New Client Case Study:Planning Strategies in Action
- May 28
- 2 min read
By Davik Koehler, CFP®
Wealth Advisor
A new client came to us after hearing about some of the exciting new and expanded services we’re offering at EWS from a relative. He was within five years of his target retirement date with a well-funded portfolio and a straightforward goal: he and his spouse wanted to know if their plan was realistic. Not in theory — specifically. Here were a few of their questions our team helped navigate:
Could he actually retire within 5 years?
How much income could their portfolio replace, and could it sustain that over a 25- to 30-year+ time horizon?
When should they start collecting Social Security?
How will their taxes change once retired?
Answering these questions well requires understanding how investment decisions, income timing, withdrawal sequencing, and tax exposure interact. We used our planning software to create an analysis that could be stress-tested across multiple scenarios: different retirement dates, Social Security claiming ages, a range of market return assumptions, income needs, etc. Their timeline was achievable — but the sequencing mattered.
Delaying Social Security and bridging the gap with modest portfolio withdrawals produced meaningfully stronger projections. We outlined an approach for portfolio withdrawals based on account types (i.e. tax deferred vs. taxable) to manage income, capital gains, and taxes.
We also discussed a Roth conversion strategy during the early years of retirement — shifting assets from pre-tax accounts into Roth accounts while income and tax rates were lower. Done thoughtfully (while coordinating with a CPA), Roth conversions can reduce the size of accounts subject to Required Minimum Distributions, which would otherwise push taxable income higher in retirement.
This strategy may significantly reduce overall taxes long-term and help avoid/limit Medicare IRMAA surcharges (penalties that can add thousands of dollars annually when retirement income crosses certain thresholds).
We share this example to highlight how wealth management can go well beyond investments and why we strive to take a holistic approach to planning. The real impact comes from how individual pieces of a financial plan – such as investments, income, taxes, insurance—work together.
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