10 steps to a successful retirement

Lay the groundwork for your retirement by getting an early start on these essentials:

Understand your income and spending habits. Consider grouping your expenses into three key categories: needs (essential expenses such as daily bills, education, and healthcare), wants (discretionary items like travel and entertainment), and wishes (long-term goals such as purchasing a new property).

Build an emergency fund. Having a financial buffer helps you maintain your lifestyle and protect yourself and your loved ones from unexpected expenses or disruptions to your income.

Review your balance sheet regularly. Keep an eye on changes that may affect your retirement plan, such as rising debt or shifts in income. Small adjustments can make a big difference over time, so staying proactive is key.

Once you’ve established your essentials, it’s time to make the most of your pre-retirement savings while you’re still active in your career. Consider the following:

Leverage your employee benefits. Take advantage of company-matched retirement contributions and student loan repayment programs, if available. If you have access to an employee stock option or purchase plan, that may also be worth considering as part of your long-term strategy.

Use the savings waterfall method. This approach helps you prioritize after-tax growth potential and determine how much to save in each account type each year. You can also download ourUBS Savings Waterfall worksheet to help guide your planning.

Automate your savings. Set up direct deposits and automatic investment strategies so contributions start working right away. Automating this process can help you stay consistent, even during life’s busiest moments.

Revisit your savings plan annually. Revisit your strategy each year to adjust for changes in income, taxes or goals. As you earn more and move into higher tax brackets, consider maximizing contributions and taking advantage of catch-up opportunities, or shifting from Roth to pretax contributions where appropriate.

Strategic investing can play a vital role in growing and protecting your wealth throughout your retirement journey. Here are a few ways to strengthen your financial plan:

Take advantage of market dips. Market downturns can present attractive entry points, creating opportunities to put your savings to work at lower valuations.

Diversify wisely. Building a portfolio that’s balanced across sectors, investment styles, and regions can help you capture growth opportunities while managing risk over time. Your UBS Financial Advisor can help you identify opportunities and navigate market changes with confidence.

Balance risk and reward. Align your investments with your age, goals and time horizon. You can also explore ways to align your portfolio with your personal values through sustainable or philanthropic investing.

Create a comprehensive plan that reflects the lifestyle you envision in retirement, taking every aspect into account to help keep your goals on track.

Plan for the long-term. Include anticipated lifestyle changes, healthcare and long-term care needs, as well as charitable giving and inheritance goals.

Identify your retirement spending and income sources. Outline your expected retirement spending alongside income sources such as Social Security, pensions and annuities.

Prioritize your goals. Once your essential needs are covered, you may consider allocating funds to the causes and loved ones you care about most.

Accommodate your retirement spending needs by aligning them with the size, importance and time frame of each of your goals. One way to do this is by following our UBS Wealth Wayinvestment approach, which includes:

Liquidity: Our Liquidity strategy is designed to help your family meet its cash flow needs regardless of market conditions. We suggest setting aside enough resources to cover 3–5 years of cash flow needs from your portfolio, ensuring you have the flexibility to fund planned expenses beyond what’s covered by reliable income sources such as salary, Social Security, annuity or pension income.

Longevity: Our Longevity strategy is designed to include all the assets and resources that you will need to fund your spending for the rest of your lifetime. Your Longevity strategy can be funded with any resources that you plan to tap during your lifetime, such as retirement accounts, real estate investments, annuity income, and long-term care insurance policies.

Legacy: Our Legacy strategy clarifies how much your family can afford to give to improve the lives of others, either now or in the future. It includes assets that exceed what you need to meet your lifetime objectives, and is generally the focus of multi-generational estate and/or philanthropy planning.

UBS Wealth Way is an approach incorporating Liquidity. Longevity. Legacy. strategies that UBS Financial Services Inc. and our Financial Advisors can use to assist clients in exploring and pursuing their wealth management needs and goals over different timeframes. This approach is not a promise or guarantee that wealth, or any financial results, can or will be achieved. All investments involve the risk of loss, including the risk of loss of the entire investment. Timeframes may vary. Strategies are subject to individual client goals, objectives and suitability.

Having a thoughtful withdrawal strategy can help you protect your income and manage taxes more efficiently. Here are a few ways to start:

Draw from different account types. Using a mix of tax-deferred, tax-exempt, and taxable accounts can help you better manage your taxable income throughout your retirement years.

Implement a series of partial Roth conversions before year-end. This can be especially helpful if you’re in a lower income year, expect higher taxes in the future, or want to build more flexibility into your long-term plan. You can also explore this topic further in our latest insights report and discuss what works best for you with your financial or tax advisor.

Insurance remains a key part of retirement security. We recommend exploring the following options and discussing them with your Financial Advisor for guidance:

Weigh your healthcare options. This includes reviewing Medicare, supplemental insurance plans, and long-term care coverage you may need in the years ahead.

Explore the strategic role of life insurance. The right life insurance policy can provide liquidity and an income tax–free inheritance for your heirs, strengthening your overall estate planning strategy.

Retirement isn’t just about financial security, it’s also about finding purpose and focusing on what matters most to you.

Pursue your passions. This is your time to explore hobbies, travel, or revive creative pursuits you may have set aside during your working years.

Stay connected. Join community groups, volunteer, or mentor others. Staying engaged can bring a deeper sense of fulfillment and connection throughout your retirement.

Since your spending patterns will naturally evolve throughout retirement, it’s important to keep track of your expenses to ensure you stay on course.

Expect shifts over time. For example, early retirement years may involve more travel and leisure spending, while later years might bring increased charitable giving or support for family members.

Stay connected with your Financial Advisor. Regular check-ins help keep your portfolio and financial plan aligned with your goals and evolving priorities.

Ensure your legacy is organized and aligned with your intentions, so what you’ve built continues to support the people and causes that matter most to you. These steps can help you put your legacy plans into action:

Update legal documents. Review your wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations regularly to ensure they reflect your most current wishes.

Explore tax-efficient gifting strategies. Donating pre-tax dollars to charity can enhance the tax effectiveness of your gifts and may reduce the tax impact of your Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).

Consider donor-advised funds (DAFs). Contributing appreciated securities to a DAF allows those assets to be invested and potentially grow tax-free until you’re ready to support a qualified public charity.

Evaluate trust strategies. If your estate may be subject to state or federal estate taxes, establishing a trust can help transfer assets (and their future growth) outside your taxable estate. You can also take advantage of lifetime gift and estate tax exemptions, as well as annual exclusions.

Leverage Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs). After age 70½, you can use QCDs from IRAs to meet your RMDs without increasing taxable income, helping you support charitable causes while managing your tax exposure.

Achieving a successful retirement starts with thoughtful planning. By following these 10 steps, you can build a strong financial foundation and find greater personal fulfillment in the years ahead. The earlier you begin, the more flexibility and opportunity you’ll have along the way.