Retirement Savings Consulting — Bronx, NY

Retirement savings consulting is the foundational engagement at ABC Wealth. It starts with a complete inventory of your retirement assets — IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, pensions, deferred compensation accounts, taxable investment accounts, and any other savings. It includes a projection of your retirement income needs based on your current spending, planned retirement date, and expected lifestyle. It covers the gap analysis: how much you have, how much you need, and what needs to change to close the gap. And it produces a specific action plan — not a general recommendation to save more.

Protection in the context of retirement savings is not primarily about insurance — it is about avoiding the structural mistakes that erode wealth quietly: high-fee investment products, unnecessary tax drag, poor account titling, outdated beneficiary designations, and sequence-of-returns risk in the early years of retirement. Doug's process includes a fee audit of every account — comparing the all-in cost of your current investments against lower-cost alternatives — and an identification of any structural vulnerabilities in your current plan. For most clients, the fee reduction alone produces a meaningful improvement in projected retirement outcomes.

The decade before retirement is the highest-stakes period for retirement savings. The portfolio is at its largest, which means both gains and losses are at their maximum dollar impact. This is the period to review asset allocation deliberately — not to reduce risk by default, but to align the portfolio with the specific income needs of the retirement plan. It is also the period to maximize tax-advantaged contributions: 401(k) catch-up contributions ($7,500 additional per year after age 50 in 2024), IRA contributions, and Health Savings Account contributions for clients with high-deductible health plans. Doug identifies every available contribution vehicle and ensures clients are using them fully.

The ultimate measure of a retirement savings plan is whether it produces sustainable income for 25 to 30 years without running out. This requires coordinating the accumulation phase with the distribution phase from the beginning — not treating them as separate problems. The investment strategy in the accumulation phase should be built with the distribution structure in mind: which accounts will be drawn first, in what sequence, and at what rate. Doug builds the distribution plan alongside the accumulation plan, so the transition from saving to spending is deliberate rather than reactive.

Doug's proprietary framework, The Back Nine Plan, addresses five dimensions of retirement: Income, Taxes, Investments, Healthcare, and Legacy. Retirement savings consulting covers all five, with the depth of analysis in each dimension calibrated to your specific situation. For a client ten years from retirement, the focus is on accumulation, tax positioning, and income projection. For a client two years from retirement, the focus shifts to income sequencing, ROTH conversion windows, and Social Security timing. The Back Nine Plan provides the structure for these conversations and ensures nothing important is left unaddressed.