased with.  The last thing you want to do is be a testing ground for a financial planner that is finally deciding to move away from risky assets to retirement income.

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