Retirement income planning, Michigan
The advisor who got you to retirement is rarely the one who gets you safely through it.
During your working years, you worked for your money. In retirement, your money has to work for you. That is a different job, with different risks. We build simple, predictable retirement income plans that protect what you spent a lifetime building.
A conversation, not a pitch. No obligation. We listen first, always.
Krisstin and Edward Petersmarck
Specialists in
- • Retirement income planning
- • Tax-efficient distribution
- • Social Security optimization
- •Medicare & IRMAA Planning
- • Structured Roth conversions
Fiduciary Investment Advisors
National Social Security Advisors
IRMAA Certified Planners
Retirement Income Certified Professional
The pitfalls of retirement
Most people merge into Retirement Road at 80mph without a seatbelt.
Entering retirement without a decumulation plan is like cruising down Retirement Road at 80mph. No seatbelt, no airbags, the top down, and no roadmap. It is not a safe way to travel.
The risks change the day your paycheck stops. Market performance, inflation, interest rates, taxation, longevity, and health all start to compound against you. The accumulation strategies that built your wealth were never designed to protect it.
Over 90% of the people who walk into our office are exposed to avoidable and/or controllable risk. Their portfolios often carry a risk score of 50% to 600% higher than the risk they are actually comfortable with.
Three ways retirement plans fail
The risks that threaten most retirees are avoidable.
Accumulation and decumulation are not the same sport
The advisor who got you here was trained to grow money. Retirement requires a completely different set of skills: tax-efficient distributions, sequence of returns monitoring, sustainable income, and collaboration with both your Social Security and Medicare plans.
The Five-Year Blind Spot
The decisions you make in the first five years of retirement shape every year that follows. It is the best tax-planning window of your life. Most people treat it like a continuation of the last five years, and make those decisions without a plan.
The Haphazard Withdrawal
Taking income from whatever account is easiest costs you twice. Once in taxes, once in lost growth. Pulling from the wrong account at the wrong time can trigger the Social Security tax, raise your Medicare premiums, and compound losses in a downturn.
How we work
A clear, four-phase route down Retirement Road.
Retirement Road is full of hazards: market downturns, taxes, inflation, longevity. You do not need the fastest car. You need a guide who knows the safe route. Here is how we drive it with you.
Discovery Session
We listen. We learn your goals, your fears, what you want your assets to do for you, and your vision of the ideal retirement. No diagnosis, no prescription. Just understanding.
Gap Analysis
We measure your current plan against your goals and your real risk tolerance. We show you exactly where the gaps and unnecessary risks are.
Plan Build & Implementation
We build your comprehensive plan, refine it until you are completely confident, then put it in place and set clear expectations.
Ongoing Management & Review
We review your plan against changes in your life and the financial environment, making adjustments so it stays aligned with your goals.
What a plan includes
Strategies built around certainty, not hope.
Secure Income Planning
Build an income floor that covers your bills no matter what the market does, so you stop making emotional decisions with your money.
Structured Roth Conversions
A multi-year plan that moves money off Uncle Sam's radar and into your control, accounting for IRMAA, Social Security, and the 5-year rule.
Social Security Optimization
As Certified National Social Security Advisors, we find the claiming strategy that fits your household out of thousands of options.
Capital Gains Harvesting
For early retirees in low-income “gap years,” we reset your cost basis at little or no tax cost, lowering the tax on every future distribution.
Risk Profile Realignment
We measure your true risk tolerance, then realign a portfolio that is often carrying far more risk than you ever agreed to.
Medicare IRMAA Planning
We plan your income so a single decision does not quietly push your Medicare premiums into a higher bracket for the year.
Who you work with
Krisstin and Edward Petersmarck
Krisstin and Edward are Fiduciary Investment Advisor Representatives, IRMAA Certified Planners, and National Social Security Advisor certificate holders. Krisstin holds the Retirement Income Certified Professional designation. Edward holds the Wealth Management Specialist designation and brings two decades of economic study to the table.
They are the specialists who will get you through it safely.
Questions retirees ask us
Straight answers, in plain English.
Why can't I just keep the advisor who got me to retirement?
The skills that grow your money are not the skills that will protect it. Accumulation advisors focus on rate of return. Retirement requires tax-efficient distribution, sequence of returns risk management, Social Security timing, among other important factors. The advisor who got you to retirement is rarely equipped to get you safely through it. Your current advisor may be excellent. The question is whether or not they are excellent at what matters to you today.
What makes the first five years of retirement so important?
There is a window. It opens the day you retire and it closes faster than most people realise. The changes to your financial environment in the first five years after you retire have a far greater impact than at any other time in your life. Structured tax planning, Roth conversions, and income decisions made in this window shape every year that follows. Miss it and the damage is often permanent.
Does it really matter which account I take income from?
Yes. Where you take your income from is just as important as how much you take. Pulling from the wrong account at the wrong time can trigger the provisional tax on Social Security, push your Medicare premiums into higher IRMAA brackets, and compound losses during a down market. A withdrawal strategy is not the same as a retirement plan. Most people have one without the other.
Is my portfolio carrying more risk than I think?
Probably. Over 90% of the people who walk into our office are carrying more risk than they realise. We often measure investment allocations with a risk score 50% to 600% higher than the client's actual, measured risk tolerance. We measure your real comfort with risk, then show you what your portfolio is actually doing. The gap is almost always a surprise.
What happens in a Discovery Session?
It is a conversation, not a pitch. We ask questions and we listen. We learn your goals, your concerns, where your assets sit, and the retirement you want to live. We do not diagnose or prescribe in this first meeting. The goal is to understand your situation and gather what we need to measure your current exposure. There is no obligation and no pressure.
Find out what your retirement plan is missing.
Book a Discovery Session. We will listen to your situation and show you where the avoidable risks are. No pressure, no obligation, no jargon.