b'FOR YOUR PRACTICEShawn M JohnsonYour retirement income ChFC, CLU, CLTCVice President, Business Developmentvs. inflation. Who wins?Treloar & Heisel, Inc. sjohnson@treloaronline.comVisit us online at treloaronline.com When it comes to retirement income planning, many dentists have installed defined contribution plans, like Safe Harbor 401(k) Profit Sharing plans, and defined benefit plans or cash balance plans. In each of these plans, the dentist assumes the investment risk. As dentists get closer and closer to financial independence, their investment portfolios must be able to create and maintain consistent income.Inflation and market volatility can make this goal challenging to achieve. To combat inflation, many people may need to keep money invested throughout As dentists get closer toretirement. The concerns are that you may not be able to depend upon bonds for income if rates are too low. And if youre too concentrated in financial independence,equities, your savings could be dramatically affected by a sudden market downturn. For example, the average 401(k) balance declined by about their investment34% during the recession from 2007 to 2009. Taking money out of your investment accounts, or in other words selling when the market is at a low, portfolios must be ablemay dramatically impact how long the money from your investment accounts to create and maintainwill last.Research has shown that if you avoid pulling money out from your investment consistent income. accounts the year after a market downturn, the income stream from your assets may last longer. However, where will the money you depend on come from if youre not pulling it from your investment accounts? You would need to have money in an account thats not correlated to the market.One way to do this is to consider including a whole life strategy in your retirement income planning during your wealth building years.AAP Periospectives| 34'