Raise your hand if this feels familiar: “Retirement planning is complex, but having a trusted community bank near me—where I could just walk in, update my accounts, and get personalized advice—changed everything.”
Our hands are raised.
We’ve heard it time and time again: Many people avoid retirement planning because it’s difficult. There are so many decisions to make, and your options aren’t always laid out clearly.
Your local community bank can make this simple for you. By providing tailored approaches to help you navigate planning in an accessible way, community banks can help you secure your ideal future.
The Importance of Choosing a Community Bank for Retirement Planning
When you partner with a community bank to plan your retirement, you’ll benefit in a few different ways:
- Personalized service: At your community bank, you’re not just another account number! Your banking team will know you, your financial goals, and your personal situation. They can take this into account when helping you make critical retirement decisions.
- Local expertise: Community banking teams are very aware of your neighborhood’s economic environment. Their advice will be built on this awareness, so you’ll only receive relevant information.
- Community investing: When you bank locally, your money works locally! This, in turn, helps local businesses grow. Community banks support area businesses and help with initiatives where you live, which can improve the local economy and (by extension) your own financial health.
Accessing Personalized Retirement Advice at Your Community Bank Near Me
Wondering how to engage with your community bank to enhance the relevancy of the services you receive?
We’ve got you covered. Here are a few practical steps you can take to help your nearest community bank provide the most tailored, effective services possible.
Active Participation in Your Financial Planning
Take an active role in your retirement planning by keeping your banking team updated on any significant changes in your financial goals or life circumstances. These updates could include:
- Changes in your employment or income status.
- Changes in your marital status.
- Any shifts in your planned retirement timeline.
- Or even updates to the financial planning or retirement planning industry!
If your bank has this information, they can help you keep your financial planning strategies aligned with your life. This reduces the amount of options and communications that don’t feel relevant or helpful (which also reduces frustration and saves time).
Ask These Key Questions to Establish Relationship-Based Banking
Think you’ve found a community bank near you that you can trust, but you want to make sure that you start your banking relationship on the right foot?
Consider asking these questions to help set you and your bank up for a mutually beneficial banking relationship:
- “How do you tailor the advice you provide to each client?” Your bank’s answer should help you understand whether it uses a one-size-fits-all approach when assisting clients, or if team members take the time to listen and help each person.
- “Can I meet with the same team or advisor on each visit?” When possible, community banks may work hard to keep your account managers and team members consistent from visit to visit—which can help make retirement planning feel more personal and effective.
- “What’s your process for updating client strategies?” As you know, life changes—and your retirement plan will certainly need to shift at least slightly over time. Your banking team’s plan for managing these updates will help you see how adaptable your bank is in the face of changing financial goals or circumstances.
Comparing Retirement Products Available at Community Banks
To help you plan, invest, and save effectively for retirement, your community bank will offer a variety of retirement products. Among these are individual retirement accounts (IRAs), savings accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs), and Money Market accounts.
Your banking team can help you put together a portfolio of retirement products best suited to your needs and goals, but here’s a quick look at the benefits of each:
- IRAs, both traditional and Roth, offer distinct tax advantages. Traditional IRAs provide tax-deferred growth, whereas Roth IRAs can offer you tax-free withdrawals later in life.
- Savings accounts and CDs provide incremental and safe growth over time, with the potential for higher interest rates with CDs.
- Money Market accounts can help savers access the benefits of both checking and savings accounts, including flexibility and higher returns.
We’re Here to Help You Plan Your Ideal Retirement (Here’s How)
When you’re ready to plan your retirement (and get the peace of mind that comes with setting up your ideal future), the team at BNC National Bank is here to assist. Our team will take the guesswork out of selecting the right investment vehicles and make saving money now and long into the future a breeze.
Ready to get started? Contact your team at BNC National Bank today to learn more about how we can support you.
