Fiduciary Financial Advisor in Estero, FL

You are not trying to figure out whether retirement is possible.

You have saved. Retirement is here, or close enough that it is on the calendar. The money should be enough if it is handled well.

Now you are choosing who will handle it with you.

You may have a 401(k), an IRA from an old job, a brokerage account, Social Security decisions still to make, a CPA who prepares the tax return and estate documents sitting in a folder.

None of those pieces is the problem by itself.

The question is whether someone is responsible for seeing how all of them fit together.

You want a fiduciary financial advisor who works with people at this stage of life, holds the CFP® certification and can help you make the decisions as one retirement plan rather than a collection of accounts.

Retirement Is Here. Now the Pieces Have to Work Together

The work changes when saving for retirement becomes living from what you saved.

You have to decide when each of you claims Social Security, where monthly income comes from, how much cash stays available and which accounts should be used first.

Taxes belong in the same conversation. So do Medicare premiums, beneficiary forms, account titles and the investments themselves.

One decision can change another.

So we do not start with the portfolio. We start with the retirement you are trying to run and work backward into the financial decisions required to support it.

Our retirement planning work brings those decisions into one plan.

Decide Where the Money Comes From

Once the paycheck stops, you have more control over where your income comes from.

Some money may come from Social Security. Some may come from an IRA or 401(k). Some may come from a brokerage account or Roth IRA.

Those accounts are taxed differently. And what looks sensible this year can have consequences in later years. A large taxable withdrawal or Roth conversion can change this year’s tax bill. Medicare premiums are based on income from two years earlier, so the same withdrawal can also affect what you pay later. Required distributions eventually reduce how much choice you have over withdrawals.

We look at those decisions together rather than one account at a time.

That includes when each spouse claims Social Security. Our guide to spousal benefits explains why the two claiming decisions belong together.

Each year, we revisit where your income should come from and what that choice means for the rest of the plan. Our retirement income planning work explains that process.

Taxes Are Part of the Retirement Plan

Two withdrawals of the same size can leave you with different amounts, depending on which account the money came from.

Withdrawals from traditional retirement accounts, sales in taxable accounts and qualified Roth withdrawals do not all produce the same tax result.

So we look at the tax return before making decisions about withdrawals, Roth conversions and investment changes.

Required minimum distributions also become part of that planning as retirement moves along.

Each year’s tax decision is judged by what it does to the rest of the retirement plan.

Make the Accounts Match the Estate Plan

You may already have a will or trust.

That does not mean the financial work is finished.

Beneficiary forms and account titles have to line up with what you intended. Different accounts can also create very different tax consequences for the people who eventually receive them.

Your attorney handles the legal work.

We handle the financial side by reviewing how the accounts are titled, who is named as beneficiary and how those decisions fit with the rest of your retirement plan.

Our estate and wealth transfer planning work is where those financial decisions connect with the documents your attorney prepares.

The Portfolio Has a Job to Do

Once we know what you need from the money, the portfolio has a purpose.

We write an investment policy statement that connects the investments to the plan. It defines what the portfolio needs to provide, how much risk the plan can carry and how the different accounts fit together. The portfolio is then managed to that statement for the best after-tax result the plan allows.

We also look at where investments are held.

Putting the right investments in the right types of accounts is called asset location. In retirement, that decision can affect what you keep after taxes.

We begin with what you already own. A holding does not need to be replaced simply because you hired us. We look at whether it fits the plan and consider the tax cost before making changes.

Our investment management keeps the portfolio connected to the plan as your needs change.

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.

You do not need to arrive with everything organized.

Recent investment statements, Social Security estimates, the last tax return and a summary of your estate documents give us a place to start. We put the pieces in one place and identify the decisions that actually need to be made.

Your CPA and attorney remain part of the picture. When a planning decision touches their work, we can coordinate the financial side with them so you are not left carrying information from one professional to another.

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 Estero primarily by video or phone. When an in-person meeting makes sense, we meet by appointment at the Regus center at 26821 South Bay Drive in Bonita Springs, about 10 to 15 minutes from Estero.

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 Estero at 22780 Via Villagio.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

Photo: Ebyabe / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.