Purpose: Develop a clear understanding of your current retirement structure, identify planning priorities, and establish the initial direction 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 review and coordination

Description

This is the onboarding phase of the advisory relationship. Through information gathering, document review, discovery discussions, analysis, and a Foundational Coordination Summary Meeting, we develop a shared understanding of your current retirement structure and the decisions requiring attention.

The purpose of this phase is not to produce a static plan. It is to establish context, identify priorities, clarify opportunities and constraints, and create the initial framework for coordinating spending, income, taxes, and investments throughout the advisory relationship.

Purpose: Translate the investment direction established during the Foundational Coordination Phase into a clear portfolio structure and implementation approach.

Focus:

• Your current portfolio structure and recommended changes
• How investments support your retirement income needs
• The role of each account within the broader retirement structure
• Implementation priorities, sequencing, and responsibilities

Description
Following the Foundational Coordination Meeting, we develop your Investment Guide to translate the investment direction established during that process into specific portfolio recommendations.

During the Investment Guide Review, we review the proposed portfolio structure, explain what is changing and why, and discuss how the recommendations support your retirement income needs and broader retirement structure.

If we manage your investments, we coordinate and implement the approved changes. If you manage your own investments, the Investment Guide provides account-specific guidance for implementing the recommendations yourself.

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.
• Review of distributions, withholding, and income decisions from the prior year
• Evaluation of tax brackets, Medicare-related thresholds, and other income-sensitive considerations
• Identification of current-year tax and income decisions requiring attention
• Updated projections incorporating actual prior-year results and current-year information

Description
This review serves as an annual calibration point within the ongoing advisory relationship. Using the completed tax return and actual tax results, we evaluate prior decisions, identify differences from prior assumptions, and determine whether current-year income or tax decisions should be adjusted.

Tax return preparation and filing occur separately. Our role is to review the completed results, evaluate their implications for spending, income, taxes, and investments, and incorporate those findings into current and future retirement decisions.

Purpose: Serve as the primary forward-looking planning meeting of the year.

Focus:

• Retirement income structure and cash-flow needs
• 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, Spring Planning focuses on the decisions and priorities most relevant to the year ahead.

We review spending, income, taxes, and investments together and determine whether changes in household circumstances, markets, tax considerations, or other factors warrant adjustments to existing recommendations.

Decisions and recommendations from this meeting establish direction for the months ahead and are revisited as additional information becomes available during the year.

Purpose: Provide a mid-year checkpoint on spending, income, taxes, and investments, while reviewing progress and identifying matters requiring attention before the Fall Strategy Review.

Focus:

• Current spending and cash-flow status relative to expectations

• Income and distribution activity through mid-year

• Tax considerations and developments that may affect current-year decisions

• Investment positioning and relevant portfolio developments

• Progress on recommendations and actions identified earlier in the year

• Changes in household circumstances, priorities, or upcoming decisions

• Matters requiring attention before year-end planning

Description
The Mid-Year Snapshot provides a written checkpoint on how the year is progressing across spending, income, taxes, and investments.

We review relevant developments since Spring Planning, assess progress on previously identified recommendations and actions, and identify changes that may warrant attention during the remainder of the year.

The objective is to give you a clear understanding of where things stand at mid-year, what has been accomplished, what has changed, and what—if anything—requires attention before the Fall Strategy Review.

Purpose: Address time-sensitive year-end decisions and identify considerations for the coming year.

Focus:

• Year-end income, withdrawal, and cash-flow decisions

• Required distributions, charitable giving, and other tax-sensitive decisions

• Tax withholding and estimated payment considerations

• Portfolio positioning, rebalancing, and liquidity needs

• Upcoming transitions, spending changes, or other known developments

Description
The Fall Strategy Review focuses on decisions requiring attention before year-end. We review income, taxes, investments, and cash-flow considerations together and determine what actions should be completed before applicable deadlines.

The review also identifies known developments, opportunities, and constraints that may affect decisions in the coming year.

Purpose: Summarize the advisory work completed during the year, document year-end actions, and establish the starting point for the next annual planning cycle.

Focus:

• Planning decisions and advisory work completed throughout the year

• Actions taken following the Fall Strategy Review

• Year-end distributions and other relevant transactions

• Progress on priorities identified earlier in the year

• Outstanding matters carrying into the following year

• Developments that may affect the next Tax & Income Alignment Review

Description
The Year-End Review summarizes the advisory work completed during the year and documents the actions taken following the Fall Strategy Review. We review completed planning decisions, year-end distributions and transactions, and progress on priorities established earlier in the year.

The review also identifies any outstanding matters carrying forward and captures known developments that may affect the next planning cycle, including items to consider during the upcoming Tax & Income Alignment Review.