Workers save each month for their 401(k)s, individual retirement accounts and other retirement investment programs.

After 40 years, when it's time to retire, it can feel strange to take money out of that account, rather than putting more money in.

“Good savers will save the same amount of money every month for years, and they get comfortable,” said Howie Pentony, founder of Pentony Capital Management in Portersville.

“Then, all of a sudden, it stops and it's the other way around,” Pentony said. “(They think): 'Holy cow, how does this work? How do I stop saving and start taking?'”

It's not an uncommon feeling, and financial advisers understand where that feeling comes from.

“I often tell folks that, in hindsight, the years of saving during your career is actually the easy part,” said Wendy Bennett, president of Bennett Associates Wealth Management in Butler.

Through a few rules of thumb, with more individualized planning and working with a financial adviser, however, it can be easier to clear that mental hurdle when it comes time to hand in retirement papers.

The bulk of many people's net worth is tied up in their retirement accounts. Because of that, Bennett said, most people with whom advisers work are nearing retirement age.She added there are designations people can seek out when nearing retirement that indicate the adviser has “completed advanced, specialized training in the area of retirement.” These include certified financial planner, or CFP; chartered retirement planning counselor, or CRPC; and retirement income certified professional, or RICP.Pentony said when working with an adviser, they will likely ask what typical monthly expenses are and base retirement investment and spending strategies on that budget.“What people come to me for, generally speaking, (is) to find out, 'If I'm getting ready to retire, what do I need to be thinking about?'” he said. “We have a conversation with them. 'Do a budget,' (we tell them). Figure how much it takes you to live.“Once you go through all of those things and you get a real budget from them — and you let them do it because only they know how much money they spend — you can sit down with them and tell them, 'Yes, you can retire' or 'No, you can't.'”It's important, too, to consider costs that go beyond the typical monthly expenditures, Bennett said.When getting close to retirement, “work with an adviser who can help you define clear financial goals for retirement as well as the timing of those goals,” she said. “This includes the desired lifestyle you envision for yourself, as well as one-time or ongoing goals such as a second or vacation home or extensive vacations or travel that would not be funded with the typical household spending budget.”Bennett said this planning, along with the adviser, can help determine how to allocate assets just prior to and during retirement. And while there are some rules of thumb surrounding that allocation — have more bonds or other income-oriented assets than 40 years prior, for example — that, too, is an individualized process.“The most important thing that we do, as financial people, is figure out what kind of a person we're talking to,” Pentony said. “Are they comfortable with taking some risk? How comfortable are they? How much risk can they take?“Those are the most difficult and the most important things we do as financial people: We've got to figure out who our customer is.”

It's strange to take money out of an account after depositing into it for decades. The mindset changes, going from saving to spending that money, is a big hurdle to clear — but that is what the savings have been for, advisers say.“Upon retirement, you now have to realize it's time to begin drawing on those funds that you have been saving for all those years,” Bennett said. “This is unsettling to most folks. The paychecks stop, and the investment withdrawals begin.”As a general rule of thumb, Pentony said, it's wise to withdraw roughly 4% of a retirement account each year.“Why does that make me comfortable?” he asked. “Because the Standard & Poor's (stock market index), over a long period of time, has returned above 9% on a yearly average. If you're making 9% and only take 4%, you should be fine.”If saving money during a working life is the easy part, Bennett said, the hard part is handling those funds after retirement.“The hard part is knowing how to structure withdrawals over time and what level of returns you need to seek in order to make your investments last through your life expectancy: in other words, how to not run out of money,” she said.Another difficult thing is understanding the withdrawals — Pentony said retirees typically take retirement distributions at the beginning of each month — may not always be level like a paycheck.“Your withdrawals on a monthly basis, they're going to be dependent on what the stock market does,” he said. “If the market would be bad for several years — which it typically is not — that would affect the money that you take out of your investment account, so you hope the market does pretty well over your retirement.”Balancing the need for income in retirement and the fluctuating whims of the stock market presents another challenge.

The 4% rule should give retirees enough funds to last decades, even if the value of their portfolio doesn't change.But that's not enough, Pentony argues. He said workers try each year to get a raise, which is dependent on their company's priorities.In retirement, however, “the account has to go up in value for the investor to get a raise,” he said.“They do not want to get too conservative,” Pentony said. “Who knows? You could be retired for 35 or 40 years. If you're going to have enough money to last, you're going to have to take some risk, and the secret is to kind of balance it. Balance it with growth and with income.“If you can do that, that's the secret,” he said. “Balance your investment with growth and income. That way, the value of your account goes up, you can take more money out as it goes up, and, as you get older, you're not stuck taking the same amount out.”

The allocation of stocks, bonds and other investment vehicles should also depend on the investor's long- and short-term goals.“Once goals and timelines are established, an adviser can work with you to establish the asset allocation that best meets your timeline,” Bennett said. “For example, money to be spent in the near term should be more conservatively invested than the money you won't need for 10 (or more) years.”

<b>PENTONY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT</b><b>Location:</b> 105 Adams Ln, Portersville<b>Phone:</b> 724-368-4224<b>Website:</b> howiepentony.com<b>BENNETT ASSOCIATES WEALTH MANAGEMENT</b><b>Location:</b> 122 S Washington St., Butler<b>Phone:</b> 724-602-0075<b>Website:</b> bennettawm.com