Mark Sharp Retirement is a retirement income advisory firm that helps retirees and near-retirees coordinate spending, income, taxes, and investments over time.
The firm is intentionally structured around ongoing coordination rather than one-time recommendations or a static financial plan.
Retirement income planning is the ongoing coordination of spending, income, taxes, and investments to support retirement over time.
It starts with understanding what your spending requires, then structures income, considers the tax implications, and aligns investments with those needs. We revisit these decisions as circumstances change throughout retirement.
We work best with retirees and near-retirees who value clarity, coordination, and an ongoing advisory relationship.
Clients tend to be less interested in pursuing maximum outcomes and more focused on understanding what their resources can realistically support. They value a structured process and are comfortable allowing decisions to unfold in the appropriate sequence over time.
Clients come to us at different points.
Some engage several years before retirement to better understand their spending needs, income sources, and the decisions ahead. Others reach out after retiring, when coordinating withdrawals, taxes, and investments becomes more immediate.
In both cases, the common thread is a desire for ongoing coordination rather than a series of reactive, one-off decisions.
Before beginning an advisory relationship, we encourage prospective clients to understand how we approach retirement income decisions and what we expect from the advisory relationship.
Our book, Help Me Understand What I Might Be Missing, provides a deeper introduction to how we think about retirement decisions, coordination, and the role of ongoing advice. It can help you determine whether that approach fits how you want to work with an advisor.
A good fit does not require agreeing with every recommendation. It does require being comfortable with a structured coordination process and allowing decisions to be addressed in the appropriate sequence over time.
No. Retirement decisions tend to unfold over time, and our services are structured around an ongoing advisory relationship rather than standalone plans or hourly engagements.
While clients may initially come to us around a specific decision or concern, that work is addressed within the broader coordination of spending, income, taxes, and investments over time.
No. The Foundational Coordination Phase is the onboarding process for the ongoing advisory relationship. It helps establish priorities, identify opportunities and constraints, and create a foundation for our ongoing work together.
The work completed during onboarding carries forward into the ongoing coordination of spending, income, taxes, and investments over time.
Clients stay informed and engaged in the decisions that affect their retirement without needing to manage the planning process themselves.
We handle the coordination, analysis, and follow-through while keeping you involved where your input or decisions are needed.
Retirement decisions continue long after retirement begins.
The initial work establishes the foundation, but spending needs, income sources, tax considerations, market conditions, and personal priorities change over time. Decisions made today can also affect the choices available years from now.
Ongoing coordination helps ensure that spending, income, tax, and investment decisions continue to work together as circumstances change rather than being made in isolation.
Retirement decisions do not all need to be addressed at the same time.
The three-meeting structure creates a consistent annual rhythm for reviewing tax and income decisions, addressing planning priorities, and evaluating changes that may require attention. This allows decisions to be addressed in the appropriate sequence rather than reactively or all at once.
Between scheduled meetings, we continue to review relevant changes and revisit decisions when circumstances warrant.
Communication is designed to be clear, predictable, and efficient.
We primarily use scheduled video meetings, secure messaging, and shared planning materials. A regular meeting cadence is established in advance, with additional communication when significant changes or decisions require attention between scheduled meetings.
As your circumstances and retirement decisions evolve, the advisory relationship adapts with them.
Normal changes are expected as part of an ongoing relationship. If your circumstances materially increase the scope or complexity of the work required, we may revisit the advisory fee to reflect that change.
The underlying coordination process and structured cadence remain consistent.
Success isn’t measured by short-term investment performance or market comparisons.
Instead, progress is reflected in whether spending, income, taxes, and investments continue to work together in support of your retirement as circumstances change.
Yes. Investment planning is included as part of the ongoing advisory relationship, with portfolio management available for clients who want the firm to implement and maintain the portfolio on their behalf.
Investment decisions are made in the context of the broader retirement income structure—after considering spending needs, income sources, and tax considerations.
Clients may choose either of two implementation approaches:
- Advisor-managed implementation, where portfolio recommendations are implemented and maintained on the client's behalf.
- Client-directed implementation, where the client maintains control of investment decisions and trade execution while receiving ongoing investment guidance and portfolio recommendations.
The annual advisory fee is the same under either approach. There is no separate asset-based management fee in addition to the ongoing advisory fee.
Tax considerations are integrated into retirement income decisions throughout the year rather than addressed separately.
We consider how income sources, withdrawals, required distributions, and other decisions may affect current and future taxes. After your tax return is prepared, we review it to compare actual results with prior assumptions, update projections, and identify issues that may affect decisions in the year ahead.
Tax return preparation and filing are not included in the ongoing advisory relationship. Our role is to coordinate tax considerations with your broader retirement income decisions and work alongside your tax preparer when appropriate.
Tax preparation focuses on reporting what has already happened.
Tax planning looks ahead at how current decisions may affect future tax outcomes.
Our role is to incorporate tax considerations into retirement income and investment decisions throughout the year, while tax return preparation and filing are handled separately.
We review your completed tax return and prior-year results to understand what actually occurred and compare those results with prior assumptions.
We then update income and tax projections and identify any adjustments that may be appropriate for withdrawals, distributions, or other retirement income decisions in the year ahead.
The focus is on using completed tax information to inform forward-looking decisions—not simply reviewing the return itself.
Yes. Tax return preparation and filing are separate from the advisory relationship. You may prepare your own return or work with a CPA or other tax professional.
When appropriate, we can coordinate with your tax preparer to share relevant information and help connect tax considerations with the retirement income decisions being made throughout the year.
Our tax review is focused on your individual federal and state income tax returns and the tax considerations that affect your retirement income decisions.
Business entity, estate, trust, and other specialized tax matters fall outside the scope of our review and should be addressed with your tax preparer or other tax professional.
When appropriate, we can coordinate with your tax preparer on information directly relevant to the retirement income decisions we are evaluating.
Many retirement decisions involve multiple professionals. When appropriate, we coordinate with your tax preparer, attorney, insurance professional, or other advisors to share relevant information and understand how decisions in one area may affect others.
Our role is not to replace those professionals or provide advice outside our scope. Instead, we incorporate relevant information from their work into the ongoing coordination of your spending, income, taxes, and investments.
The level of coordination depends on your circumstances and may include sharing information, participating in joint discussions, or identifying questions that should be addressed with another professional.
Mark Sharp Retirement is a virtual-only retirement income advisory firm.
We work with clients nationwide using video meetings and secure digital tools. This model works best for clients who are comfortable using technology as part of an ongoing advisory relationship.
No. While the firm is based in Oregon, we work with clients throughout the United States.
Because services are delivered virtually, location is less important than fit and comfort with a virtual advisory relationship.
Clients work directly with the advisor responsible for their retirement income coordination and investment guidance.
The firm is intentionally structured around a limited number of ongoing client relationships, allowing for continuity and a consistent approach to decisions over time.
Continuity is an important part of a long-term advisory relationship.
Key decisions, assumptions, and coordination records are documented and maintained to preserve continuity if I am temporarily unavailable. The firm also maintains a continuity plan addressing how client accounts, records, and ongoing responsibilities would be handled if an unexpected event affected my ability to operate the firm.
Yes. Mark Sharp Retirement is a fiduciary and is required to act in your best interest when providing advisory services.
The firm is fee-only and does not receive commissions or compensation for recommending financial products.
Fee-only means clients pay the firm directly for advisory services.
We do not receive commissions or compensation for recommending financial products, which reduces conflicts associated with product-based compensation.
I hold several professional designations relevant to retirement income and investment advice:
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CFP® — financial planning, investment advice, and fiduciary standards
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RICP® — retirement income planning and decisions throughout retirement
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WMCP® — investment and wealth management within a broader planning context
These credentials provide additional education across the areas that inform the firm's retirement income coordination work.
You don’t need to have everything perfectly organized before getting started.
We guide you through a structured onboarding process that includes gathering the financial information needed to understand your spending, income, taxes, and investments.
Just as important, you should be comfortable with our approach to retirement income coordination. Our work follows an established process and sequence, so the relationship works best when clients are willing to engage in that process rather than direct each step or determine when individual issues should be addressed.
Fees reflect the scope, complexity, and ongoing responsibility involved in the advisory relationship, with investable assets serving as the primary starting point.
Your annual advisory fee is established before the engagement begins and may be revisited if the scope or complexity of your circumstances changes materially over time.
For typical fee ranges and additional details, please visit the Services & Fees page.
Start with an introductory conversation.
We’ll discuss what prompted you to reach out, what you’re looking for in an advisory relationship, and how our approach works. The purpose is to determine whether there is a good fit for both of us before moving forward.