Retirement Income Planning
Turn your retirement savings into a retirement paycheck.
For most of your life, the goal was growth. In retirement, the goal shifts to creating dependable income that can last for decades.
From accumulation to distribution.
During your working years, you contribute to your accounts and let compounding and markets do their work. The measure of success is growth.
In retirement, the measure of success changes. Now your portfolio may need to replace a paycheck, withstand downturns, keep pace with inflation, and last for 20 to 40 years. The strategies that helped you accumulate aren't always the ones that help you distribute.
- Maximize contributions
- Pursue growth
- Time horizon is long
- Volatility can be an opportunity
- Create reliable income
- Manage withdrawal order
- Protect against sequence risk
- Plan for longevity and a spouse
Where retirement income comes from.
Most retirees draw from several sources. The question isn't just what those sources are, but how they're coordinated and in what order they're used.
Social Security
Coordinating claiming strategies — including spousal and survivor benefits — to help maximize lifetime income.
Pensions
Evaluating pension options, including lump-sum versus lifetime payout decisions and survivor considerations.
Systematic Withdrawals
Structuring withdrawals from investment accounts in a way designed to balance income needs with portfolio longevity.
Guaranteed Income
Insurance-based income strategies that can help cover essential expenses for life, regardless of market performance.
Liquidity & Legacy
Keeping appropriate assets available for near-term needs, emergencies, and the legacy you want to leave.
Spousal Planning
Planning income that continues for a surviving spouse, accounting for benefit changes and longevity differences.
The risks retirement income must withstand.
The possibility of living longer than your income can support — a retirement that lasts 30 or 40 years is increasingly common.
Withdrawals taken during an early market decline can disproportionately reduce how long a portfolio lasts, even if average returns are healthy.
Over decades, even modest inflation can meaningfully erode purchasing power and the real value of fixed income.
The difference between essential expenses and guaranteed income — a gap that may need to be filled by withdrawals or other strategies.
Empirical Wealth Group is an independent financial services firm. Insurance and annuity products are offered through appropriately licensed insurance professionals. Guarantees associated with insurance products are backed by the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.
Let's map your retirement income.
A retirement income analysis can show how your savings, Social Security, pensions, and insurance could work together to create dependable income.