Helping retirees and pre-retirees navigate retirement with clarity and confidence, turning a lifetime of savings into reliable income without unnecessary taxes.
Is this you?
You’ve spent your career working hard or building your business, and saving diligently. Now you’re either preparing to retire in the next few years, or you’ve already made the move. You want to turn your savings into a reliable income stream, while making sure taxes don’t quietly eat away at everything you’ve built.
You might be unsure when to take Social Security, how to handle the withdrawals the IRS requires from retirement accounts, how to structure the sale of your business, or how to get your investments and taxes working together. You’re not looking for complicated products or scattered advice. You just want a clear, efficient plan that lets you enjoy retirement without constantly wondering what to do next.
Why it matters
Big retirement decisions are often made without a clear view of the tax impact.
When to take Social Security, which accounts to draw from, whether to convert to a Roth: these choices are connected. Many retirees get advice from different professionals who don’t coordinate, which can lead to confusion and costly mistakes.
We bring your tax planning and retirement strategy together. With fewer moving parts and one person helping you make tax-smart decisions, you can stop guessing and feel more confident about your future. It’s a simpler way to manage retirement, with less potential stress.
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Usually because nobody planned the withdrawals, conversions, and timing ahead of time.
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Each one makes decisions without seeing what the other is doing.
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Social Security, withdrawals, and Roth conversions are all connected, and no one is showing you how.
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By the time anyone mentions them, the year is over and the window has closed.
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Unnecessary taxes on Social Security, required withdrawals, and investment income.
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Taxable, tax-deferred, or Roth, and in what order, changes how much you keep.
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Investments managed on their own, apart from your tax plan.
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Your investment mix was built for saving, not for paying you a steady income.
Don’t see your question? Call the office at 815-459-4300 or send us a message.
Ideally a few years before. The years just before and just after you retire are when the biggest decisions happen: when to claim Social Security, which accounts to draw from first, and whether Roth conversions make sense. If you’ve already retired, it’s not too late to get organized.
It depends on your health, your other income, your spouse’s benefits, and your tax picture. Claiming early means smaller checks for longer. Waiting past full retirement age raises your benefit, up to age 70. We run the numbers alongside your tax plan so the choice fits the rest of your income.
Required minimum distributions are withdrawals the IRS requires from most tax-deferred retirement accounts. They start at age 73 for most people retiring now, and at 75 for people born in 1960 or later. Planning ahead, often with Roth conversions in the years before they begin, can help keep them from pushing you into a higher tax bracket.
A Roth conversion moves money from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. You pay the tax now so the money can grow and come out tax-free later. It often makes sense in lower-income years, like the stretch between retiring and when required withdrawals begin. We model it against your actual tax return before recommending it.
Yes. Medicare Part B and Part D premiums go up when your income crosses certain thresholds, based on your tax return from two years earlier. We plan withdrawals, conversions, and sales with those thresholds in mind.
There are two ways to work with us. Our Retirement Tax & Income Review is a one-time, flat-fee review of your retirement income and the taxes you’ll pay on it, for people who want a clear plan but don’t want ongoing management. The fee is quoted up front and credited toward wealth management if you decide to continue.
Our ongoing wealth management service is billed as a percentage of the assets we manage, and we go over the exact number on your first call.
As an ongoing wealth management client, your Retirement Tax & Income Review and your personal tax return (Form 1040) are included with no separate fee. Business tax returns are billed separately.
Whether you are a few years out or already retired, the review answers two questions: can I retire, or stay retired, on what I have, and how do I pay the least tax along the way? We take your income sources, savings, and accounts and model them together, year by year, to estimate the tax you’ll pay over the course of your retirement, and we stress-test the plan against poor markets, higher inflation, and a long life so you can see how much room you have. Then we test the decisions that could change the outcome: whether and when to convert to a Roth, when to claim Social Security and which pension option to take, which accounts to draw from first, and how to stay under the income lines that raise Medicare premiums. You receive a written report and a review meeting to walk through the results and your next steps.
Three steps. First, you send us your documents through our secure client portal: two years of tax returns, Social Security statements, pension estimates, and account statements. Our checklist spells out exactly what we need. Second, we build your plan in retirement income planning software from your actual numbers and run the Roth, Social Security, and withdrawal decisions through it. Third, we meet to walk through what we found and what to do first, and you keep the written report.
No. The review stands on its own. Your accounts stay where they are, and there is no obligation to continue with us afterward. If you do decide to move forward with ongoing wealth management, the review fee is credited toward your wealth management fees.
A free 30-minute call. No prep needed, just bring your questions.
