"Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."
– Warren Buffett

 

The Buckets Approach (For Retirement Spending)

Retirement is a shift from building savings to living on them. Our approach is designed to help turn what you've saved into a dependable income plan, with careful attention to taxes, timing, and market risk.

 

BUCKET 1 Safety Net Years 1–7 High-grade corporate Bonds Certificates of Deposit (CD's) Treasury & Municipal Bonds Cash equivalents Covers near-term income needs.

BUCKET 2 Balanced Growth Years 8–15 Dividend and Value Stocks Short & Intermediate Bonds More conservative than an All-Stock portfolio Has time to grow while Bucket 1 is used, then supports income in years 8-15

BUCKET 3 Wealth Builder Years 15+ All Stock Emphasis on Growth Stock Diversified across markets and sectors Long-term growth focus Designed to help refill Buckets 1 and 2 over time.

 

 

Because near-term spending is set aside, you're less likely to need to sell long-term investments during a market downturn. We review and rebalance the buckets strategically as markets and your needs change.

 

For Clients not yet Retired

Our goal is to help get you where you need to be to retire comfortably.

Retirement may be years away, but the decisions you make today can have a big impact on when, and how comfortably, you're able to stop working. For clients still in their working years, our focus is on helping you manage your assets over time and stay on track toward the retirement you have in mind.

Building Wealth Over Time

We start by understanding your goals: when you'd like to retire, the lifestyle you want, and what matters most to you along the way. From there, we build an investment strategy designed to invest your savings over the long term, based on your timeline and comfort with risk. Investing consistently, such as setting aside a set amount each month, can help you build wealth steadily and take some of the guesswork out of market timing.

Reviewing Your Workplace Retirement Plans

For many people, their largest retirement savings sit in an employer plan such as a 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), or the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). These accounts are often set up once and rarely revisited. As part of our planning process, we review your workplace accounts alongside your other savings to help make sure:

• Your contributions are on pace to support your retirement goals
• You're taking full advantage of any employer match
• Your investment choices fit your timeline and risk tolerance
• Your overall mix of investments works together, not against itself

Checking In Along the Way

Life changes, and so do markets. We meet with you regularly to measure your progress, adjust your plan as your career, income, and family evolve, and help you make informed decisions about things like contribution levels, rollovers when changing jobs, and Roth vs. traditional savings.

Preparing for the Transition

As retirement gets closer, we help you shift from managing your savings to planning how you'll draw income from them, which is where our Buckets Approach comes in.

Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Periodic investment plans such as dollar cost averaging do not assure a profit or protect against loss in declining markets.