Getting married is a big step. According to experts like Robert Nico Martinelli, it’s also a good time to revisit your retirement planning strategy. Here are some of his top tips.

Plan together

The first step is to sit down with your partner and create a shared vision of what you want from life after retirement. This is a good place to start because the excitement and optimism you feel about starting a new chapter of your life can lead you to set unrealistic goals.

Draw up a list of activities that are important to both of you. At this stage, it’s better to err on the side of caution by setting long-term savings targets that are slightly higher than your immediate needs. That way, you’ll be prepared for unexpected expenses along the way.

Plan your investments together

Retirement is a complex transition period during which you could potentially need to access all of your financial resources at some stage. Therefore, it’s important to have a clear picture of how much you have saved so far, what the money is invested in, and what your short-term needs are.

Be honest about your expectations around investment returns.

Understanding the relationship between the amount of money you’re investing and the growth you can expect to see is essential for determining how much you need to save. Not understanding how this works could lead to disappointment. If your retirement savings will be invested in cash, then it’s likely that you’ll experience low or even no growth over time. Different types of assets have different levels of risk attached, so assess your appetite for risk before deciding where to invest your money. The higher the level of risk associated with an investment type, the greater potential for good returns and losses.

Having said that, remember that not all investments are right for all people. Your retirement savings strategy should be based on your unique risk profile.

Be smart about taking money out of your investments.

No matter how well you’ve planned or what individual investments you have, some portion of those assets will need to be accessed before the end of a retiree’s life. According to experts, this is a problem that many investors don’t address until they’re approaching retirement age and need access to their money.

The straightforward option is simply to withdraw cash from your investment account as needed. This could cause the balance in your investment account to shrink over time, which is why it isn’t sustainable if you want there to be something left by the end of your life. You can avoid this happening by ensuring your deposit includes a good mix of investments.

A better approach would be to use a portion of your savings to buy an annuity. An annuity is a contract with an insurance company that pays you a monthly amount for the rest of your life or for a pre-defined period. You can choose what percentage of each dollar you save should go towards buying an annuity, and this means that no matter how much money you need, there will still be something left in your investment account at the end of the day. This works well if you know exactly when you’ll need access to your investment capital, but it’s not ideal if you want to leave something behind for future generations.