The Auto Mechanic as a Retirement Planning Advisor

I spent over 25 years in the automotive repair field before starting my present career as a retirement income/estate planner over 18 years ago. I am often asked how an auto mechanic transformed himself into this new totally unrelated profession. The evolution between occupations is not as unlikely as it first appears.

Many parallels exist between the two professions. Both require knowledge, experience and a proper set of tools.

As a matter of fact, there are a lot of similarities between maintaining an automobile and sustaining a quality, lifelong retirement plan.

Let’s compare these two concepts together as life unfolds.

When we were young and just starting out, most of us purchased a used vehicle as our first automobile. The purchase price was perhaps one of the principal factors in the final choice. It may not have been the shiny red convertible of our hopes and dreams, but dependability and affordable payments played a big part in the ultimate decision of which automobile to purchase.

This is similar to our first saving/retirement account. Fresh into the work place, our income was probably not very high. Having a safe, dependable and affordable place to start a retirement account, especially as we learned about saving money, became important to us. Think training wheels for retirement finances and planning.

With automobile ownership, maintenance requirements become a part of life. Just as changing the oil to keep our car running smooth, staying abreast of evolving account options were required to keep retirement savings on track.

Advances in our careers allowed an upgrade to a new car along with an increase to the savings amount deposited into our retirement account. Or changes in our family life may have required a different style of automobile. The retirement account plan would have needed to adapt to these changes as well.

Then, before we knew it, mid-life is upon us and the shiny red convertible is setting in the driveway.

Retirement account philosophies have changed again. Retirement is not such a far off concept, it gets closer every day and maximizing and protecting our retirement account balances has added significance and importance. There may not be time to rebuild a retirement account balance after a significate negative market correction.

Retirement has finally happened. The shiny red convertible has been replaced by the big Winnebago motor home. We are cruising around in our retirement years. The retirement accounts which had been set up for growth when we were younger have now been repositioned for the protection of principle and/or guaranteed income streams.

Life is good. All of the planning and a lifetime of saving has led to an enjoyable retirement and spending time with the family.

A fully developed, conservative financial retirement income program has proven its value. This is the equivalent of taking care of the family automobile to maximize its value and dependability.

However, even with the best prepared plans, a major breakdown in the family automobile can happen or a major health expense in retirement can occur. Plans for extraordinary costs made years ago allow the surviving spouse to continue the quality of retirement life so important to the family.

Financial retirement plans, like automobiles, need periodic tune-ups and adjustments.  Just as your car needs routine maintenance to run properly; so does your retirement income plan! It is important to keep a personal retirement income plan preforming as desired.

I hope you now understand the professional parallels between the auto mechanic and the retirement planning advisor.

Very much like automobiles without enough gas to reach their intended destinations, far too many retirement and estate plans may not have the “financial fuel” to meet all the retirement objectives.

Schedule a no-cost, no obligation retirement plan review today and receive a personal written retirement income illustration. This plan will show how the recent innovations for surviving retirement financially will benefit you and your family.

You will also receive a complimentary guide to help you in your estate planning.

I look forward to serving you.

Have a blessed day,
Lyndol Anderson