What advice would you give a person that has 95% of their retirement savings in pre-tax investments?

I am ~ 4 years from retirement and currently have $650,000 in savings + a current value of $215,000 in a company pension.What advice would you give a person that has 95% of their retirement savings in pre-tax investments?
You should find a financial planner who can work with you to discuss your goals and plans. However, just some general advice, since you're close to retirement, you should leave the money in safe and conservative investments to minimize the possibility for loss.


You should avoid early withdrawal to maximize gains and lower possible tax implications.What advice would you give a person that has 95% of their retirement savings in pre-tax investments?
Pre-tax investments are the best places to have 95% of your retirement savings. Continue to contribute to these pre-tax investments until you retire. If you withdraw your money from the pre-tax investments prior to retirement, it will be counted as ordinary income, possibly place you in a higher tax bracket, and be taxed at that higher tax rate. Once you no longer earn a salary, you may wind up in a lower tax bracket so when you withdraw your retirement savings you will be taxed at a lower rate.





If you are worried about not having enough savings, are able to contribute to a defined contribution pension plan (a 401k), and are more than 50 years old, you may make catch up contributions of up to $5,000 in 2007 in addition to your normal contributions that are limited to $15,500. If you have a traditional defined benefit pension plan, you can still contribute to an IRA.





You will want to have a relatively conservative asset allocation in your portfolio, with greater emphasis on bonds and money markets than on stocks. To help you determine if you have the right asset mix, you may use an asset allocation worksheet. This should be available among the tools and services your pension plan record keeper provides for you. If not, many investment services companies offer these tools for free on their websites. You can also choose to meet with a financial planner who can help you plan for retirement.





The key is to identify your annual expenses in retirement. Many people estimate this to be from 70% to 80% of their annual income prior to retirement. You can estimate the annual return from your investments based on historical returns of your own portfolio or an estimated return based on a new portfolio mix. A financial planner can help you come up with these estimates. Adding in any other source of income from Social Security, rental properties, etc., you can then estimate how many years your savings will last and make adjustments accordingly.





It's very important to take an active role in your portfolio's management. You have a good amount saved up, so I'm sure you won't have a problem with that. But if you're not willing to spend at least an hour a month reviewing your portfolio, you should enlist the help of a financial planner who will do that for you (at a cost, of course).
If you are 4 years away from retirement hopefully you are allocated accordingly into less volatile investments like fixed income securities and only have a small percentage of your retirement account in stocks. The fact that your retirement investments are in a pre-tax account is a good thing and is somewhat irrelevant to your question because you only pay taxes on the income distributions once you retire. You need to go talk to a financial planner.