The short answer
The job changes when you stop adding money and start taking it out. Social Security timing, a pension choice, Medicare, and the tax on each withdrawal can land in the same year. A planner who will put the paycheck in writing is the fit. The fund choice is only one part of that year.
You do not have to hire an ongoing percent to get that plan. A project fee can cover the year you retire. An ongoing percent fits if you want someone on the account every year after, and you have seen the dollars. Is a financial advisor worth it? is the general test. This page is the retirement-year list.
| Decision in the retirement year | Why it is hard to undo | What to ask for |
|---|
| Social Security start date | The monthly amount changes with the date | The date, and the assumption behind it |
| Pension: annuity or lump sum | The election is often one-way | A side-by-side in dollars |
| Rollover of a workplace plan | Costs, creditor rules, and tax rules differ | The written comparison on the rollover page |
| Which account you withdraw from first | The tax bill depends on the account type | A withdrawal order for the first two years |
| Health coverage when the job ends | Medicare timing and premiums | The month coverage must start |
What to do
- List the decisions that are actually on your calendar in the next 18 months. Cross out the ones a fund already handles. What remains is the scope. If the list is only "which index fund," read the target-date page before you hire.
- Ask a planner to price that list as a project, and ask what an ongoing percent would cost on the balance. A 1% quote on $800,000 is $8,000 this year. That is arithmetic, not a typical retirement fee. The fee calculator and the fee and retirement income tool turn a rate into a share of the cash you planned to spend.
- Open any firm you are considering on Search. Item 5G(1) is financial planning. You want that service in the contract, not only portfolio management, if the paycheck is the point.
- If a rollover is part of the proposal, get a fiduciary sentence on that recommendation and the cost comparison before you move the plan. The email format is on how do I know if my advisor is a fiduciary?
- Ask who coordinates the tax preparer. A planner can point at the tax. The person who signs the return may be a CPA. Those are different hires. Do not assume one fee includes both.
- Bring the documents to the first meeting: the latest plan statement, Social Security estimates from your own account at the agency, any pension booklet, and last year's tax return.
What to look for on Best Investors
- Item 5G(1) and the brochure's description of planning. Look for retirement income, not only "we manage portfolios." The sentences should match the table above.
- Item 5E. A project for the retirement year is often a fixed fee or hourly. A percent is the ongoing product. Item 5E(4) is the fixed-fee box. Item 5E(3) is newsletters, not a retainer.
- Item 9A, if the assets move to an IRA. You want the custodian's name before the transfer. Does my advisor have my money?
- Item 11. Read it before you hand over the pension election. A disclosure is not a reason to skip the firm without reading it, and it is not something to skip because you are in a hurry. How to read Item 11.
Common mistakes
- Hiring a portfolio manager and calling it a retirement plan. If nobody will write the withdrawal order, you bought the other product.
- Claiming Social Security, or signing the pension, in the same week as the first meeting. Those forms can wait until the side-by-side exists.
- Rolling the whole plan because "retirees do that." Some plans are worth keeping for a while. The comparison is in dollars.
- Ignoring Medicare timing because the investment meeting ran long. The coverage month is part of the same year. Higher income can raise Medicare premiums through the income-related monthly adjustment amount. The Social Security Administration publishes the brackets. Do not let an adviser quote a bracket from memory without the current table.
- Paying the percent forever because the first year was useful. Re-read the scope after the elections are signed. You can keep them, or you can end the agreement. What happens if I fire my advisor is the sequence.
Related questions
Do I need this if I have a pension that covers my bills?
You may still have a survivor election, a tax question, and health coverage. If those are simple and the pension really covers the bills, a single meeting may be the whole hire. If the pension does not cover the bills, the withdrawal plan is the product.
Is this the year to hire, or the year before?
Hire in time to write the plan before the forms are due. A pension window and a Social Security start are dates. Work backward from the date. Do not wait for the retirement party.
What if I am not retiring, I am only thinking about it?
Buy the plan as a project while you are still working, if a date is inside a few years. What does a financial advisor do? describes the ongoing version if you want that later.
Can the adviser tell me the best Social Security date?
They can show the dollars under the dates you are choosing between, using the estimate from your Social Security account. They cannot know your health better than you do. Treat the date as your decision after you see the table, not as a product they sell.
Limits
This page is a list of decisions that cluster around retirement. It is not tax, Social Security, Medicare, or investment advice. Best Investors is not the SEC and not the Social Security Administration.
Brackets, premiums, and plan rules change. Use the current booklet and the current brochure. The $8,000 figure is 1% of $800,000. It is not a typical fee. The firm filled out Form ADV. If our copy and IAPD disagree, use IAPD.
Sources
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