• An effective investment strategy – With the help of your financial consultant, you can define your retirement goals, identify opportunities to fund your retirement account and analyze research that can help you make appropriate investment decisions.
  
  
• Careful distribution planning – Since a distribution from your employer's retirement plan could represent the largest sum you will ever receive at once, intelligent planning is a must. Your financial consultant can help you analyze your alternatives, including:
  

  -	Annuitizing payments for regular income,
  -	Taking a lump-sum distribution or
  -	Rolling the distribution over into an individual retirement account (IRA)

Managing Your Retirement
You may spend more time in retirement that you anticipate. By 2010, the average U.S. life expectancy will be an estimated 78+ years, according to the National Center for Health Statistics 2003.

The implication? Retirement planning is more important than ever. And, it may not go far enough. We believe that a new approach to retirement is necessary. It’s one that encompasses a comprehensive “retirement management” strategy that replaces the concept of one-step retirement planning.

Retirement management should be thought of as a dynamic process that includes:

• The accumulation phase, as well as the distribution phase, of asset management.
• The achievement of various life goals along the way, such as buying a home or putting children through school.
• Ultimately, the conservation and transfer of one’s estate to the next generation.

Decisions involving retirement planning will likely have a huge effect on your quality of life. Contact a SmithReed financial consultant who can help you tap the retirement resources available through our Firm.

Staying Informed
We believe that the more our clients know about the process of investing, the better able they are to make informed investment decisions.

You can find additional investment education information through  SIA Investor, the Securities Industry Association’s online educational resource.