Case Study: Financial Planning

Pablo Bianchi
Certified Financial Planner
Philadelphia, PA

Pablo Bianchi says Mary must overcome the inertia of her situation and actively develop a retirement plan — starting now. She should begin by tweaking the investment plan she set up a decade ago.

"The last thing you want to do is to wake up at age 78, running out of assets and needing to go back to work," Bianchi says. "Financial planning is not something you do once and forget."

He suggests she pull together her sources of retirement income and estimate the money she'll have and how much she'll need. If there's a shortfall, she has to make some tough choices now, Bianchi says: Get on a tight budget; take on some investments that potentially will produce higher returns, knowing that they will add risk to your portfolio; retire later or plan on working part-time when she's older.

He suggests she interview two or three certified financial planners. Find a planner who will listen to what she wants to do in her later years, and care about helping her. But, he says, "Run away if someone starts talking about doing transactions right away." Hire someone to set up your plan — not to sell you products.