Retirement Planning
Retirement is one of the most significant financial transitions you will ever make — and one of the most consequential to get wrong.
The stakes in retirement are very different than they are during your working years obviously. When you're still earning, a bad year in the markets is painful but usually recoverable — you keep earning, you keep saving, you keep investing, and time does its thing. In retirement, the calculus changes entirely. You're no longer adding to your portfolio; you're drawing from it. A serious market downturn in the early years of retirement can permanently impair the sustainability of your assets in a way that a downturn at the age of 45, 51 or 57 simply isn’t likely to. This is called sequence of returns risk, and it's one of the most under-appreciated dangers facing people approaching or entering retirement.
Planning thoughtfully for this critical transition isn't optional. It's the work.
The retirement "red zone"
The years before and immediately into early retirement are the most financially sensitive years of most people's lives. Decisions made in this window — when to claim Social Security, how to structure withdrawals, how much risk to carry in the portfolio, whether to do Roth conversions before income rises again with RMDs — have consequences that compound over decades.
We work closely with clients in this period to make sure the foundation is laid well before the transition happens. That means stress-testing the plan against potential adverse scenarios: what does retirement look like if the market is flat for a number of years around your target retirement date? What if one partner needs long-term care earlier than expected? What if inflation runs hotter than historical averages for a decade? A retirement plan that only works under optimistic assumptions isn't really a plan — it's a hope and it’s stress-inducing at precisely the time when you want to move into a new, stress-free phase of life.
Turning a lifetime of savings into income you can spend
Most of the financial advice available to people during their working years is about accumulation — save more, invest wisely, let it compound. But retirement income planning is a fundamentally different discipline. The question shifts from "How do I grow this?" to "How do I turn this into sustainable, tax-efficient income for an unknown period of time, through uncertain markets, with an uncertain inflation path?"
We build retirement income plans that account for all of it. That means:
Social Security optimization. The difference between a well-timed and a poorly-timed Social Security claiming strategy can be worth many tens of thousands of dollars. We model the options carefully — including the coordination between spouses, as well as advise on how Social Security earnings work and whether working a little longer could lead to a higher primary benefit amount. And we do this before any irreversible decisions are made.
Tax-efficient withdrawal sequencing. Which accounts should you draw from first — taxable, tax-deferred, or Roth? In what order, and in what amounts? The answer depends on your tax situation, your RMD timeline, your estate goals, and a range of other important factors. Done well, withdrawal sequencing can significantly reduce your lifetime tax burden, as well as increase legacy or charitable giving.
RMD planning. Required Minimum Distributions force withdrawals from tax-deferred accounts beginning at age 73 (or 75 for those born in 1960 or later), whether you need the income or not. For clients with large pre-tax retirement accounts, this can push them into higher brackets, increase Medicare IRMAA surcharges, and create tax problems that can compound over time. We address this proactively in conversation with clients — often through Roth conversions in the years before RMDs begin, potentially through Qualified Charitable Distributions, and/or by more effectively managing distributions while building the retirement income plan.
Income annuities. Without hawking products, we discuss whether a guaranteed income annuity — individual or joint life — makes sense as part of an income “floor”, and discuss the trade-offs clearly. For some clients it makes huge amount of sense to alleviate market stress and to augment guaranteed lifelong income to cover their basic needs via a monthly check to supplement other forms of recurring income. For others it absolutely does not.
Portfolio construction for the draw-down phase. A retirement portfolio needs to balance growth — you may need this money to last thirty or more years — with enough stability and/or risk capacity to weather downturns without forcing you to sell at the absolute worst moment (or moments). We build and manage portfolios with the specific demands of the draw-down phase in mind.
Home equity as a planning tool
For many retirees, the equity in their home is one of the largest assets they own — and one of the least integrated into their financial plan.
Home equity has an important characteristic: it is largely uncorrelated with the value of investment accounts and the stock and bond markets. That independence from markets makes it potentially useful in retirement planning in ways that are often misunderstood or overlooked. We advise on how home equity can be thoughtfully incorporated into the overall retirement picture — including, for some clients, the potential role of a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) line of credit, tenure payment, lump sum, HECM-for-purchase or combination. We have no financial interest in any mortgage products and receive no compensation in connection with them. Our only interest is a secure and bullet-proof retirement plan for our clients, and discussing whether it makes sense or not for individual clients.
Healthcare, long-term care, and the other costs people underestimate
Healthcare costs in retirement are consistently underestimated and consistently unfortunately very significant. Medicare is not free, and it is not comprehensive. We work through the Medicare landscape with clients — Parts A, B, and D, supplemental coverage, and IRMAA premium surcharges for higher-income retirees — so there are no surprises.
Long-term care is the planning conversation most people defer for too long. The cost of care — whether in-home, assisted living, or memory care — can be substantial, and the window in which long-term care insurance is both available and reasonably priced closes earlier than most people expect. We discuss the options honestly: standalone LTC policies, hybrid life/LTC products, the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and self-insurance strategies — and help clients make considered decisions rather than avoiding the topic and hoping it doesn’t happen.
Legacy, giving, and the generation after yours
Retirement planning doesn't end with your own income needs. Many of our retired clients are also thinking about what they want to leave behind — to children, grandchildren, or charitable causes — and how to do it in the most tax-efficient way possible.
We advise on estate planning in coordination with your attorney, making sure beneficiary designations are current and correct, titling is appropriate, and the overall structure reflects your actual wishes. For clients who are gifting to grandchildren's educations, we advise on 529 plan strategies including the super-funding options available to grandparents. For clients with charitable intentions, we discuss donor-advised funds (DAFs), qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) from IRAs, and the tax advantages of giving appreciated securities rather than cash.
A credential worth explaining - RICP®
John Agnew holds the RICP® — Retirement Income Certified Professional™ — designation from The American College of Financial Services, in addition to the CFA, CFP® and CLU® designations. The RICP® is specifically focused on retirement income planning: Social Security, Medicare, pension optimization, sustainable withdrawal strategies, and long-term care. It is held by relatively few advisors and reflects a specific commitment to the discipline of retirement income planning rather than accumulation.
