What Should You Review Before Retirement?
What Should You Review Before Retirement?
The years immediately before retirement are among the most consequential in your financial life. Decisions made in this window — about when to retire, how to structure income, when to claim Social Security, how to position your portfolio — have effects that compound over decades. Getting them right matters. Getting them wrong is difficult to undo.
Your Income Plan
Retirement income does not manage itself. You need a plan for which accounts you draw from, in what order, and at what rate. The sequence matters for taxes: drawing from a traditional IRA before claiming Social Security may allow you to delay benefits and reduce future required minimum distributions. Drawing from a Roth account in a high-income year may be inefficient. The right sequence depends on your specific accounts, your tax situation, and your timeline — and it is worth modeling before you retire, not after.
Social Security Timing
Social Security is one of the few sources of guaranteed, inflation-adjusted lifetime income available to most retirees. The claiming decision is permanent. Claiming at 62 reduces your benefit by up to 30% compared to your full retirement age. Delaying to 70 increases it by 8% per year beyond full retirement age. For married couples, the coordination of claiming strategies — particularly when one spouse has a significantly higher benefit — can affect lifetime income by a substantial amount. This decision deserves careful analysis, not a default.
Healthcare Coverage
Medicare eligibility begins at 65. If you retire before 65, you need a plan for healthcare coverage in the gap. COBRA, a spouse's employer plan, marketplace coverage, or a health sharing arrangement are all options — each with different costs and tradeoffs. Even after Medicare begins, it does not cover everything: dental, vision, hearing, and long-term care are all outside standard Medicare. Understanding what you will and will not have covered is a basic planning step that is frequently deferred.
Portfolio Positioning
The portfolio that made sense during accumulation may not be the right portfolio for distribution. Sequence of returns risk — the risk that a significant market decline early in retirement permanently impairs your portfolio — is a real concern that does not exist during the accumulation phase. A portfolio that is too aggressive at the start of retirement can be difficult to recover from. A portfolio that is too conservative may not keep pace with inflation over a thirty-year retirement. The right balance depends on your income needs, your other sources of income, and your ability to tolerate volatility.
Required Minimum Distributions
Required minimum distributions from traditional IRAs and 401(k)s begin at age 73 under current law. If you have significant assets in tax-deferred accounts, RMDs can push you into a higher tax bracket, increase your Medicare premiums, and affect the taxation of your Social Security benefits. Planning for RMDs before they begin — through Roth conversions, strategic withdrawals, or charitable giving strategies — can reduce their impact meaningfully. This is an area where early planning pays dividends.
Estate Plan Review
Retirement is a natural trigger for reviewing your estate plan. Your assets, your wishes, and your family situation may have changed significantly since your documents were last updated. Powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and beneficiary designations all deserve a fresh look. If you have not reviewed your estate plan in the last five years — or since a major life event — retirement is a good time to do it.
Long-Term Care
Long-term care is one of the largest unplanned expenses in retirement. The probability of needing some form of long-term care is significant — and the cost of that care, whether at home or in a facility, can be substantial. Traditional long-term care insurance, hybrid life/LTC policies, and self-funding are all approaches worth understanding. The right answer depends on your assets, your family situation, and your preferences. What is not a good answer is ignoring the question until it becomes urgent.
The Window Before Retirement Is Valuable
The years before retirement offer something that the years after do not: time to adjust. Decisions that seem minor now can have significant effects over a twenty or thirty year retirement. A structured review of these areas — before you retire, not after — is one of the most valuable things you can do.
Approaching Retirement?
A Financial Blind Spot Review is a good place to start. It is a structured conversation about the areas that deserve attention in your specific situation.
No obligation. No sales pitch. Just a conversation.