Retirement & Financial Planning Report

Talk of “three-legged stools” has become popular in Washington. For many, two legs of the stool are most likely Social Security and a pension. For a truly comfortable retirement, though, you need the third leg: private savings.

  • You may have contributed to a 401k retirement program (the Thrift Savings Plan is one) and rolled the balance into an IRA, upon retirement.

  • You or your spouse may have other IRA money, from annual contributions or from a rollover from another retirement plan.

  • You may have an investment portfolio that you’ve built up over the years.

  • You may have money from other sources (an inheritance, perhaps) that you’ve invested in securities.

In any case, you probably have some other funds you plan to use for retirement. Now you have to decide how to best use that money.