The Opportunity

James and Monica are approaching retirement. Before making anything official, they want to know if they are financially fit to retire while maintaining their current lifestyle. They are overwhelmed with questions about how to optimize distributions, when to take social security, and potential risks that could derail retirement. 

The Solution

Brickley uncovered some planning opportunities to secure their financial future. After reviewing their assets, debt, income, and expenses, we determined that they could retire and maintain their current lifestyle. We came up with a plan if a long-term care event would occur. 

• Maximized their Social Security benefits and determined when to start receiving benefits.
• Minimized taxation on retirement income and determined how to fund their retirement tax efficiently.
• Rebalanced their investment portfolio allocation to include more stable, less volatile, income-producing investments. 
• We encouraged a review of their estate plan with their estate attorney. 
• Rent their vacation home to provide them with the additional income to fund a long-term care event. 
• Limit realized capital gains this year to prevent the client from falling into the next tax bracket.