As a fiduciary financial advisor in Tallahassee, Holland Capital helps you fit a pension, DROP, retirement accounts and Social Security together, so you know what you can spend and how to invest the rest. We plan first and invest second.
A deferred compensation account you signed up for in your first year. A rollover IRA from somewhere you worked before. The house. College savings. A pension you have earned for years without needing to think much about it.
Your financial life grew in pieces because that is how a career grows.
None of those pieces was a mistake. Retirement is when they have to start working together, and when a choice about one starts to change the others.
Holland Capital looks at all of it before recommending anything: what you have, what you will receive, what you spend and when you want to stop. Then the investments follow the plan.
Knowing What You Will Live On
A pension statement shows a monthly amount. A 403(b) or 457(b) statement shows a balance. Social Security sends an estimate. None of them tells you what you can spend.
The question is what replaces the paycheck. Which income arrives first? Which account carries you until Social Security starts? How much of the pension is left after taxes and health insurance? What does your spouse receive if you die first?
Once the income is mapped year by year, the rest of the plan has something solid under it: how much the savings have to provide and how much risk the portfolio needs to take.
The retirement planning we do is built on that map.
Leaving State Service: DROP and What Comes After
If you have spent a career with the state, a university or a local government in the Florida Retirement System, leaving work brings its own set of decisions.
For some people, DROP is at the center of them. You have reached normal retirement, or you will soon, and now you have to decide how DROP fits with everything that comes after it.
In DROP, your pension is calculated as if you retired on the day you enter. You keep working and keep your salary. The monthly benefit you would have received builds up in an account and earns interest. Since the 2023 changes to DROP, you can stay in for up to 96 months, and the account earns 4 percent a year.
When DROP ends, three things happen at once. Your paycheck stops. Your monthly pension begins. And the DROP account, which may hold several years of pension payments plus interest, has to go somewhere.
You can take it in cash, roll it over, or do some of each. Cash is taxed as income in the year it is paid, and a large payment in one year can push much of it into a higher bracket. A rollover to an IRA or another eligible plan defers the tax until you withdraw the money.
When the DROP payout arrives, you may be offered an annuity for the rollover. Before moving that money into a contract, look at the surrender period, the fees and the terms of any income rider. Our guide lists five steps to take before you sign.
At the same time, you are choosing the pension option that sets what your spouse would receive after your death. Once your retirement is final, that choice cannot be changed.
You may not be done working, either. A consulting practice, a private-sector job or a second career you have wanted for years may be next. That income lands on top of the pension. It changes the tax on everything else, including how much of your Social Security is taxed and when it makes sense to claim it. It may also mean the DROP money can stay invested for years before you touch it.
We lay out the DROP decision, the payout, the pension option and the next job as one plan, before the dates arrive. Our guide to the Florida Retirement System covers the plan rules in more detail.
Where the Investments Come In
A pension changes what the portfolio has to do.
If the pension and Social Security cover most of your monthly bills, the portfolio has a different job than it would if your savings had to produce every dollar you spend. How much risk it should take depends on what is already covered and what you still need the savings to do.
The DROP rollover, an old 403(b) or 457(b), a Roth IRA and a brokerage account each follow their own tax rules, so the same fund can belong in one account and not in another.
All of that goes into a written investment policy statement: what the savings have to fund, how much risk the plan can carry, and how each account is taxed. The portfolio is managed to that statement, aiming for the best return after tax for the risk it allows.
We look first at what you already own and change only what the plan calls for. Our investment management carries the plan into the accounts.
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.
If you are in the Florida Retirement System, bring your most recent benefit estimate and any DROP paperwork you have. If you are not, your latest statements are enough to start.
After the first conversation, you will know which decisions have dates attached and which can wait. If your CPA or attorney is already involved, we bring them into the parts of the plan that touch the tax return or the estate documents.
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 Tallahassee primarily by video or phone. When an in-person meeting makes sense, we meet by appointment at the Regus center at 113 South Monroe Street, downtown.
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 Tallahassee at 909 East Park Avenue.
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
Is Holland Capital a Fiduciary Financial Advisor in Tallahassee?
Yes. Holland Capital acts as a fiduciary when providing financial planning and investment advice. That covers the decisions on this page: whether to enter DROP, how to take the DROP payout, which pension option to choose and how your savings are invested.
Rolling a DROP account into an IRA we manage would increase what we are paid. We tell you that before you decide, along with the alternatives.
You may also see “fiduciary” in the name of a professional designation. A designation shows training. The duty comes from the advisory relationship itself.
Can I Work for the State Again After I Retire From the FRS?
Not right away. During the first six calendar months after your retirement date, you cannot work for any employer that participates in the Florida Retirement System, in any capacity. Doing so can void your retirement.
Work for a private employer is not limited by that rule. If a public job is a possibility later, confirm the current rules with the Division of Retirement before you accept it.
Does My FRS Pension Reduce My Social Security?
No. Social Security benefits used to be reduced for some people whose pensions came from work that did not pay into Social Security. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed in January 2025, ended those reductions.
The pension still shapes when you should claim. It pays the bills while you wait, which can make a later, larger Social Security check easier to afford. Our guide on when to claim Social Security walks through the trade-off.
Can a Fiduciary Financial Advisor Outside Tallahassee Handle My FRS Retirement?
Yes. The Florida Retirement System works the same way statewide, and the decisions are made from your benefit estimate, your DROP paperwork and your statements. All of that can be reviewed together by video or phone, which is how most of our meetings happen.
When sitting down in person makes sense, we can meet by appointment at the Regus center at 113 South Monroe Street.
Photo: Ebyabe / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.
