Planning "Alpha"

How Likely Is Your Money To Last?

Statistically, this is the #1 question retirees have. 


Despite this, how many of us actually feel like we have a quantifiable answer?


Every retirement plan we build is run through a Monte Carlo (a 1,000 trial test) to deliver a probability of success. A 93% probability of success means 930 of those 1,000 trials were successful based on the goals given. 

What is My Retirement Score?

See the Impact Changes Have In Real Time

What if you decided to retire a year earlier? What effect would saving $1,000 more per year have?


Variables can be changed in your plan and illustrated back to you with the click of a button. Every adjustment can be quantified and illustrated back to the client. This puts you into the drivers seat. 


How Fragile is Your Retirement Plan?

Do you ever find yourself awake at night, worrying about your retirement plan? Have I saved enough? What happens if Social Security benefits are cut? What happens if we see another Stock Market Crash like 2008?


These "What If" scenerios shouldn't keep you up at night. In fact, they should be included as part of your retirement plan. When we build retirement plans, we stress test each plan in over 10 different "stressed" scenerios. From higher taxes, to rising healthcare costs, to lower expected future returns.


The right retirement plan should withstand these tests. Does yours?

Stress Test My Retirement
What is Planning "Alpha"?
"Alpha" in finance is a term used to measure outperformance.

Almost everyone in the industry focuses on Alpha compared from one investment to the other. In fact, you've probably attended a dinner presentation or two where the speaker talks for 2 hours about how his investment outperforms another investment. 

Investing is extremely important to a sound retirement, but most advisors are missing the mark when talking about "Alpha" and outperformance. 

Focusing solely on investing performance is the equivalent of a football team only concentrating on kicking the ball through the uprights. What about scoring touchdowns, defense, passing, blocking, etc.?
We believe the most critical, (and more importantly) the most attainable Alpha comes in the form of what we call Planning Alpha. 

Optimizing your Social Security benefit can increase lifetime benefits by upwards of 50%. A dollar saved on taxes is equivalent to a dollar made on your investments, yet the latter typically means taking more risk. Withdrawing from the right accounts at the right time can increase the longevity of your nest egg by years!

So what is the actual value of "Planning Alpha"? The only accurate way to measure is to see the value it can have for your situation. However, as a benchmark, Vanguard released a study in 2018 showing the value of proper planning to be upwards of 3% per year for a retiree. What investment can stack up to that?

Advanced Income Modeling
Visually see how you will reach your retirement goals each and every year

Maximizing Your (And Your Spouse's) Benefit

For many Americans, Social Security will be their largest retirement asset. Yet, over 90% of all recipients don't maximize their benefit. Advanced planning and coordinating your benefit with taxes and other assets can deliver a tremendous impact down the road. 

Attend a Social Security Course

Build a Forward-Looking Tax Plan

How do you plan for taxes? Around April do you simply bring in a shoebox full of receipts and statements to your accountant and let them wade through the mess? 


Or do you plan for taxes well in advance? 


The former may be acceptable during your working years but once you enter retirement, a reactive tax plan will cost you. 


For most retirees, taxes will represent your largest expense in retirement. Yet most plans, and advisors, worry more about what stock fund you're invested in then the $10,000 tax bill you'll have at the end of the year. 

How Can I Minimize Taxes in Retirement?

How Fragile is Your Retirement Plan?

Do you ever find yourself awake at night, worrying about your retirement plan? Have I saved enough? What happens if Social Security benefits are cut? What happens if we see another Stock Market Crash like 2008?


These "What If" scenerios shouldn't keep you up at night. In fact, they should be included as part of your retirement plan. When we build retirement plans, we stress test each plan in over 10 different "stressed" scenerios. From higher taxes, to rising healthcare costs, to lower expected future returns.


The right retirement plan should withstand these tests. Does yours?

Stress Test My Retirement