The days of planning your retirement in person are slowly coming to an end.
Many retirees are now taking their retirement planning virtually – and doing everything they need to do through only phone calls and video chats.
Grant Lannin refers to himself as a “safe money” advisor & retirement planner. And he says that he’s seen that retirees are actually in a much better spot in terms of planning for retirement due to the push towards virtual planning.
“There’s a lot of retirees in small rural towns that don’t have access to the top professionals in given fields simply due to where they live or because of nagging health issues. But by making their retirement planning virtual, they’ve opened doors to options and solutions that were completely inaccessible to them in the past due to where they lived. And believe it or not, a lot of these retirees are quite literally saving their retirements due to avoiding problems that many local professionals are simply unaware of – like the spend down or the 5-year lookback.”
Due to the strong surge in virtual planning, Grant said he pivoted a large portion of his business to focus solely on providing the most comprehensive virtual retirement services available in the US.
“Of course I still get clients who only want to do business in person. I completely respect that”. Grant said. “I’ll go meet with them face to face without hesitation”. He continued: “But whereas beforehand I would have never had the opportunity to work with someone in let’s say, in Whitefish, Montana… now I can. And it’s truly a beautiful thing.”
Grant said what makes his practice unique is his focus on only using products that can’t lose money due to market drops or ever go backwards in terms of principal.
“Believe it or not,” Grant said, “People come to me completely unaware that – and this has actually happened – 90% of their portfolio is subject to market risk. They have absolutely no idea that if the market takes a hit and their portfolio drops 48% like it did in 2008 – their hopes of retirement are either ruined or have to be severely delayed. Literally no clue! Why didn’t anyone tell them!? And, it’s almost funny because, if they ask their broker, ‘What strategy do you have in place so that I’ll never run out of money if the market takes a hit?’… Do you know what their broker will say? Nothing! You’ll get crickets!”
Grant’s focus on “safe money” is what he says makes him completely unique from any other professional most people have ever worked with before. He’s an extremely unique type of advisor that focuses on protection of assets in what he calls the “CRW” or Critical Retirement Window.
“That window of time about 5-6 years both before and after the date you officially retire is so critically important to get right,” Grant said. “Because that number you’re left with at the end of that window is the number you’re going to be compounding off of for the rest of your life. This is what I help my clients get right.”
And Grant says it’s all about education.
“My average client will walk into my office knowing about 3% of what they need to know to make sure they are fully protected. They know they need to save money throughout their life – but that’s often about it. And it’s not their fault. We aren’t taught this stuff in school. The most important thing you can do for yourself if you’re getting close to retirement (or simply want to plan ahead) is sitting down with a trusted advisor who has your best interest at heart and beginning that educational process with them. A little planning can go a long way.”
