Bob retired at 66 after a long career in commercial real estate. Christine had stepped back from her teaching position two years earlier to help care for her mother. By the time they came to us, they were both fully retired — and for the first time in their lives, money was going out instead of coming in.
That shift is harder than most people expect.
Where They Were
Bob and Christine had done well. They had $2.1M in retirement assets, a modest pension from Christine's years in the school system, and Social Security they'd both started collecting. On paper, they were fine.
But they had a few things keeping them up at night:
- Their tax bill was higher than expected. Required Minimum Distributions from Bob's IRA were pushing them into a higher bracket every year — and they didn't have a plan to manage it
- Their portfolio was more conservative than it needed to be. A financial advisor they'd worked with briefly years ago had moved them heavily into bonds — appropriate for 2008, not for two people who might live another 25 years
- They didn't have a clear income system. Each month felt like a guessing game about what to pull from where
- Christine worried about running out of money. Not because the numbers were bad, but because no one had ever shown her a model she believed
What We Did
We focused on three things: reducing their ongoing tax burden, building an income structure they could trust, and rebalancing toward a portfolio that would actually last.
Roth conversion strategy. Bob's traditional IRA was going to generate large RMDs for years to come. We developed a multi-year Roth conversion plan — moving money in deliberate amounts each year, staying within a target tax bracket, and gradually reducing the future RMD exposure. Over five years, the tax savings are expected to be significant.
Building a reliable income floor. We structured their withdrawals so that between the pension, Social Security, and a conservative draw from one account, their fixed monthly expenses were covered without touching growth assets. That gave Christine the certainty she needed.
Portfolio rebalancing. We moved them from a 30/70 stock-to-bond split to a more appropriate 55/45 allocation — still conservative enough to sleep at night, but positioned to maintain purchasing power over a long retirement.
Simplification. They had accounts at four different institutions. We consolidated where it made sense and set up automatic distributions so neither of them has to make a monthly decision.
Where They Are Now
Bob handles the quarterly reviews. Christine — who used to avoid looking at statements — now reads the summary we send each month. She told us the first time she felt relaxed about money was about eight months into working together.
They've also started thinking about legacy planning: what they want to leave to their two kids, and how to do it in a way that minimizes estate complications. That's a conversation we'll be working through together over the next couple of years.
If you're already in retirement and you're not sure your plan is working as hard as it should be — that's worth a conversation.