Signature Retirement

Before we build your financial plan, we discover what matters most to you. Through a guided, interactive experience, we identify your five most important priorities, then build your retirement plan around them.

How it works: Using a guided card-sorting exercise, you’ll explore what retirement can mean to you: family, income, travel, health, purpose, giving, and more. You’ll sort the possibilities and narrow them to the five priorities that matter most right now. Those priorities become the foundation of your financial plan and are documented in your Signature Retirement binder. As life evolves and priorities are accomplished, we revisit them together.

A retirement plan that breathes: income, taxes, protection, and the life goals they serve. As your life changes, the plan grows with you.

How it works: the plan is a working model, not a bound report. When something moves (a market stretch, a health change, a grandchild, a decision to sell the house or help one of the kids), we adjust the model and you see what it does to the picture before you commit to anything. You are never left guessing whether a plan written three years ago still applies.

Most people approaching retirement have accounts scattered across former employers. We help you see the full picture and decide what to do with it.

How it works: we review your existing accounts (old 401(k)s, IRAs, brokerage accounts) and identify consolidation opportunities that simplify your plan and reduce the risk of something falling through the cracks. For Continuum clients, we handle the implementation.

Your home is likely one of your largest assets. We make sure it’s part of the plan.

How it works: we look at how your home equity fits into your retirement picture: downsizing timing, mortgage payoff decisions, and in some cases, whether a home equity strategy belongs in your income plan. It is not about selling unless that is what you want. What matters is knowing what you have and what your options are.

Retirement doesn’t come with a direct deposit. We build one for you: a reliable monthly income drawn from the right sources in the right order.

How it works: we map every income source you have (Social Security, pension, portfolio, rental income, part-time work) and design a monthly draw that covers your spending without overexposing any one bucket. You know exactly where this month’s paycheck is coming from, and so do we.

Your income is watched against a set of guardrails: signals that tell us when a small, early adjustment keeps the plan on track. And when the signal says you can spend more, we say so.

How it works: guardrails are thresholds built into your income plan. If your spending is trending toward an unsustainable level, the guardrail signals early, when a small correction is all it takes. The same system works in both directions: if your portfolio is performing well, we flag the opportunity to spend more with confidence. Guardrails are monitored for the full first year of your engagement.

When you claim Social Security is one of the most consequential decisions in retirement. We run the numbers before you make it.

How it works: we model your claiming options (early, full retirement age, delayed, spousal coordination) against your income plan, tax situation, and life expectancy assumptions. You see the breakeven analysis in plain terms and leave with a recommended strategy and the reasoning behind it.

If you have a pension, you will likely face a choice you can’t undo. We help you understand it before you answer it.

How it works: we compare your pension payout options (monthly benefit, joint-and-survivor elections, lump-sum if available) against your broader income plan. Where a lump sum is on the table, we model what it does in the plan versus what the monthly guarantee is worth. The goal is a decision you understand, not one you’re pressured into.

Your money is organized into buckets you draw from at different times, to help reduce the need to sell long-term investments during a market downturn.

How it works: we design a three-bucket structure (near-term spending, mid-term reserves, and long-term growth) so you always know which bucket this year’s income is coming from. A down market in your first year of retirement doesn’t force you to sell at the wrong time. Continuum clients have their buckets actively managed, refilled, and rebalanced on an ongoing basis.

The order you spend from your accounts in retirement matters as much as how much you spend. We build a strategy around it.

How it works: we map your taxable, tax-deferred, and Roth accounts and design a spending sequence that manages your tax bracket year by year, keeping more of your money working, and less of it going to taxes you didn’t have to pay.

Before we touch your portfolio, we understand how you actually feel about risk, not how you think you’re supposed to feel.

How it works: you complete a risk assessment that measures both your willingness and your capacity to absorb a market loss. We then score your current portfolio with the same tool, so you can see where you actually are versus where you should be. If there’s a gap, we identify the adjustments worth considering.

If you have an employer retirement plan (a 401(k), 403(b), or SIMPLE IRA), we make sure it is working as hard as the rest of your plan.

How it works: we review your current contribution strategy, fund selection, and how your employer plan fits into your broader retirement income picture. For Continuum clients, this is revisited on an ongoing basis as your situation, contribution limits, and investment options change.

Your investment mix should match your retirement plan, not the other way around.

How it works: we review your current portfolio against your risk score and income plan and identify adjustments worth considering. For Continuum clients, we design and manage a fully custom portfolio built around your plan, including implementation, rebalancing, and ongoing monitoring.

A forward-looking review of your tax picture: not a recap of last year, but a look at what’s coming and what we can do about it now.

How it works: we review your projected income, deductions, and tax exposure for the year ahead and identify planning opportunities before the window closes. For Continuum clients, this happens annually as part of your ongoing planning calendar.

A Roth conversion moves eligible retirement funds into a Roth account, generally creating a tax bill today in exchange for potential tax-free qualified withdrawals later. Done right and at the right time, it can meaningfully reduce what you pay in taxes over your lifetime.

How it works: we identify the years in your retirement where your income is low enough to convert at a favorable rate, often lower-income years before Social Security or required minimum distributions begin, depending on your circumstances. For Signature Retirement clients we build the analysis and the strategy. For Continuum clients, we implement it year by year as part of your ongoing tax planning.

Required Minimum Distributions affect your taxes, your Medicare premiums, and your Roth conversion window. We plan around them, not after them.

How it works: we review when your RMDs begin, which accounts they affect, and how they interact with the rest of your income plan. For Continuum clients, RMDs are managed on an ongoing basis: timed, coordinated with your tax strategy, and automated where possible.

A large Roth conversion or a one-time income event can trigger a Medicare premium surcharge most people never see coming. We model for it in advance.

How it works: we map your projected income against the IRMAA thresholds and flag the years where a decision (a conversion, a distribution, a property sale) could push you into a higher premium bracket. For Continuum clients, IRMAA exposure is monitored annually and factored into every income and tax decision.

If giving is part of your life, it should be part of your plan, in a way that is tax-efficient, not just generous.

How it works: we review your giving goals and identify the strategies that make them most effective: qualified charitable distributions from your IRA, donor-advised funds, appreciated stock gifting, and others where they apply. For Continuum clients we coordinate implementation with your tax return so the strategy and the filing agree.

The right life insurance in retirement looks very different from the right policy at 40. We review what you have and make sure it still makes sense.

How it works: we review your existing coverage against your current income, debts, survivor needs, and estate goals. Where a gap exists and a solution makes sense, we help you find and place it. Our services are fee-based, which includes compensation from insurance placement when protection is implemented, always disclosed before you engage us.

Long-term care is easier to plan for early, and harder to ignore the longer you wait. We have the conversation while the options are still open.

How it works: we walk through the realistic scenarios: what care costs, what your options are (traditional insurance, hybrid policies, self-insuring), and what happens to your plan and your spouse’s income in each one. You leave with a clear picture of where you stand and what, if anything, makes sense to put in place.

The gap between your last employer health plan and Medicare is one of the most expensive stretches in early retirement. We plan for it.

How it works: we map your coverage from your retirement date through Medicare eligibility at 65 and beyond, including marketplace options, COBRA, spousal coverage, and Medicare Part selection. We also look at how your income affects your Medicare premiums so a Roth conversion or a large distribution doesn’t create a surprise bill.

If something happens to you, your spouse’s financial life changes immediately. We plan for that now, while it is a conversation instead of a crisis.

How it works: we model what your spouse’s income looks like without you (which Social Security benefit survives, what the pension does, how the portfolio changes) and identify the gaps the plan needs to close. For Continuum clients, this is revisited regularly because the answer changes as the plan does.

Your beneficiary designations override your will. If they are out of date, the plan doesn’t matter.

How it works: we review the beneficiary designations across every account and policy (retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities) and flag anything that is missing, outdated, or inconsistent with your estate intentions. For Continuum clients, this is part of every annual review cycle.

Wills, powers of attorney, healthcare directives: the documents that protect you and your family when they are needed most.

How it works: estate planning documents are available as an add-on for both Signature Retirement and Continuum clients, coordinated through our network of estate planning professionals. Pricing depends on complexity and scope.

Retirement is a life change, not just a financial one. We plan for both.

How it works: we work through the non-financial dimensions of retirement (identity, purpose, structure, relationships, and what you’re actually retiring to) alongside the numbers. For Signature Retirement clients this is part of the initial planning experience. For Continuum clients it is an ongoing part of the relationship, because those questions don’t get answered once.

Your plan, living and visible: a dashboard, a client app, a secure document vault, and a sandbox where we test the what-ifs before real life does.

How it works: you get your own login. The dashboard shows where you stand on one screen; the vault holds the documents you would otherwise be hunting for in a filing cabinet; and the sandbox is where we run the what-ifs together: what if we retire a year earlier, what if we help with a wedding, what if the market drops 30% the month I stop working. You watch the answer happen rather than waiting for a follow-up email. Signature Retirement clients have access for the first year of their engagement.

A premium leather binder designed to complement your digital experience, not compete with it. Some things deserve a place you can hold.

How it works: what’s inside: your Next Five Priorities worksheet at the front, then your current snapshot, investment summary, protection summary, and copies of the documents that matter, including a digital legacy tab for online accounts and access instructions your family may one day need. It is organized in the sections we use in meetings, so when you need to hand something to a spouse, an adult child, or an attorney, it is where you expect it to be.

A regular publication for clients only: the thinking behind the decisions, not a market recap you didn’t ask for.

How it works: you receive our newsletter on a regular cadence. It covers what is worth paying attention to, what we are watching in the planning environment, and occasionally the ideas and frameworks behind how we work. It is written for people with a real retirement plan, not a general audience. Proactive planning alerts (legislative changes, contribution limit updates, tax law shifts) are delivered through the newsletter so nothing reaches you late.

A single-page snapshot of your plan before every review, and a face-to-face Signature Review every year. You always know where you stand and what changed.

How it works: before each annual review you get one page (where you stand, what moved since last time, what needs a decision, and a full net worth snapshot). The review itself is face to face. You leave knowing what changed, what it means, and what the next twelve months are for.