Mom (63) is hoping to retire at 67. Unsure of best strategy during these remaining work years.

That matters because it affects the answer on whether she should be putting cash savings elsewhere. But if she is saving for retirement, then there's no reason it shouldn't be in a retirement vehicle, especially if she is going to retire and live on significantly less than her guaranteed income, in which case that tax-advantaged money is going to have a long time to grow.

I don't think it's a bad idea to have a fee-only financial planner create a plan for her if that would make her comfortable; a lot of what they would tell her is available elsewhere (like the wiki for this sub), but it doesn't hurt to have a real person to talk to. Just make sure that the "fee only" financial planner doesn't turn out to be a salesman (particularly a whole life insurance salesman) in disguise. We've run into more than one of these, most recently when trying to do college expense financial planning.

/r/personalfinance Thread