Frequently Asked Questions

It's a conversation about what's on your mind, whether that's income, taxes, Social Security or a feeling that something in your plan is missing. There's no agenda and no checkbook required. The point is to figure out together whether there's a real problem worth solving.

Everything that affects your retirement: your income sources, investment and retirement accounts, taxes, insurance and long‑term care coverage, and your estate documents. Kerry and Tim want the full picture first, because a gap in one area can undo good work in another.

The work continues. Kerry and Tim stay with you through implementation, meet with you for annual reviews and are available when something changes or a question comes up. When you call, you hear back.

It's how Assurance Financial Partners reviews a retirement plan, looking at four areas together: income, taxes, growth and protection, and estate planning. A decision in one area usually affects the others. Social Security decisions affect income, and IRA withdrawals affect taxes, so each piece is reviewed with the rest in view.

It's the difference between the income you need in retirement and the reliable income you already have from sources like Social Security, pensions, annuities, cash reserves and planned withdrawals. Your bills keep coming after the paychecks stop, so knowing the size of that gap is where income planning starts.

No. The right time to claim depends on your income needs, taxes, health and what your spouse would receive as a survivor. Your claiming age is one decision inside a larger plan, so it's best reviewed alongside everything else before you file.

Income often drops, because the household goes from two Social Security checks to one while many expenses stay the same. The survivor may also move to a single tax filing status, which can mean higher taxes on similar income. Kerry calls this the widow's penalty, and it's why survivor income belongs in the plan from the start.

Selling growth assets after they've fallen locks in the loss and leaves less invested to recover. Losses early in retirement, right as withdrawals begin, can do the most damage. A plan with other sources set aside for income aims to keep you from selling the wrong assets at the wrong time.

Regular health coverage in retirement generally doesn't pay for ongoing custodial care, such as help at home, assisted living or an extended nursing home stay. When a care need arises, it can force larger withdrawals, raise taxes and use up assets meant for a surviving spouse or your heirs. That makes it an income, tax and estate planning question as much as a health one.

It depends on your situation. Converting moves money from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, and the amount you convert is taxed as income in the year you do it. That can make sense when your tax rate today is lower than you expect it to be later, and it can work against you if a large conversion pushes you into a higher bracket or raises other costs tied to your income. Kerry and Tim look at how much to convert, when, and over how many years before recommending one.