Purpose: Develop a clear understanding of your current retirement structure, identify planning priorities, and establish a foundation for our ongoing work together.
Focus:
Your goals, priorities, and retirement objectives
Spending, income, tax, and investment considerations
Key opportunities, constraints, and decision points
Areas requiring ongoing coordination and monitoring
Description This is the onboarding phase of the advisory relationship. Through information gathering, discovery discussions, analysis, and a Foundational Coordination Summary Meeting, we develop a shared understanding of your current retirement structure and the decisions most likely to influence outcomes over time.
The purpose of this phase is not to produce a static plan. Rather, it is to establish context, identify priorities, clarify opportunities and constraints, and create a framework for ongoing decision-making. This foundation supports the coordination of spending, income, taxes, and investments throughout the advisory relationship.
Purpose: Calibrate current-year income and tax decisions using completed prior-year results as the starting point.
Focus:
Review of your tax return in the context of prior planning assumptions.
Confirmation that distributions, withholding, and income decisions were executed as intended
Evaluation of tax bracket utilization, Medicare-related thresholds, and other income-sensitive considerations
Identification of opportunities or adjustments that may improve current-year positioning
Updated projections based on actual outcomes rather than assumptions
Description This meeting serves as the annual calibration point within the ongoing advisory relationship. Using the completed tax return and actual tax results, we evaluate prior decisions, confirm what worked as expected, identify areas requiring adjustment, and align income and tax decisions for the year ahead.
Tax return preparation and filing occur separately. Our role is to review the completed results, evaluate how they affect spending, income, taxes, and investments going forward, and incorporate those insights into future planning decisions.
Purpose: Serve as the primary forward-looking planning meeting of the year.
Focus:
Retirement income structure and cash-flow alignment
Investment positioning relative to income needs and risk tolerance
Spending patterns, priorities, and upcoming decisions
Current-year tax considerations within known constraints
Description With prior-year tax results reviewed and incorporated, this meeting focuses on the decisions and priorities most relevant to the year ahead. We evaluate how spending, income, taxes, and investments interact and determine whether adjustments are warranted based on current circumstances and future objectives.
The goal is to establish clear direction for the coming year, allowing important decisions to be made deliberately rather than reactively.
Progress and key developments are later monitored through the Mid-Year Snapshot Update.
Purpose: Confirm year-end decisions and position income, taxes, and investments for the year ahead.
Focus:
Year-end income, withdrawal, and cash-flow decisions
Required distributions, charitable giving, and other tax-sensitive planning opportunities
Tax withholding and estimated payment adjustments
Portfolio positioning, rebalancing, and liquidity considerations
Upcoming transitions, spending changes, or other known developments
Description The Fall Strategy Review focuses on the decisions that are most time-sensitive before year-end. We evaluate income, taxes, investments, and cash-flow considerations together to help ensure key decisions are made deliberately and in coordination with broader retirement objectives.
This meeting also serves as a bridge to the coming year by identifying opportunities, constraints, and planning considerations that may influence future decisions. Key actions and observations are later documented in your Year-End Recap, and projections are updated to reflect actual outcomes.
The goal is to establish clear direction for the coming year, allowing important decisions to be made deliberately rather than reactively.
