As a fiduciary financial advisor in Cocoa Beach, Holland Capital helps you find out whether what you have saved can replace your paycheck, what has to come from the portfolio each month and how the investments should change as work ends. We settle the plan first, then manage the investments to it.
You can see the end of work from here.
A year or two, maybe three.
You have saved seriously. The 401(k), IRA and other accounts have become real numbers. Add them together and it looks like there should be enough.
But a balance is not a paycheck.
For decades, money has arrived on a schedule without you having to create it. Taxes and benefits came out first. The rest landed in the bank and paid for the household.
When work ends, that system ends with it.
Now the savings have to take over.
So the question is no longer whether you have accumulated a large number. It is whether that number can reliably produce what the paycheck has been providing, and whether the portfolio you built while working is ready for that new job.
We answer the first question before changing the investments.
Turn What You Have Saved into a Paycheck
We start with what actually reaches your checking account and what that money pays for.
Some expenses disappear when work ends. Others stay. Some new ones may begin.
Then we lay out what will replace the paycheck.
Social Security may cover part of it. A pension, if you have one, may cover another part. The rest has to come from the savings you spent your career building.
That is the number the plan is built around.
We can then see what the portfolio would need to send to the bank each month and how long it would need to keep doing it.
The age at which each of you claims Social Security changes how much the savings have to provide and for how long. Our guide to coordinating Social Security with retirement income explains how those pieces fit together.
If the numbers work, you can see what supports the retirement date. If they do not, you can see what would make the difference before you give up the paycheck. Our retirement income planning work sets out that process.
The Portfolio Is About to Get a Different Job
While you were working, you were adding money to the portfolio.
Soon you will be taking money out.
That changes the way you have to think about risk.
A bad market while you are still earning a paycheck can be uncomfortable. A bad market after the portfolio has started paying the bills can affect the plan itself.
So we test the retirement plan before the last day of work, not after it.
We want to know what happens if the first few years are harder than expected while you still have choices about the retirement date, spending and how the portfolio is invested. Our guide to the first years of retirement explains why the order of returns counts in those years.
Then we look at what you already own.
Some investments may still fit the job perfectly. Others may have made sense while you were building the portfolio but make less sense once the portfolio has to start sending money back to you.
We change what needs to change, not everything simply because retirement is close.
Build the Investments Around the Retirement Income Plan
Once we know what the portfolio has to provide, the investments can be managed around that job.
We put that in a written investment policy statement: what the portfolio needs to provide, when you will need it and how much risk the plan can reasonably carry. The portfolio is then managed to that statement for the most you can keep after tax without taking more risk than the plan allows.
The policy also covers which account pays each withdrawal. The right withdrawal does not always have to come from the same account every year.
We start with what you own. If a holding still fits the plan, it stays. If changing something would create a tax cost, we consider that before recommending the change.
Our investment management keeps the portfolio connected to the retirement income plan after the last paycheck arrives.
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, bring a recent pay stub, your latest account statements, both Social Security estimates and any pension estimate. We will show you what the paycheck covers today and what your savings would need to supply to replace it.
If a CPA prepares your return, they stay involved and see the withdrawal and tax plan before the first year of retirement.
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 Cocoa Beach primarily by video or phone. When an in-person meeting makes sense, we meet by appointment at the Alliance meeting center in the Cape Royal Building, 1980 North Atlantic Avenue.
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 Vero Beach at 3485 Ocean Drive.
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 Know Whether My Savings Can Replace My Paycheck?
Start with the amount the household actually needs after work ends.
Then subtract the income that will come from Social Security and any pension. The remaining amount is what the portfolio has to provide.
That turns a collection of account balances into a much more useful question: can these savings produce what we need for as long as we need it?
Should My Portfolio Change Before I Retire?
Maybe.
The important change is not that you have reached a certain age. It is that the portfolio is moving from receiving money to providing it.
We look at what you already own against that new job. Investments that still fit can stay. Anything that changes should change for a reason tied to the retirement plan.
What Does a Fiduciary Financial Advisor Do When I Am About to Retire?
Near retirement, the planning and the investment decisions have to work together. The retirement date, Social Security, the amount the portfolio has to provide and the risk in the investments all affect one another.
Holland Capital acts as a fiduciary when providing financial planning and investment advice. Rolling a 401(k) into an IRA we manage is a common question at retirement, and it would add to what we are paid. If we recommend it, you will know that before you decide.
The goal is to know how the new paycheck works before the old paycheck stops.
Can a Fiduciary Financial Advisor Outside Cocoa Beach Handle This?
Yes. Most of the work is done by video or phone, with your accounts and the income plan on the same screen, whether you live on the beach or in Merritt Island.
When an in-person meeting makes sense, we can meet by appointment at the Alliance meeting center at 1980 North Atlantic Avenue in Cocoa Beach.
Photo: Leonard J. DeFrancisci / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.
