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Retirement Planning for Retirees & Pre-Retirees

Enjoy Retirement with Confidence

Creating a Plan to Enjoy Your Retirement

Retirement is more than just the end of a career – it’s the start of a new life chapter. Whether you’re five years away from retirement or already there, you likely share a common goal: make sure your money lasts as long as you do, so you can enjoy the freedom you’ve earned. Unfortunately, many Americans face retirement with uncertainty. In fact, nearly half of retirees worry they’ll outlive their savings. At Strategic Wealth Design, our mission is to replace that worry with confidence. We provide retirement income planning and financial guidance for retirees and pre-retirees, helping you preserve your wealth, generate sustainable income, and live your golden years to the fullest.

Your Concerns

As you approach or live in retirement, your financial questions might look like these:
  • “Will my savings truly last through a 20- or 30-year retirement?”
  • “How should I invest now that I need income over growth? What’s a smart withdrawal strategy?”
  • “When should I take Social Security, and how do I optimize my benefits?”
  • “How can I plan for healthcare or long-term care costs that might come up?”
  • “I want to leave something for my children or grandchildren. What’s the best way to do that?”

This stage of life brings big changes: a shift from earning a paycheck to creating your own, navigating Medicare and health expenses, potentially downsizing or relocating, and juggling the desire to enjoy life with the need to stay financially secure. It’s normal to feel both excited and a bit anxious. You’ve never retired before, and it’s a journey full of important decisions.

Our Solutions

Ongoing Guidance for Every Stage of Retirement

Strategic Wealth Design serves as your guide through the retirement journey. Drawing on decades of expertise (including our Colorado team’s specialty in “financial life planning” for retirees), we help answer your burning questions and put a plan in place. Here’s how we support our retirees and pre-retiree clients:

Retirement Income Blueprint

We transform your accumulated savings – 401(k)s, IRAs, pensions, brokerage accounts – into a reliable paycheck for retirement. This means determining an optimal withdrawal rate and sequence: which accounts to tap first and how to minimize taxes on withdrawals. We’ll incorporate Social Security planning too: for example, analyzing if you should claim benefits at 62, 67, or 70 to maximize lifetime income for you and, if applicable, your spouse. The result is a month-by-month income plan so you know exactly how much you can comfortably spend, and from where.

Investment Management for Retirement

Your investment strategy should evolve as you transition from growth to income and preservation. We’ll adjust your portfolio to reduce risk (protecting you from big market downturns) while still providing growth to outpace inflation. We focus on generating income – through dividends, interest, and systematic withdrawals – to cover your needs. Importantly, we also create a “safety net” of cash reserves for the unexpected, so you never have to sell investments at a bad time. With proactive management, we aim to give you steady returns in all market conditions.

Healthcare and Long-Term Care Planning

One of retirees’ biggest worries is the cost of healthcare. We’ll help you estimate and plan for these expenses. As you approach 65, we guide you through Medicare enrollment and supplement choices. We also discuss long-term care options: should you self-fund, or would a long-term care insurance policy or hybrid life-insurance make sense to protect your assets? Our plans include provisions for medical costs, so an illness won’t derail your financial security.

Tax-Smart Withdrawals

Just because you’re retired doesn’t mean tax planning is over – in fact, it’s more important than ever. We implement strategies like Roth conversions (moving money from IRA to Roth in low-tax years), timing capital gains, and planning around Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) to minimize taxes throughout your retirement. Keeping taxes low means your money lasts longer. We coordinate with your CPA when needed to make sure no opportunity is missed.

Estate & Legacy Planning

We help you define the legacy you want to leave. That could be ensuring your spouse is well provided for, leaving an inheritance for children, donating to causes, or all of the above. We’ll work with estate attorneys to make sure your wills and trusts align with your wishes and are tax-efficient. Additionally, we discuss beneficiary strategies (like keeping beneficiaries updated on retirement accounts) and possibly gifting strategies if you wish to see your loved ones benefit from your wealth during your lifetime. By planning your legacy, you also gain peace of mind that what happens with your assets is what you intend.

Ongoing Retirement Coaching

Retirement isn’t a one-and-done plan – life will throw curveballs. We meet with you regularly to adjust your plan as needed. If the market has a great year, maybe we increase your travel budget; if there’s a downturn, we’ll reassure you and make tactical adjustments (without panicking). If a new grandchild arrives or you decide to move closer to family, we’ll factor those into your plan. Think of us as financial co-pilots for your retirement journey, always here to answer questions and keep you on course.

Why Work With Us in Retirement

Aligning Your Finances with Your Dreams

Our approach goes beyond numbers. Yes, we bring technical expertise to maximize your retirement income, but we also bring empathy and experience to address the human side of retirement. We know this transition can be emotional – leaving a career, finding purpose, spending down savings you worked a lifetime to build. Our team listens and helps align your finances with what makes you happy and fulfilled. We celebrate your retirement dreams (be it travel, hobbies, time with family) and find ways to fund them sustainably. With Strategic Wealth Design by your side, you can step into retirement feeling prepared and supported.

Retire with Confidence

You’ve worked hard to get here. Now let’s make sure your money works hard for you. Whether you’re about to retire or already living it, it’s never too late to strengthen your plan. Schedule a Free Consultation with our team, and take the guesswork out of your financial future. Enjoy the confidence that comes from having a well-crafted retirement strategy – so you can focus on living your best life, today and every day forward.
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