Retirement Planning
What is Retirement Planning?
Retirement planning isn’t just about having enough money. It’s about creating a strategy that helps you maintain your lifestyle, avoid costly surprises, and make confident decisions as things change.
At Fortress Capital Advisors, retirement planning is a collaborative process. We help you define what retirement looks like for you, build a strategy that supports it, and stay involved to make sure your plan remains aligned with your goals. We don’t hand you a binder and wish you luck—we stick with you as life unfolds.
1. Build the Vision
We start by helping you get clear on what a meaningful retirement actually looks like. Financially, emotionally, and logistically. This isn’t just about setting a savings target. It’s about identifying what you want your life to look like and what trade-offs you’re willing or not willing to make along the way.
This stage includes:
- When you want to retire and whether full or partial retirement makes the most sense
- How much you expect to spend, how that may evolve over time, and how confident you feel in those numbers
- What experiences you want to prioritize: travel, family, personal projects, giving back
- Whether relocating, downsizing, or buying a second home is part of the vision
- Whether you’ll need to bridge the healthcare gap before Medicare starts and how to do it affordably
- How important things like charitable giving or leaving a legacy are to you
- What keeps you up at night, whether it’s market volatility, inflation, outliving your money, or something else
- How much risk and uncertainty you’re comfortable with and how much liquidity you need to feel secure
These conversations shape every recommendation that follows. The better we understand your vision and comfort zones, the more confident you’ll be in the plan we build.
2. Build the Plan
Once we understand what you want retirement to look like, we build a plan that supports it with flexibility, clarity, and adaptability. This isn’t just about running projections. It’s about building a system that works in the real world and holds up when life doesn’t go exactly as expected.
This stage includes:
- Forecasting income needs across the different phases of retirement
- Analyzing and optimizing the timing of Social Security, pensions, and other income sources
- Designing a withdrawal strategy that minimizes taxes and adjusts based on market performance
- Identifying tax savings opportunities before and during retirement, including Roth conversion windows and IRMAA bracket management
- Sequencing withdrawals across account types to reduce long-term tax exposure
- Aligning your investment strategy with both your timeline and your comfort with risk and liquidity
- Mapping your position on a stability versus access grid to determine how much cash buffer you need to feel secure
- Stress testing your plan to ensure it can withstand market volatility early in retirement
- Helping you evaluate health insurance options before and after Medicare begins, including coverage gaps, supplemental plans, and cost projections
- Addressing long-term care needs and exploring ways to fund them without compromising your retirement lifestyle
- Analyzing existing annuities to determine whether they support your goals or represent hidden opportunity costs
- Coordinating your estate plan, account titling, and beneficiaries to match your legacy goals
At this stage, the plan becomes clear — you know where your income is coming from, what your risks are, and how to stay on track.
3. Put the Plan to Work
A good retirement plan only works if it stays relevant. That means helping you follow through, stay flexible, and adapt to changes with clarity and confidence, not anxiety or second-guessing.
This stage includes:
- Coordinating income distributions, cash flow timing, and tax withholding throughout the year
- Monitoring your withdrawal strategy using guardrails and clear trigger points to determine when spending should be increased or reduced
- Reviewing your investment allocation and making thoughtful adjustments based on evolving market conditions and your needs
- Evaluating ongoing Roth conversion opportunities, charitable giving strategies, and shifting tax brackets
- Keeping your plan aligned with new tax laws and financial regulations that may affect your Social Security, RMDs, or Medicare premiums
- Re-running projections as needed to test new goals or changes in spending
- Helping you evaluate trade-offs when priorities shift, whether that’s supporting a family member, buying a vacation home, or slowing down spending
- Meeting regularly and being available when new questions come up or life throws you a curveball
This isn’t set it and forget it. It’s an ongoing relationship built to help you stay confident, no matter what changes.
Ready to see what retirement could look like with a real plan behind it?
Click the Button Below to Schedule a No-Obligation Discovery Call
