You know what scares me most about retirement? The paycheck will be gone. Not that I never intend to work in retirement. I have a hobby creating designer jewelry. I’d like to make a small business out of it. But not forty hours a week. And I don’t expect the profits to be anywhere near what I’ve been making as an IT manager all these years.

Sure, I’ll have savings I can draw on. I’ve been good about contributing to my company’s 401(k) plan. I even have an IRA. But sometimes I fantasize about the day I retire. In that fantasy, my boss hands me a bag filled with all my 401(k) money and says, “Here you go, Carla. Don’t spend it all in one place!” How do I take that bag of money and make sure it lasts? And how long does it need to last? My dad died at age 68 and my mom, bless her soul, died at 98! Which set of genes did I inherit?

Thank goodness my husband Eddie and I have worked most of our lives. He runs a small consulting firm, so we’ll both have some Social Security coming in. Eddie will even have a little pension … something he earned after 10 years with a larger consulting firm. Those are like a paycheck. But will Social Security, Eddie’s pension plus our savings be enough? We don’t want to simply “get by” in retirement, we want to enjoy it. And how do we factor in things like inflation or the possibility of a market downturn?

Last month, we sat down with Eric, our financial professional. We don’t use him all the time, but when we’re thinking about a major transition, like retirement, we’ve found he can help us think through all the issues. Eric talked to us about something called “product allocation.” He reminded us that while we’ve been building our savings, we used asset allocation—that is, diversifying among different types of investments—to help us achieve our goals. Because our goal is shifting from building savings to creating retirement income, Eric suggested we consider product allocation. It means reallocating our assets among different types of financial products that can help us with a multitude of goals, like having income we’ll never outlive, continuing to grow assets to account for inflation, and even having a source of emergency funds for unexpected expenses.

It will take a few more sessions with Eric, but with his help, we’re starting to plot out how and when to put a product allocation strategy into action. And that bag of money I fantasized about? I feel it might last Eddie and I a lot longer than I thought.