The single most-asked question we get, in some form, is "Am I going to run out of money?" The answer is rarely a yes or no. It's a plan.
Retirement income planning is the discipline of taking a collection of accounts (401(k), IRA, Roth, brokerage, pension, Social Security) and turning them into a stable, tax-efficient paycheck that lasts as long as you do. It's the central job of a retirement planning advisor.
What a retirement planning financial advisor actually does
- Stress tests scenarios, 30% market drop, living to 95, spouse-first-to-pass scenarios.
- Deciding which accounts to draw from, in what order, in what amounts.
- Coordinating Social Security filing strategy (yours and your spouse's).
- Aligning Roth conversions, RMDs, and tax brackets year-over-year with your CPA.
- Stress-testing the plan against market drops, inflation, and longevity.
- Updating it every year, because retirement is 30 years long, not a single decision.
What goes into a retirement income plan
- Spending forecast, what does your retirement actually cost? Not the rule-of-thumb 70%, your number.
- Income inventory, Social Security, pension, rental income, part-time work.
- Withdrawal sequencing, the order to draw from taxable, traditional, and Roth.
- Tax bracket management, filling lower brackets in early retirement before RMDs hit.
- Sequence-of-returns risk management, a market drop in your first 5 retirement years is more dangerous than year 20.
- Healthcare cost coordination, Medicare premiums, IRMAA, out-of-pocket reserves.
- Inflation protection.
- Stress tests, 30% market drop, living to 95, spouse-first-to-pass scenarios.
How we deliver it
We build the plan over 4–6 weeks with you involved at each step. We update it annually and after any significant life or market event. You can see it on your client portal between meetings.
Pension analysis (STRS, OPERS, and private pensions)
If you've earned a pension — whether through Ohio's State Teachers Retirement System (STRS), the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS), a corporate plan, or a closed defined-benefit plan — the elections you make at retirement are largely irreversible and frequently misunderstood. We model the choices side by side so you can see the long-term household impact before you sign anything.
- STRS Ohio — defined benefit vs. combined plan, partial lump-sum option (PLOP), and survivor/joint-and-survivor elections.
- OPERS — Traditional, Member-Directed, and Combined plan analysis; PLOP; spousal consent; and disability provisions.
- Pension vs. lump sum — actuarial value comparison, longevity assumptions, inflation, taxes, and household survivor needs.
- Single-life vs. joint-and-survivor — what each option means for the surviving spouse, often a six-figure decision.
- Coordination with Social Security, Medicare/IRMAA, and your withdrawal sequencing strategy.
- Health-care benefit decisions tied to STRS/OPERS retirement (including Medicare Connector enrollment).
We deliver a clear, written recommendation with the math behind it before you submit your election forms.