When it comes to financial content, the technical details matter. After all, mistakes kill your credibility. But there’s a risk of taking this too far. If your content reads verbatim like an IRS report, readers will move on.

My Kiplinger editor taught me this lesson for a recent cover story: A 10-Year Checklist For Retirement Planning. The interviewed experts and I struggled to break down the advice into an annual checklist. Something like portfolio asset allocation is always important, not just nine, eight, or seven years before retirement.

The initial draft had solid advice but was listed in three long sections that were hard to digest: many years before retirement, closer to retirement, and right before retirement. That organization was more technically correct for the advice, but it simply didn’t flow.

My editor pushed me to take some creative liberty and organize these pointers into ten steps for ten years. The final result was much easier for our readers to follow and one of our top pieces for 2024. Think of your audience when you write content. Find the balance between accuracy and delivery.

https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/retirement-plans/checklist-for-retirement-planning