Retirement Planning
Retirement planning is about more than preparing to stop working — it’s about creating the financial freedom to live life on your terms. Whether you are a business owner, self-employed professional, W-2 employee, executive, or highly compensated individual, building and preserving wealth requires a thoughtful strategy focused on long-term growth, reliable income, tax efficiency, and risk management.
“There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.”
— Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes
Retirement
Planning
The one word every person works toward — and the one most people are afraid to truly plan for. Retirement isn't luck. It's a strategy built over decades, one decision at a time. Let's build yours.
The One We All Want.
The long days wandering an empty beach. Taking a dip in warm water. An impromptu trip to a bucket-list country you couldn't take when you had a job. Watching your grandchildren grow up without watching the clock. The possibilities are endless — but only if you have a plan.
Retirement is, in our opinion, the most talked-about subject our clients want to plan for. It is something every person dreams of attaining. But dreaming about it and building a real-world roadmap to get there are two entirely different things.
At Boyer Financial Services, we treat retirement planning as the centerpiece of your financial life — a comprehensive, living strategy that accounts for income needs, tax efficiency, healthcare costs, market conditions, and the life you actually want to live.
Process
Retirement planning is not a one-time conversation — it is an ongoing discipline that evolves as your life, your goals, and the world around you change. Here is how we approach it from first meeting to the day you retire and beyond.
We start by understanding what retirement actually means to you — not just a number, but a lifestyle. When do you want to retire? What does a great retirement look like? What are you afraid of running out of? These answers shape everything.
We catalog every asset, account, income source, liability, and insurance policy — building a complete picture of where you stand today and what resources you'll have to work with on the path to retirement.
We build a comprehensive retirement plan addressing all nine pillars — needs analysis, Social Security strategy, account optimization, distribution sequencing, tax planning, and risk management — with clear, actionable steps.
Markets change. Laws change. Life changes. We build regular plan reviews into our ongoing advisory relationship — updating projections, adjusting strategies, and ensuring your plan remains on track through every stage of life.
Complete Retirement Plan
Our retirement planning process is structured around nine interconnected disciplines — each one building on the last. A retirement plan that skips any one of these areas is incomplete. We don't skip any of them.
Inflation rates, investment return expectations, life expectancy, healthcare cost projections, and tax rate assumptions all shape the foundation of every retirement projection we build.
A detailed mapping of inflows, fixed and variable outflows, windfalls, savings rates, contributions, and projected retirement income needs — the raw financial picture that everything else is built around.
Expected benefit calculations, the impact of working after retirement, taxation of benefits, eligibility rules, and survivor benefits — Social Security is a major income source that deserves a major planning effort.
Integration with Social Security, defined contribution and defined benefit plan analysis, Keogh plans for self-employed individuals, and optimization of employer-sponsored retirement vehicles.
SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, 403(b) plans, 457 plans, and SARSEPs — each with distinct contribution limits, tax treatment, and suitability considerations depending on your employment and business structure.
Traditional and Roth IRA strategy, phase-out review, eligibility analysis, and coordinating IRA contributions and conversions with your broader tax and retirement income plan.
Key factors affecting plan implementation, investment considerations within plan structures, and navigating the regulatory landscape to select the right accounts for your specific situation.
Premature distributions, penalties, required minimum distributions, beneficiary rules, QDROs, and the full taxation picture for retirement account withdrawals — ensuring you keep as much as possible.
Stock options, equity compensation plans, and non-qualified deferred compensation — including income tax implications, disqualifying events, AMT exposure, and the various types of plans and how they interact with retirement planning.
Needs Analysis
Every retirement plan begins with a set of assumptions — inflation expectations, projected investment returns, estimated life expectancy, healthcare cost trajectory, and tax rate assumptions. Getting these right is critical. An overly optimistic inflation assumption or an underestimated lifespan can leave a plan dangerously underfunded.
From there, we build a comprehensive financial needs analysis — a detailed map of your complete financial picture in retirement. This is not a simple income-minus-expenses calculation. It accounts for the full complexity of a real financial life.
Social Security, pension income, rental income, part-time work, investment distributions, annuity payments — every source of retirement income is identified and projected.
Housing, healthcare, insurance, taxes, travel, gifts to family, charitable giving — both the predictable and the discretionary spending that makes retirement worth having.
Inheritance, business sale proceeds, deferred compensation payouts, and ongoing pre-retirement savings — all modeled into the projection so the full picture is accurate.
A retirement projection built on 6% returns and 2% inflation will tell a very different story than one built on 5% returns and 3.5% inflation — especially over a 30-year horizon. We stress-test assumptions and model multiple scenarios so your plan holds up even when reality doesn't cooperate.
We revisit these assumptions regularly — because the economy changes, your life changes, and a plan that isn't updated isn't really a plan at all.
We model thousands of potential market scenarios to assess the probability of your plan succeeding — giving you a realistic confidence level, not just a single projected outcome.
Healthcare inflation alone runs at 2–3x general inflation. We model this separately to ensure your plan accounts for one of retirement's biggest wildcard expenses.
Most people think of Social Security as a simple decision: when to claim. In reality, it is one of the most nuanced planning decisions in retirement — with implications for lifetime income, survivor benefits, taxes, Medicare, and portfolio withdrawal strategy.
We review your earnings history and project your expected benefit at various claiming ages — including the impact of continued work before and after claiming.
If you claim before full retirement age and continue working, your benefit may be temporarily reduced. We model the breakeven point and coordinate with your income strategy.
Up to 85% of your Social Security benefit may be taxable depending on combined income. We plan around this threshold — often through careful Roth conversion and withdrawal sequencing.
Spouse, ex-spouse, and survivor benefit rules are reviewed — ensuring you optimize for both partners' lifetime income, not just the primary earner.
Strategy
For most Americans, Social Security will represent a meaningful portion of their retirement income — sometimes the largest single source. The decision of when to claim is permanent and irreversible, making it one of the most important retirement decisions you'll ever make.
Claiming at 62 versus waiting until 70 can mean a difference of 76% in your monthly benefit — and the right answer depends on your health, income needs, portfolio, spouse situation, tax bracket, and dozens of other factors unique to you.
We model your full Social Security strategy within the context of your complete retirement plan — not in isolation — so the timing decision reflects everything it should.
Non-Qualified Plans
The workplace retirement plan landscape is more complex than it used to be — and understanding the differences between plan types, contribution limits, employer matching rules, and tax treatment is essential to maximizing what you accumulate before retirement.
Whether you participate in a 401(k), a pension, a 403(b), a 457 plan, or a SEP-IRA as a business owner, each vehicle has its own rules, its own tax advantages, and its own strategic role in a well-constructed retirement plan. We evaluate all of them together.
Employee and employer contributions, investment selection, vesting schedules, Roth vs. pre-tax contributions, and integration with Social Security and IRA strategy.
Pension income projections, lump-sum vs. annuity analysis, survivor benefit elections, and coordination with Social Security and portfolio income.
For self-employed individuals and small business owners — the highest-contribution, most tax-efficient retirement vehicles available — reviewed for suitability and maximization.
The years of peak earnings are often the years with the greatest opportunity to accelerate retirement savings — catch-up contributions, employer match optimization, and after-tax contributions all matter more than many clients realize.
A single year of missed contributions at age 55 can cost tens of thousands of dollars in compound growth by the time retirement begins.
401(k) / 403(b): $24,500 ($32,500 age 50+, or $35,750 for ages 60–63)
IRA: $7,500 ($8,600 age 50+)
SEP-IRA: up to $72,000
SIMPLE IRA: $17,000 ($21,000 age 50+)
We analyze your current and projected future tax brackets to determine the optimal mix of pre-tax and Roth contributions across all available accounts.
Pre-tax contributions reduce your taxable income today. Roth contributions create tax-free income in retirement. The right choice depends on your current bracket, your projected future bracket, your timeline, and your legacy goals.
Pre-tax contributions grow tax-deferred. Withdrawals in retirement are taxed as ordinary income. Deductibility is subject to income limits if you or your spouse have a workplace plan.
After-tax contributions grow tax-free. Qualified withdrawals in retirement are completely tax-free — including all growth. No RMDs during the owner's lifetime. Powerful for legacy planning.
Roth IRA contributions phase out at higher income levels — but the backdoor Roth strategy may still allow high earners to access Roth benefits. We review eligibility and implement compliantly.
A non-working or lower-earning spouse may still be eligible to contribute to an IRA based on the household's combined income — a frequently overlooked opportunity.
Roth Planning
Individual Retirement Accounts are among the most powerful tools available to individual savers — offering tax advantages that compound meaningfully over decades. But the rules governing IRAs are surprisingly complex, and the wrong decision can cost thousands in unnecessary taxes or penalties.
We review IRA eligibility, contribution limits, deductibility, phase-out thresholds, and coordinate IRA strategy with your employer plan contributions, Roth conversion opportunities, and long-term estate plan.
The goal is not just to maximize contributions — it's to maximize the after-tax value of every dollar you save.
Taxation & Alternatives
Getting money into retirement accounts efficiently is only half the challenge. Getting it out — at the right time, in the right amount, in the right order, with the lowest possible tax cost — is where the real planning happens. Distribution strategy often determines more about your retirement outcome than accumulation strategy.
Withdrawals before age 59½ are generally subject to a 10% early withdrawal penalty plus ordinary income tax. However, there are important exceptions — Rule 72(t) substantially equal periodic payments, first-time homebuyer provisions, disability, medical expenses, and others. We identify which exceptions apply and help clients access funds when needed without unnecessary penalties.
Beginning at age 73 (under SECURE 2.0), traditional IRA and retirement plan owners must take required minimum distributions based on account balances and IRS life expectancy tables. Failure to take an RMD results in a 25% excise tax on the amount not withdrawn. We calculate, schedule, and coordinate RMDs across all accounts — including strategies to reduce their long-term impact on taxable income.
The order in which you draw from taxable accounts, traditional retirement accounts, and Roth accounts matters enormously to your lifetime tax bill. We build a sequencing strategy that considers your tax bracket each year, Social Security taxation thresholds, Medicare IRMAA levels, RMD projections, and estate planning goals — optimizing the full picture, not just the current year.
Under the SECURE Act, most non-spouse beneficiaries must deplete inherited IRA accounts within 10 years of the original owner's death — a significant change that affects estate planning, Roth conversion strategy, and legacy planning. We help clients understand the rules and structure beneficiary designations accordingly.
In divorce proceedings, a QDRO is a court order that divides qualified retirement plan assets between spouses without triggering early withdrawal penalties or taxes at the time of division. We coordinate with legal counsel to ensure retirement assets are divided correctly and the receiving spouse understands their options for the received funds.
Traditional IRA and pre-tax plan distributions are taxed as ordinary income. Roth distributions are tax-free if qualified. Non-deductible IRA distributions involve a pro-rata calculation. Annuity distributions have their own exclusion ratio rules. We model the tax impact of each distribution source so there are no surprises at tax time.
Deferred Plans
For executives, business owners, and employees at publicly traded or pre-IPO companies, equity compensation can represent a significant — and complex — component of retirement wealth. Stock options, restricted stock units, employee stock purchase plans, and non-qualified deferred compensation plans all have distinct tax rules, vesting schedules, and planning considerations.
Getting equity compensation wrong is expensive. A disqualifying disposition, an unexpected AMT liability, or a poorly timed exercise can cost tens of thousands of dollars. We help clients navigate these decisions carefully — coordinating with your CPA and employer's plan administrator to optimize each component.
ISOs receive preferential tax treatment — no ordinary income tax at exercise — but the spread between exercise price and fair market value is an AMT preference item. We model ISO exercises carefully to manage AMT exposure and determine the optimal exercise strategy each year.
NQSOs trigger ordinary income tax at exercise on the spread between exercise price and fair market value. Timing the exercise relative to your overall income, tax bracket, and investment outlook is a critical planning decision — one that should never be made reactively.
RSUs are taxed as ordinary income at vesting based on the fair market value of shares received. We evaluate whether to hold or sell immediately at vesting, how RSU income interacts with other planning decisions, and how to manage concentration risk as equity accumulates.
NQDC plans allow executives to defer compensation to a future tax year — typically retirement, when income and tax rates may be lower. Distribution elections must be made well in advance and are largely irrevocable. We evaluate deferral strategy, distribution timing, and the risk profile of employer-held deferred assets.
ESPPs allow employees to purchase company stock at a discount — often 10–15%. The tax treatment depends on whether the disposition is qualifying or disqualifying, and the holding period after purchase. We review ESPP participation levels and coordinate the tax strategy around share sales.
Equity compensation can create significant concentration in a single stock — often the same company your income depends on. We help clients develop a disciplined, tax-aware strategy for diversifying concentrated equity positions over time without triggering an unnecessarily large tax event in any single year.
Your Retirement Starts
with a Plan.
The beach doesn't plan itself. Neither does the trip. Neither does the financial independence that makes both possible. Let's start building yours — whatever stage you're at today.
ALL Services
INVESTMENTS
BUSINESS PLANNING
EDUCATION PLANNING
ESTATE PLANNING
RISK MANAGEMENT/INSURANCE
RETIREMENT PLANNING
TAX PLANNING
