Five Steps to a Successful Retirement Income Strategy

Retirement income, that “holy grail” of financial planning, can be overwhelming for advisors just entering the space. But it doesn’t have to be, says Michael Henkel, managing director of Envestnet/PMC, who offers simple steps for approaching the process.

Henkel (left), who was president of Ibbotson Associates prior to joining Envestnet, was the featured speaker of a web seminar hosted by AdvisorOne.com on Wednesday. He is responsible for PMC’s consulting team, along with the development of capital market forecasts and asset allocation strategies. He also leads in the development and implementation of the firm’s retirement and defined contribution initiatives.

Entitled “The Frontiers of Investing: Reliable Income for Clients in Retirement,”and moderated by Investment Advisor Editor-in-Chief and AdvisorOne contributing editor John Sullivan, Henkel began by noting that advisors are currently not fully taking advantage of the retirement income opportunity.

“In order to do so,” he said, “you must employ a solution-oriented process that operates on an investor’s household assets, and one that is an ongoing process that lasts for many years.

The process includes the following five steps:

1. Gather information—Data Aggregation and the ability to show and manage entire household account.
2. Product/Asset Selection— Asset /annuity allocation and outcome-based forecasting.
3. Implementation—Asset location and which assets go in which accounts. It also takes distribution strategies into account, such as time segmented distribution and SWP strategies.
4. Management—Data aggregation and tax management.
5. Reporting—Mainly goal-based.

Henkel discussed each in detail before concluding that retirement income is more than a product and more than an allocation framework.