Noah Schwab, CFP^®

I am a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and co-owner of Stewardship Concepts Financial Services, a fee-only fiduciary firm in Spokane, Washington. Most of the people I work with are retirees or within about five years of retiring. Their question is usually not "do I have enough?" It is "how do I take this money out without handing too much of it to the IRS?" That is the work I do every day. Roth conversion strategy. Social Security claiming decisions. Required minimum distributions and qualified charitable distributions. Medicare IRMAA surcharges. Sequencing withdrawals across taxable, tax-deferred, and Roth accounts so the tax bill is lower over a lifetime, not just this April. A lot of that work happens in the years between leaving your job and the year required minimum distributions begin. Those are often the lowest tax years of your life, and they are easy to waste. Filling a bracket on purpose during that window can mean smaller RMDs later, a lower Medicare premium, and a smaller tax bill for whoever inherits the account. Fee-only means my clients pay me and no one else does. No commissions, no product sales, and a fiduciary duty to you at all times. If you are weighing when to retire, when to claim Social Security, or whether to convert to Roth before RMDs begin, I would be glad to talk.

Comprehensive Financial Planning, 401(k)/403(b)/IRAs, Charitable & Planned Giving, Asset Allocation, Estate Planning, Investment Management, Retirement, Stocks & Bonds, Long-term Care, Personal Taxes