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Planning to Retire Soon? Make a Retirement Planning Checklist

By Sharon O'Brien, About.com

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Retirement Planning: 1 to 3 Years Before Retirement, Part 2

Assemble Your Retirement Plan

  1. Revisit your retirement asset allocation. Check the asset allocation of all savings and investment accounts you expect to use to generate retirement income.

    Fidelity suggests that workers nearing retirement who are still investing in a 401(k) or IRA may want to consider maintaining a diversified portfolio with a mix of investments. A balanced portfolio that includes a significant portion of equities can help promote potential future growth, and protect against inflation, rising health care costs and longer life spans.

    A lifecycle fund can also make age-appropriate investing easier by using a pre-determined asset allocation strategy that becomes more conservative as the fund’s target retirement date approaches.

  2. Think about long term care. During retirement planning, consider funding long term care insurance, if you haven’t done so already.

    Fidelity says that there is a 50 percent chance that today’s 65 year-old couples could live well past the age of 90. Rising health care costs, coupled with inadequate health care coverage, can have a devastating impact on your retirement income plan.

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