Retirement Planning
For high-income professionals and business owners, retirement planning is more complex than simply projecting savings and withdrawals. How you save and where you hold your money can be just as important as how much you save. The decisions you make now about account types, withdrawal strategies, and timing can affect your taxes for decades. I help clients:
Determine the right mix of traditional, Roth, and taxable accounts
Model different retirement dates and spending scenarios
Create tax-efficient withdrawal strategies
Evaluate Social Security timing and claiming options
Plan for healthcare costs before Medicare eligibility
Retirement Planning for Business Owners
Business owners face unique retirement challenges that W-2 employees don't encounter. Your business likely represents a significant portion of your net worth, but it's illiquid and complex to convert into retirement income. I help business owners think through both the financial and operational aspects of transitioning from working in the business to living off its value.
Retirement plan selection and design matters more for business owners than employees because you have far more flexibility. SEP-IRAs are simple but offer lower contribution limits. Solo 401(k)s allow higher deferrals and Roth contributions if your business has no employees other than your spouse. Cash balance plans can allow six-figure annual contributions for high-earning owners nearing retirement, but require actuarial calculations and ongoing administration. Choosing the right structure depends on your income, timeline, and whether you have employees.
Exit planning and business valuation often get postponed until it's too late. Whether you're planning to sell to a third party, transition to a family member, or wind down operations, understanding your business's realistic value and structuring the sale tax-efficiently requires years of advance planning, not months. I work with business owners to model different exit scenarios and coordinate with attorneys and CPAs to create actionable plans. Converting business equity into retirement income might involve installment sales, earnouts, seller financing, or reinvesting proceeds into diversified portfolios. Each approach has different tax and risk implications that need to be evaluated within your broader financial plan.
Common Retirement Planning Mistakes
Even careful planners make preventable mistakes that cost them thousands in retirement. One of the most common is claiming Social Security too early. While you can claim at 62, waiting until 70 increases your benefit by roughly 8% per year. For many people, delaying is the best longevity insurance available.
Another frequent oversight is ignoring healthcare costs before Medicare eligibility. Many people underestimate how much they'll spend on insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs in the gap years between retirement and Medicare at 65.
Underestimating taxes in retirement surprises many retirees who assume their tax burden will drop significantly. Between RMDs, pensions, Social Security, and investment income, some retirees find themselves in similar or even higher tax brackets than when they were working. This is where tax planning during your working years becomes crucial.
Finally, failing to plan for sequence-of-returns risk (the danger of market downturns early in retirement) can derail even well-funded plans. How you structure withdrawals in the first few years of retirement can significantly affect how long your portfolio lasts.
Avoiding these pitfalls requires ongoing monitoring and adjustment, not one-time planning. Tax laws change, markets shift, and your circumstances evolve, which is why most clients work with me through continuous partnerships that adapt retirement strategies as life unfolds.
How Retirement Planning Integrates with Your Financial Plan
Retirement planning doesn't exist in isolation from your other financial decisions. It's deeply connected to tax planning, investment management, and estate planning. Tax planning determines when you should do Roth conversions, how to minimize RMDs, and in what order you should draw from different account types. Investment management needs to shift from accumulation to distribution, balancing growth with stability and managing sequence-of-returns risk. Estate planning affects beneficiary designations, trust structures, and wealth transfer strategies.
This integrated approach is what distinguishes comprehensive retirement planning from simple accumulation projections or generic withdrawal rules. You can learn more about related services through Financial Planning, Tax Planning, and Investment Management.
Next Steps
Ready to build a retirement plan tailored to your situation? Schedule a free introductory call to discuss your goals and see if we're a good fit. You can also review fees and service options or visit the FAQ for answers to common questions about the planning process.