Purpose: Establish a clear understanding of your values, decision priorities, income structure, and coordination constraints.

Focus:

•  Your goals, priorities, and long-term intentions
•  Key concerns, constraints, and decision pressures
• Alignment around what matters most as you move into or through retirement

Description
This is where coordination begins. We clarify what a successful retirement looks like in your terms and identify the decisions that require ongoing alignment across income, investments, and taxes. This conversation establishes the framework that guides future recommendations — ensuring decisions are grounded in your values rather than generic assumptions.

Purpose: Calibrate your income and tax positioning using completed prior-year results as our reference point.

Focus:

• Review of your completed (or CPA-prepared draft) tax return for alignment with prior planning assumptions
• Confirmation that distributions and income decisions were executed as intended
• Evaluation of tax bracket utilization and Medicare exposure
• Identification of adjustments to improve current-year positioning
• Updating projections to reflect actual outcomes

Description
This meeting serves as the annual calibration point within your coordination framework. We translate prior-year results into forward-looking adjustments — confirming what worked, identifying where refinement is warranted, and aligning income and tax decisions for the year ahead.

While your CPA prepares and files the return, our role is to evaluate how those results fit within your broader retirement income structure and long-term objectives.

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

Focus:

• Retirement income structure and cash-flow alignment
• Investment positioning relative to income needs and risk tolerance
• Spending patterns and evolving priorities
• Current-year tax positioning within known constraints

Description
With prior-year results reviewed and integrated, this meeting is dedicated to deliberate, forward-looking alignment. We evaluate how income, investments, and tax positioning interact within your broader coordination framework and adjust thoughtfully where needed.

The objective is clarity — establishing a structured direction for the year ahead rather than reacting as circumstances unfold.

Progress from this meeting is later monitored and summarized through your Mid-Year Snapshot.

Purpose: Confirm time-sensitive decisions before year-end and position income deliberately for the coming year.

Focus:

• Year-end income and withdrawal confirmation

• Tax-sensitive distribution timing and withholding adjustments

• Portfolio positioning and rebalancing considerations

• Monitoring upcoming transitions or known changes

Description
The Fall Strategy Review is focused and disciplined. We evaluate year-end decisions within the coordination framework to ensure income timing, tax exposure, and portfolio structure remain aligned.

Key decisions from the year are documented separately in your Year-End Recap, and projections are updated to reflect actual outcomes.