If some of the money is not needed, a charitable income trust can be established, he said. The designated charity pays the beneficiaries while they are alive and then the charity gets the rest of the money after the person dies.
“Being in retirement is different from getting there,” Harlow says. “When you are in the red zone, which is within five years of retirement, it is time to take a step back and look at the whole gamut of products that are out there. Advisors need to have the conversation about preservation of assets with any of their clients who are over 60 years of age.”