Retirement Planning Services
Retirement is one of the most significant financial transitions of your life. Getting there takes more than saving enough — it takes a strategy that accounts for everything that changes when a paycheck stops.
The Complexity Most People Don’t See Coming
Saving for retirement is straightforward enough — contribute, invest, repeat. The complexity arrives later, when accumulation gives way to distribution and the decisions get harder.
How do you turn savings into sustainable income? Which accounts do you draw from first — and in what order — to minimize taxes? What happens to your healthcare coverage before Medicare kicks in? How do you build a portfolio designed to last 30 years without running out or leaving too much behind? What does Social Security optimization actually look like for your situation?
These aren’t questions that get answered by a retirement calculator. They require a strategy — one that’s built around your specific financial picture, your goals, and the life you’re planning to live.
How We Approach Retirement Planning
Retirement planning at Wild Iris Financial is integrated into the comprehensive financial planning process — not treated as a separate module or an afterthought. That means every retirement-related decision is made in the context of your complete financial picture: your current cash flow, your tax situation, your investment strategy, your insurance coverage, and your estate planning goals.
We build a retirement roadmap that covers both sides of the transition — the accumulation phase leading up to retirement and the distribution phase once you’re there. And we update it continuously as your income, goals, and circumstances change.
What Retirement Planning Covers
Retirement Income Projections
We build a clear picture of what your retirement income looks like — from all sources, across all scenarios. Social Security, investment accounts, pensions, real estate, and any other income streams you’ll draw from. The goal is a realistic, honest projection that accounts for inflation, longevity, and the variability that comes with markets and life.
Distribution Planning & Tax Strategy
Drawing down retirement assets in the wrong order can cost significantly in taxes over time. We build a distribution strategy that sequences withdrawals from the right accounts at the right times — minimizing your lifetime tax burden while maintaining the income you need. Roth conversion strategy, Required Minimum Distributions, and capital gains management are all part of this work.
Account Optimization & Contribution Strategy
Where you save matters as much as how much you save. We optimize your account contributions across tax-deferred, tax-free, and taxable accounts to build the most tax-efficient retirement foundation possible. For self-employed clients and business owners, this includes evaluating retirement account structures — SEP-IRA, Solo 401(k), SIMPLE IRA — and selecting the right vehicle for your situation.
Social Security Optimization
Social Security timing decisions can have a significant impact on your lifetime benefit — and once made, most of them can’t be undone. We analyze your specific situation to identify the optimal claiming strategy based on your health, income needs, marital status, and other retirement assets.
Healthcare Planning
Healthcare is one of the largest and most unpredictable expenses in retirement — and one of the least planned for. We address the gap between retirement and Medicare eligibility, evaluate coverage options, and factor healthcare costs into your retirement income projections realistically.
Longevity Planning
People are living longer. A retirement that lasts 30 years requires a different strategy than one designed for 15. We build retirement plans that account for longevity — balancing the need for sustainable income over time with the risk of being too conservative and leaving quality of life on the table.
Retirement doesn’t look the same for everyone
Some clients are retiring on their own terms after a long career. Others are navigating retirement after a life change — a divorce, the loss of a spouse, or a career transition that arrived earlier than expected. Some are self-employed and building their own retirement structure from scratch. Some are decades away and building the foundation now.
Whatever your situation, the planning process adapts to meet you where you are. The framework is the same. The application is always specific to you.
When to Start
The honest answer is: earlier than you think. The decisions you make in your 30s and 40s compound over time in ways that matter enormously by the time retirement arrives. But it’s also never too late to build a better strategy than the one you have now.
If retirement feels far away, distant, or overwhelming — that’s exactly the right time to get clarity. The sooner the plan is built, the more options you have.
