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Five decisions worth getting right

You can find an advisor who will do all of these adequately. I picked a narrow lane on purpose: Western New York families turning decades of pre-tax savings into income. Everything below serves that one problem.

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01 · Tax planning

How do you keep the IRS from taking more than its share?

Retirement tax planning means deciding which accounts you draw from, in what order, and in which years. For most families who saved into a 401(k) for decades, the biggest lever is a Roth conversion. The low-tax years between the day you retire and the year you turn 73, or 75 if you were born in 1960 or later, are your window, before required minimum distributions take the choice away.

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02 · Retirement income

How do you turn a lifetime of saving into a paycheck?

Retirement income planning replaces your paycheck out of accounts you spent a career filling. We decide how much you withdraw each year and which accounts the money comes from. Then we coordinate those withdrawals with Social Security and any pension, so the total stays dependable and the tax bill stays low.

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03 · Social Security

When should you claim Social Security?

Claiming Social Security early at 62 permanently reduces your benefit, and waiting until 70 permanently increases it by roughly 8 percent for each year you delay past full retirement age. The right choice depends on your health, whether you are married, and what claiming does to your tax picture during the conversion years.

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04 · Investment management

How should your portfolio change now that you are spending it?

While you were saving, you measured the portfolio against the market. Now you measure it against your withdrawal plan, and risk means something different. The danger is a downturn that forces you to sell good investments to cover next month's spending, years before you meant to touch them.

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05 · Legacy and survivor planning

Will your spouse be okay if something happens to you?

Survivor planning starts with the question most couples avoid: what the household looks like after one of you dies. The surviving spouse loses the smaller Social Security check, starts filing as a single taxpayer at higher rates on similar income, and often inherits accounts they have never managed.

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One fee, all of it

All five, under one fee.

A single annual fee covers everything above. No per-service billing, and no charge for a phone call in the middle of a Tuesday.

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Let's find out if I can help.

The first conversation is 30 minutes on the phone, and you bring nothing to it. You describe what you are trying to sort out, and I tell you straight whether this is the kind of work I do well.

Schedule an intro call Or call (716) 362-1182