As a fiduciary financial advisor in Brandon, Holland Capital helps you turn the 401(k) and the rest of what you have saved into a retirement you can plan around: when you can stop working, what you can spend and what the taxes will look like once the money starts coming out. The plan comes first, and the investments are managed to it.
You have been putting money into the 401(k) for years.
Maybe you raised the percentage when a raise came through. Maybe the company match did some of the work. What started as one more payroll deduction has become most of your retirement money.
There may be other pieces too. Some savings in the bank, an IRA from a job you left, the equity in the house. But the 401(k) is the big number now, and you look at it more often than you used to.
The question used to be how much to put in. Now it is what happens when you start taking it back out. What will it pay you each year, and for how long? When could you stop working? How much of each withdrawal goes to taxes?
We start there, with the whole household and the retirement you are aiming for.
From a Balance to a Paycheck
A 401(k) statement shows what the account is worth today. It says nothing about what that balance can pay you, or for how many years.
So we begin with the question that is getting harder to ignore. When can you stop working, and how much will you need from the 401(k) once the paychecks stop? The contributions coming out of every paycheck stop. The mortgage may be paid off by then, or it may not. If you stop before 65, health coverage has to come from somewhere until Medicare starts.
Then we figure out where the retirement paycheck comes from. Social Security may cover part of it. A pension may cover another part. The rest has to come from the 401(k) and whatever else you have saved, without asking too much of the money too soon.
Put it all together and you get an answer. Can you retire when you want to, and can the money support the life you expect once you do? If not, you can still see what changes would close the gap. If the numbers work, you know what the 401(k) has to provide. Our approach to retirement planning builds the rest of the plan from those answers.
When Nearly All of It Is Pre-Tax
If most of your 401(k) was built with pre-tax contributions, you got the tax break while you were working. That was part of the deal.
The tax was postponed, not removed. Money that comes out of a traditional 401(k) or IRA is taxed as ordinary income. If nearly everything you have saved is pre-tax, nearly every dollar your savings pay you in retirement lands on the tax return. Those withdrawals are added to your other income, which can also make more of your Social Security taxable. And once required minimum distributions begin, the account sets part of your income each year whether you need the money or not.
None of that means the 401(k) was a mistake. Deducting contributions while your income is high can still be the right call.
What may still be worth changing is where the next dollar goes. If your workplace plan also has a Roth option, some new contributions can be taxed now instead of later. Building money on both sides can give you more control over taxable income once the paychecks stop.
That does not mean everyone should switch to Roth. The answer depends on the taxes you pay now, the taxes the plan is likely to create later, how many working years you have left and what else you own. You may stay pre-tax, split the contributions or put more of the new money into Roth. Because the choice comes around with every paycheck, the time to settle it is while you are still working. Our guide to asset location explains how the pre-tax, Roth and taxable pieces work together.
Investing the 401(k) as Part of the Plan
When the plan is set, the investments have something specific to do.
We write those decisions down in an investment policy statement: what the money has to provide, how much risk the plan can handle and how each account is taxed. Then we look at the 401(k), IRAs and taxable savings as parts of the same portfolio and invest them around the plan.
While you are working, the 401(k) stays in your employer’s plan. We can still recommend how to invest it from the funds the plan offers, and fit it together with everything else you own. A low-cost fund in the plan that does its job can stay.
If money later moves into an account we manage, such as an IRA once you retire, our advisory fee applies to it, and you see that cost before you decide. Our investment management carries out the plan from there.
Working with Holland Capital
Holland Capital Management is an independent registered investment adviser and a fiduciary. M. Chad Holland, CFA, CFP® works directly with clients and is responsible for the planning and advice.
For the first meeting, a recent 401(k) statement, your plan’s benefits summary and a Social Security estimate for each of you are enough to begin. If there is an old IRA or a savings account, bring that too. If something is missing, we can start without it.
We will tell you whether the numbers work, what the 401(k) is likely to need to provide and which decisions deserve attention while you are still working. If you work with a CPA, they stay involved, and we share the numbers so the plan and the tax return agree.
The first conversation is free. If there is work worth doing after that, we will define the scope and cost before you decide whether to move forward.
Our offices are in Charlotte, North Carolina and Winter Park, Florida. We work with clients in Brandon primarily by video or phone. When an in-person meeting makes sense, we meet by appointment at the Regus center at 3905 Crescent Park Drive in Riverview, about 13 minutes away.
For clients whose investments we manage, accounts are held directly at Charles Schwab in the client’s own name. Holland Capital manages the investments but does not take custody of client assets. If a client ever needs in-person assistance from Schwab, the closest branch is in Tampa at 4304 West Boy Scout Boulevard.
We work with clients throughout Florida. You can see the other Florida communities we serve here.
Our what we do page explains how a planning engagement works.
RETIREMENT ENGINEERING™
The Order Matters
Five retirement decisions and why timing matters.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Choose the Right Fiduciary Financial Advisor?
Start with what you need answered. If retirement is getting close, ask whether the advisor will first tell you when you can retire, what you can spend and how the taxes fit together, or whether the conversation starts with investments.
Then ask the practical questions. Who will actually do the planning? Does that person act as a fiduciary for all of the advice you will receive? What does the work include, and what will it cost? Those answers tell you more than whether the firm calls itself a financial planner, a financial consultant or a wealth management firm.
Holland Capital acts as a fiduciary when providing financial planning and investment advice. When a recommendation would also add to our fee, such as rolling your 401(k) into an IRA we manage when you retire, you hear that from us first.
Does a Roth 401(k) Have Required Minimum Distributions?
Not anymore. Starting in 2024, Roth money inside a 401(k) is no longer subject to required minimum distributions during your lifetime. Pre-tax 401(k) and traditional IRA money still is.
The IRS explains the current rules on its required minimum distributions page.
What Happens to My 401(k) When I Retire?
Usually you have choices. You can often leave the money in the plan, roll it into an IRA, take withdrawals as you need them, or use a combination. Each withdrawal from pre-tax money is taxed as income in the year you take it.
The right choice depends on what the plan costs, how the money is invested, how you expect to take withdrawals and how the rollover fits with the rest of your retirement plan. Our 401(k) rollover guide compares the options.
Can a Fiduciary Financial Advisor Outside Brandon Handle Our Planning?
Yes. The planning work happens by video or phone, with your 401(k) statement and Social Security estimates on the same screen for both of us, and it fits around a workday.
When an in-person meeting is more useful, we meet by appointment at the Regus center on Crescent Park Drive in Riverview.
Photo: FightingRaven531 / Wikimedia Commons / public domain, cropped.
