Workplace Retirement Plan Management
While You’re Still Working
Your 401(k) or 403(b) may be able to receive professional investment management while you’re still employed — and your money can stay right where it is.
Your workplace retirement account may be one of the largest financial assets you own. Yet unlike an IRA or other investment account, you may be making most of the investment decisions yourself.
Depending on the features available through your employer’s retirement plan, A&M Financial Group may be able to professionally manage the investments within your existing 401(k), 403(b), or other workplace retirement account.
You’ve Built It. Now Let’s Put It to Work.
Years of contributions, employer matches, and investment growth can turn a workplace retirement account into a significant portion of your retirement savings.
But building the account is only part of the process.
As the balance grows and retirement gets closer, the decisions surrounding that money become increasingly important.
You may be wondering:
- Am I invested appropriately for my age?
- Am I taking too much risk?
- Am I taking too little risk?
- Am I properly diversified?
- Which investments available in my plan should I be using?
- Should I still own the investments I selected years ago?
- How should my workplace account coordinate with my IRA and other investments?
- Should my investment strategy change as I approach retirement?
- How will I eventually turn my savings into retirement income?
Professional workplace retirement plan management can help you make these decisions as part of a broader financial strategy.
Keep Your Account Where It Is. Add Professional Management.
One of the biggest misconceptions about receiving professional help with a 401(k) or 403(b) is that you must first leave your employer and roll the account into an IRA.
When supported by your employer's retirement plan, we may be able to provide professional investment management while:
- You remain employed
- You continue participating in your employer's plan
- Your retirement assets remain inside the plan
- You continue making contributions through payroll
- Your employer continues making applicable contributions
There is no need to move your retirement assets simply for us to determine whether professional management may be available.
Getting Started Is Simple
Step 1 — Schedule a Conversation
We start with a brief conversation about you.
We'll discuss your workplace retirement account, where you are in your career, your investment concerns, your retirement goals, and what you're looking for from professional management.
SCHEDULE A CONVERSATIONStep 2 — See If Your Plan Qualifies
Not every employer-sponsored retirement plan offers the same capabilities.
We'll help determine whether your current 401(k), 403(b), or other workplace retirement plan allows this type of professional management.
Step 3 — Look at the Bigger Picture
If your plan qualifies, we can evaluate your current workplace investments and how they fit with your overall financial situation.
That may include your:
- Current workplace retirement account
- IRAs and Roth IRAs
- Spouse's retirement accounts
- Personal investments
- Social Security
- Pension benefits
- Expected retirement date
- Future income needs
- Risk tolerance
- Retirement goals
Step 4 — Build Your Strategy
We can develop an investment allocation using the investment options available within your plan and taking into consideration your broader financial and retirement objectives.
Step 5 — Manage and Review
Retirement planning isn't a one-time event.
Your workplace retirement strategy can be reviewed as markets change, your financial situation evolves, and you move closer to retirement.
Bring Your Retirement Investments Together
Most people don't build their retirement savings in one account.
Over the course of your career, you may accumulate:
- A current 401(k) or 403(b)
- An IRA from a previous employer
- A Roth IRA
- Your spouse's retirement accounts
- Personal investment accounts
- Pension benefits
- Social Security
Although these assets may eventually serve the same purpose — helping fund your retirement — they are often managed separately.
For example, suppose you have:
In that situation, most of your retirement investments may sit outside the professionally managed strategy.
If your workplace plan qualifies, we may be able to incorporate that 401(k) or 403(b) into a more coordinated approach.
Your Strategy Should Evolve as Retirement Gets Closer
At age 35 or 45, retirement may still be decades away.
At 55, 60, or 65, the picture can look very different.
The focus begins to shift from simply:
to:
Your investment strategy may now need to balance:
You may still need growth because retirement could last for decades.
At the same time, protecting against risks that could disrupt your retirement plan may become increasingly important.
A significant market decline shortly before or after retirement can have a very different impact than a similar decline experienced earlier in your career — particularly once you begin taking withdrawals.
Your retirement investment strategy should have the ability to evolve as your life does.
Know the Risk Behind Your Retirement Investments
When did you last take a close look at how your workplace retirement account is invested?
Many employees selected their investments years ago and have made relatively few changes since.
As your account grows, you may want answers to questions such as:
- How much of my account is actually invested in stocks?
- How would my portfolio react to a significant market decline?
- Am I taking more risk than I realize?
- Am I too conservative?
- Am I properly diversified?
- Does my allocation match my retirement timeline?
- Does my workplace account complement my other investments?
Professional management can help evaluate the amount of investment risk you're taking and whether it is consistent with your goals, timeline, and overall financial situation.
Is a Target-Date Fund Enough for You?
Target-date funds can provide a convenient investment option and are common within workplace retirement plans.
But they are generally built around one primary factor:
A target-date fund typically doesn't know:
- When you actually plan to retire
- How much money you have outside your workplace plan
- Whether your spouse has retirement assets
- Whether you have a pension
- Your Social Security strategy
- How much retirement income you'll need
- Your personal tolerance for market losses
- What you own in your other investment accounts
- Your broader financial goals
Two people who plan to retire in the same year can have dramatically different financial situations.
A Broader Approach to Your Retirement
Workplace retirement plan management isn't simply about picking investments.
Your 401(k) or 403(b) is one component of your overall retirement plan.
Investment Management
We can evaluate the investment choices available through your workplace plan and develop an allocation based on your objectives, risk tolerance, and retirement timeline.
Retirement Planning
We can evaluate how your workplace retirement savings fit with your other assets and your overall retirement objectives.
Retirement Income Planning
As retirement approaches, the focus begins to move from accumulating money to determining how your savings may eventually help replace your paycheck.
We can help you begin planning for that transition.
Social Security Coordination
When you claim Social Security can affect when and how much you may need to withdraw from your retirement accounts.
We can consider Social Security alongside your investment and retirement income strategy.
Coordinating Your Investments
Your 401(k) or 403(b), IRA, Roth IRA, and personal investments shouldn't necessarily be managed as unrelated accounts.
We can look at them together as part of a broader retirement portfolio.
Ongoing Risk Management
The amount of investment risk that's appropriate today may not be appropriate five years from now.
Your investment strategy can evolve as retirement approaches.
What About the Retirement Account You Have at Work?
You may already work with a financial advisor who manages your IRA, Roth IRA, brokerage account, or other investments.
But if your 401(k) or 403(b) represents a significant portion of your retirement savings, an important question remains:
If that account isn't included in your broader investment strategy, a large portion of your retirement savings may effectively be managed separately.
When your plan qualifies, we may be able to help bring your workplace retirement assets into a more coordinated strategy.
Could This Be Right for You?
Workplace retirement plan management may be worth exploring if you:
- Are currently working and participating in a 401(k) or 403(b)
- Are approaching retirement
- Have accumulated significant assets in your workplace retirement plan
- Want professional assistance managing your investments
- Aren't sure whether you're taking the right amount of risk
- Haven't reviewed your investment selections recently
- Are concerned about market volatility
- Have retirement savings spread among several accounts
- Already have some investments professionally managed but not your workplace account
- Want to coordinate your investments with your retirement income strategy
You don't necessarily have to wait until you retire to begin bringing these pieces together.
Plans We May Be Able to Help Manage
Professional management may be available for employees participating in:
- 401(k) plans
- 403(b) plans
- Certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans
Availability depends on the specific features, investment platform, technology, investment options, and provisions of your employer's plan.
Not every workplace retirement plan will qualify.
We'll help you determine whether yours does.
Connect Your Workplace Plan to the Bigger Picture
At A&M Financial Group, we believe retirement planning should look beyond individual accounts.
Your:
are all pieces of the same retirement picture.
Our goal is to help coordinate those pieces into a strategy designed around you — not simply an account balance or retirement date.
And when your workplace retirement plan qualifies, that professional management may be able to begin while you're still working.
See What’s Possible With Your Workplace Plan
You Don’t Have to Wait Until Retirement to Start Planning for It
You've spent years building your workplace retirement savings.
Now you may be able to get professional help managing those investments while you continue working and participating in your employer's plan.
The First Step Is Simple: Schedule a Conversation.
We'll talk about your current workplace retirement plan, where you are today, and where you want to be in retirement.
Then we can help determine whether your plan qualifies and what options may be available.
SCHEDULE A CONVERSATIONStill Working? Your Retirement Planning Doesn't Have to Wait.
Investment advisory services offered through AMFG Wealth Management LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor. Professional management of assets held within an employer-sponsored retirement plan is dependent upon the features, investment options, technology, and other provisions available through the individual employer's plan. Not all retirement plans are eligible. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.