Our process

Steps to Our Financial Planning Process

Our financial planning process gives you everything you need to retire with clarity and confidence. This includes all the fiduciary planning, resources, assistance, and one-on-one meetings necessary.

Our goal with you is to create a comprehensive and strategic Retirement Transition Blueprint. This blueprint coordinates and optimizes all pieces of your retirement puzzle, including assets and investments, Social Security, tax planning, long-term health care, and more.

How Our Financial Planning Process Works

Strategy #1

Create an Income Plan

We’ll work with you to create a customized income plan that addresses when to start Social Security, when to retire, and how much money you’ll need monthly during retirement. We’ll then assist you to determine if an income gap exists and which investments to draw from first.

Your income plan will give you clarity about when and how to retire. It will show you how to coordinate Social Security, pensions, annuities, real estate, and investments, while also focusing on tax efficiency.

Strategy #2

Design an Investment Plan

As we work together, we’ll propose an investment plan that includes protecting safe money needed in the near future as well as strategies for long-term growth that hedge against inflation. Using our three-bucket retirement system, we’ll prioritize investments by when you need them and the appropriate risk. Whether you have several million dollars or smaller amounts, you need a plan to protect your money from down markets. Your personalized investment plan is designed around your specific goals and risk tolerance. It will also address other potential obstacles such as long-term care costs, emergencies, providing for a spouse if you’re gone, and passing on assets to future generations.

Strategy #3

Construct a Strategy Around Reducing Retirement Taxes

We’ll help you construct a strategy around reducing retirement taxes. The risk of taxes going up in the future and ever-changing tax laws provide a potential threat to retirement portfolios and quality of life. We’ve identified over twenty-one different tax strategies that could be utilized during retirement and depending on your specific situation, we’ll suggest specific solutions. These include but aren’t limited to required minimum distributions when you’re 72 and older, knowing which accounts to spend down first, taking advantage of current tax rates and brackets, and understanding how Social Security is taxed. Having a plan for your specific situation that proactively takes a long-term approach to tax-reduction can have a significant impact on your retirement. Coordinating this strategy with your tax professional can also be paramount to your success.

Strategy #4

Make Decisions Around Health Care and Estate Planning

Together, we’ll weigh various options and make decisions around funding future health care needs and necessary estate planning. One of the greatest concerns for those retiring is one day becoming a burden on their children or those they love. While an eventual decline in health is inevitable, decisions around how to handle health care expenses are vital to your retirement confidence and peace of mind. In addition, we can also work with you and an attorney on estate planning decisions around trusts, wills, power of attorney, and medical directives. A trust has the potential to save heartache, headache, and money at your passing. These decisions can also provide unity and clarity to those you’ll leave behind.

Strategy #5

Legacy, Family, and Fulfillment Planning

We’ll help you create a clear vision about the legacy you want to leave and encourage you to make it happen as we meet on a regular basis to review your retirement plans. We’ll also work with you to create a future self that you’re passionate about. Retirement and end-of-life financial scenarios have the potential to unify families or divide them. We’ll do all in our power to have the legacy you leave be exactly what you want it to be. We’ll show you how to create purposeful events with those you love and introduce you to experts who can assist you in reaching your potential. We’ll make sure your goals to lead a fulfilling retirement are backed up with a plan to achieve them. Whether you want to travel, create incredible experiences with those you love, golf, or serve a mission for your church…we’ll ground your dreams in practical planning.