Advisors for retired clients

Retirement changes the job of the plan

Before retirement, a paycheck replenishes savings. After retirement, withdrawals, Social Security, pensions and perhaps part-time work must support spending through uncertain markets and lifespans. The central question is not simply whether the portfolio can earn a target return. It is whether you can pay for essential needs in a bad early market, manage taxes across several account types, and adjust spending without losing the life you planned. A useful advisor should make those tradeoffs visible in numbers, not sell a universal withdrawal rule.

Bring a year of actual spending, expected housing and health costs, account balances by tax treatment, pension statements, insurance coverage and Social Security estimates. Separate must-pay expenses from travel, gifts and other spending you can flex. Update the list when a spouse retires, a parent needs care, a home is sold or health changes. A retirement plan is a set of decisions to revisit, not a projection printed once.

Build income in layers

List income you can count on, with start dates and inflation treatment: Social Security, pensions or annuities. Compare it with the essential spending floor. Then set a plan for the gap from cash reserves and investments, recognizing that near-term spending should not depend on selling volatile assets at a bad moment. A reserve can help, but holding too much in cash for decades can expose purchasing power to inflation. Ask an advisor to show the cost and risk of each layer, including an annuity's fees, insurer risk, liquidity restrictions and survivor benefits where relevant.

Withdrawal order matters. Taxable brokerage, traditional retirement accounts and Roth accounts are taxed differently. A rigid taxable-first rule can create a later tax spike when required distributions begin; a rigid tax-deferred-first rule may waste low-bracket years. Model alternatives with a tax professional using your own income, Medicare premiums and state rules. Check Medicare's current cost page instead of relying on a static premium estimate. Check the current required minimum distribution rules rather than a recalled age: IRS RMD FAQs.

Social Security is a household decision

Claiming earlier generally reduces the monthly benefit compared with waiting, while delayed claiming can increase it up to age 70. But the right choice depends on health, work, cash needs, marriage, survivor benefits and the rest of the portfolio. Ask for a comparison that shows both spouses' lifetime income and what happens after the first death, not a single break-even age. SSA's retirement planner provides personalized estimate tools and current claiming rules.

Stress-test the risks that actually change a life

• Sequence risk: losses early in retirement can hurt more when withdrawals continue. Ask what spending changes, cash sources or rebalancing rules apply after a prolonged decline.
• Longevity: test the plan beyond average life expectancy, including one spouse living significantly longer.
• Inflation: show what happens if essential expenses rise faster than planned, particularly health care and housing.
• Care and family: model long-term care, support for relatives and the surviving spouse's own income and housing needs.
• Taxes: compare Roth conversions, charitable gifts and account withdrawals only after tax-year and Medicare effects are included.

A single probability-of-success number hides assumptions. Ask to see the return, inflation, lifespan and spending inputs, and ask which decision changes when the model worsens. Review after major life events and at least when the spending plan changes.

What to ask a retirement advisor

1. How do you turn my accounts into a monthly spending plan and update it in a downturn?
2. Will you compare Social Security and pension choices at the household level?
3. Who does the annual tax projection and coordinates with my CPA?
4. How do you handle long-term care and estate-document questions without practicing law or selling an unsuitable product?
5. What is the all-in cost in dollars, including investment funds and any insurance compensation?

Verify an advisor's registration, fees, conflicts and disciplinary disclosures on Investor.gov's IAPD guide. No advisor on this page is currently tagged as a retirement-client specialist, so the profiles below are a general roster, not a verified specialty match. Ask each one how they would address your needs. For a concrete scenario, start with the related retirement calculators; they are illustrations, not personalized advice.