Your retirement date is approaching, the 401(k) statement looks substantial, and the retirement calculator says you may be on track. That still does not explain how your accounts will produce income, what happens after a market decline, how withdrawals will be taxed, or whether the plan will continue working for a surviving spouse.
Ask a financial advisor how retirement income will be created, tested, taxed, invested, and adjusted. Good answers should include specific assumptions, written analysis, clear trade-offs, and a process for revisiting the plan. Vague reassurance is not a retirement strategy.
For broader questions about fees, credentials, conflicts, custody, and service, review the complete guide to questions to ask a financial advisor before hiring.
A target retirement age is not enough. Ask the advisor to show what must be true for that date to work.
The analysis should account for:
Ask to see more than one scenario. What happens if you retire two years earlier? What if you work two years longer? What if spending is higher than expected?
A useful plan shows the trade-offs. It should not simply produce a green checkmark next to the age you already chose.
Before the meeting, Kingsview’s retirement readiness calculator can help identify which parts of your plan deserve closer attention.
The number that matters is not just your account balance. It is how much that balance may reasonably support after taxes, inflation, market changes, and unexpected expenses.
Ask the advisor:
Be cautious when the answer relies on a single withdrawal percentage without examining your circumstances. Rules of thumb can provide a starting point, but retirement spending should be connected to your income sources, portfolio, taxes, time horizon, and ability to adjust.
A collection of investment accounts is not an income plan.
Ask the advisor to explain where your monthly spending money will come from. The answer may involve Social Security, pensions, cash reserves, taxable investments, traditional retirement accounts, Roth accounts, annuities, rental income, or other sources.
Then ask how those sources will work together:
The process should be clear enough that you understand how money will move from the portfolio to your bank account.
Market losses can be especially damaging when they occur early in retirement because withdrawals may force assets to be sold before they recover.
Ask the advisor to show how the plan responds to an early decline. Possible responses could include using cash reserves, reducing flexible spending, rebalancing, delaying a purchase, changing withdrawal sources, or adjusting the portfolio.
The advisor should be able to stress-test the plan rather than assume average returns arrive in an orderly sequence.
Ask to see at least three versions:
The purpose is not to predict which path will occur. It is to determine whether the plan can adapt when reality differs from the original projection.
Social Security should be evaluated as part of the retirement-income plan, not as an isolated break-even calculation.
Ask how the recommended claiming age affects:
The correct answer may depend on health, employment, other income, family longevity, marital history, and available assets. An advisor should explain why a claiming strategy fits the full plan instead of treating age 62, full retirement age, or age 70 as an automatic choice.
A withdrawal creates cash, but it may also create taxable income.
Ask the advisor to estimate the tax consequences of drawing from taxable accounts, traditional retirement accounts, and Roth accounts. The plan should also consider capital gains, required minimum distributions, charitable gifts, Medicare income thresholds, and possible Roth conversions.
Tax planning does not mean predicting future tax laws. It means evaluating how different decisions may affect the amount you keep.
Clarify what the advisor will actually do. Will the firm provide tax projections? Coordinate with your CPA? Recommend estimated payments? Review your tax return for planning opportunities?
Tax-aware financial planning is not automatically tax preparation. The responsibilities should be defined in writing.
Medicare does not eliminate healthcare costs in retirement, and ordinary medical spending is different from a prolonged need for long-term care.
Ask which assumptions the advisor uses for:
The advisor does not need to predict your health. The plan should show whether rising medical costs or a significant care event would force changes elsewhere.
Ask what resources would be used if a long-term care analysis, insurance review, or elder-law consultation becomes necessary.
Retirement does not automatically mean moving everything into cash or bonds. A portfolio may still need growth to support a retirement lasting several decades.
Ask how the proposed allocation reflects:
The advisor should explain what each portion of the portfolio is expected to do. Ask how investments are selected, how often the portfolio is rebalanced, how much cash will be held, and what would cause the strategy to change.
Do not judge the answer by the advisor’s latest market forecast. Look for a repeatable process that can operate without requiring every prediction to be correct.
A retirement plan built around two Social Security benefits, two pensions, or shared financial responsibilities may change sharply after the first spouse dies.
Ask the advisor to show the surviving-spouse version of the plan.
That review should consider:
The plan should not depend on one spouse being alive to explain every account, password, insurance policy, or investment decision.
A retirement projection is based on assumptions. Markets change. Spending changes. Tax rules change. Health changes. Family responsibilities change.
Ask what will be reviewed each year and what would trigger an earlier meeting.
A strong process may include:
The advisor should also explain how action items are tracked. Advice has limited value when nobody is responsible for implementation.
Retirement expertise does not replace basic due diligence.
Ask whether the advisor regularly works with retirees, how the advisor is compensated, which services are included, and whether the advisor will act as a fiduciary. Investor.gov also recommends asking about experience, fees, products, monitoring, conflicts, and disciplinary history before hiring an investment professional.
Review the firm’s Form CRS, which is designed to summarize services, fees, conflicts, legal obligations, and disciplinary information. You can also use FINRA BrokerCheck to review the professional background and disclosures of brokerage firms and registered professionals.
Kingsview’s guides to CFP®, CFA®, and ChFC® credentials and fiduciary advisors versus brokers provide additional context for evaluating the person and firm behind the retirement plan.
The right advisor should not merely tell you that retirement will work. The advisor should be able to show what supports the conclusion, what could disrupt it, and what will be done if the original assumptions change.