The portfolio you retire with should not be the one you die with, according to two executives with Ventura Wealth Management in Ewing, N.J.

Nick Ventura, CEO and president, and Dan McElwee, executive vice president, abhor a static portfolio and target-date or lifestyle funds that lump groups of people together.

“Retirement is a 30-year trip that could last as long as the career phase of a person’s life lasted,” says Ventura, and each person’s trip should be planned individually. “The Ventura Wealth message is that retirement is part of living and can last a long time and should be planned for accordingly.”

Several factors should be considered for each client, he says.

Businesses are recovering, so corporate benefit plans are improving. These plans should be reviewed by the advisor because the default options are not the best for all people, says Ventura.

At the same time, people are more active in retirement than they used to be, so they may be spending as much money in the first years as they did while they were working, he adds.

Some clients will need life coaching to insure they plan for retirement without fearing it. Clients should be asked what they plan on doing for the first six months or year after they are retired. In that way they have a transition plan in place. The portfolio needs to reflect the active stage of retirement that may require more money than the less active stage.  

“We stress dynamic asset allocation. For instance, in 2014, I cannot think of a reason to be overweighted in bonds, and yet if you pick up any book in the library it will tell you a person near retirement should be 40 percent stocks and 60 percent bonds,” Ventura says.

Part of the problem is that people investing look for simple solutions to complex situations and they just do not exist, says McElwee. “An advisor can never assume retirement is the same for any two people.”

When dealing with a couple, both partners have to be included in risk assessments and planning, McElwee adds. “There is no group more financially disenfranchised than women, and particularly widows.”

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