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Lifelong Retirement Planning & Investment Management

Guided by Your Authentic Goals

Thrive Retire™ Planning

Our 8-Step Process

Together, we’ll move through a clarifying planning process much more in-depth than the industry standard. Thrive Retirement Specialists strives to create a seamless, enjoyable experience that meets your needs and helps you define more of what you’re looking for throughout your retirement.

You will be prepared with a comprehensive financial strategy that incorporates your values, and all of the aspirations you have for your retirement and that optimizes the use of all your retirement assets and eligible tools and tactics.


How It Works

1. Assessment of Authentic Goals

Your authentic goals are your real motivating goals based on your personal values and ideal vision of retirement.

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2. Assessment of Willingness and Ability to Accept the Big Five Retirement Risks™

The act of retiring subjects a retiree to several unique risks.

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3. Evaluation of ALL Retirement Assets

A retiree often has far more assets available to them than simply their investment portfolio when it comes to being able to meet retirement goals.

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4. Development of Retirement Spending Plan

Your retirement spending plan is a detailed estimate of how you will spend money in retirement to support your goals and ideal retirement vision.

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5. Connection of Retirement Assets to the Retirement Spending Plan

We must consider how each retirement asset could become income and then categorize the asset under one of three category types.

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6. Development of a Sustainable Spending Strategy

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7. Development of an Investment Portfolio for Investment-Based Assets

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8. Execution and Establishment of Intervals for Formal Plan Update and Review

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1. Assessment of Authentic Goals

Here, we go beyond the simple stated goal of “I want/need x% from my portfolio” and take the time to uncover your authentic goals. Your authentic goals are your real motivating goals based on your personal values and ideal vision of retirement. Your personal values and ideal vision of retirement will drive your actions in retirement anyway, not some arbitrary stated % withdrawal goal. Retirement planning done well allows you to transform your values and ideal retirement vision into financial goals so a retirement plan can be built that is congruent with and supportive of these values and your vision for retirement. The key is to reflect and really take the time to think about what is most important to you. Once you do, there is a clarity that makes it easier to decide what to do in your financial life and weigh your decisions. Once your values and ideal retirement vision are understood, we work together to translate them into financial goals that can all broadly be classified under one of four goal type categories: 1). Longevity, 2). Lifestyle, 3). Legacy, and 4). Liquidity.

2. Assessment of Willingness and Ability to Accept the Big Five Retirement Risks™

The act of retiring subjects a retiree to several unique risks. You must take the time to understand your feelings toward the various risks to which you will be subjected. A proper retirement plan will seek to manage the risks to which you feel averse to a level you find palatable so that you can feel at ease, thereby increasing the probability of staying on course with the plan. Two dimensions of risk evaluation must be measured: risk tolerance and risk capacity. A retiree’s risk tolerance is their willingness to accept risk, whereas a retiree’s risk capacity is their ability to take risk. Both dimensions must be evaluated across the following Big Five Retirement RisksTM: 1). Spending Risk, 2). Sequence-of-Returns Risk, 3). Investment Risk, 4). Purchase Power Risk, and 5). Longevity Risk. Additionally, any emotional constraints should be explored and evaluated here as well.

3. Evaluation of ALL Retirement Assets

A retiree often has far more assets available to them than simply their investment portfolio when it comes to meeting retirement goals. Taking full stock of all a retiree’s income sources and assets can allow for a better-constructed retirement plan as certain assets and income tools are better suited for different goals. We will look beyond just the traditional financial assets to take stock of all available assets that could be considered and utilized, including 1). Human Capital, 2). Real Estate & Home Equity, 3). Financial Assets, 4). Insurance and 5). Social Capital (includes Social Security).

4. Development of Retirement Spending Plan

Your retirement spending plan is a detailed estimate of how you will spend money in retirement to support your goals and ideal retirement vision. It is this plan that will allow you to evaluate tradeoffs now and as you progress through retirement. The intent is not to hold you accountable for spending exactly as your plan dictates at a detailed level; rather, it is to make sure we are considering everything to make sure you have enough retirement assets and a strategy to meet bottom line spending needs. All expenses should be calculated monthly and annually, labeled as fixed or variable, and placed under one of four categories: 1). Essential, 2). Discretionary, 3). Contingent and 4). Legacy.

5. Connection of Retirement Assets to the Retirement Spending Plan

We must consider how each retirement asset could become income and then categorize the asset under one of three category types of income: 1). Reliable Income, 2). Investment-Based Income, or 3). Reserve Income. The objective then becomes fleshing out the details for how each retirement asset income type can combine with available tools and tactics in a way that most effectively funds your retirement spending plan goals while not exceeding your willingness and ability to accept risk.

6. Development of a Sustainable Spending Strategy

The development of a sustainable spending plan is achieved when the tradeoffs and determinations made in step 5 have been tested to show that all spending can be funded by plan assets within a “suitable” probability of success over your chosen planning horizon. The probability of success is measured using Monte Carlo simulation analysis, and what is deemed “suitable” is based on unique personal circumstances. In order to test, a sustainable initial withdrawal rate must be determined, and a stock-bond asset allocation mix must be selected for the investment-based assets portfolio.

7. Development of an Investment Portfolio for Investment-Based Assets

For Investment-based assets to be an effective source of retirement income, the investments must be structured and managed properly. Much value can be gained or lost at this step. Thrive Retirement Specialists follows a passive investment philosophy that believes in investing based on probability over possibility and in building maximally diversified portfolios using low-cost index funds. Using only nine index funds, each representing one of the nine asset classes we believe a retiree should hold, we build portfolios for clients giving them exposure to over 36,000 individual securities across all investable 44 countries, and the portfolio’s weighted average expense ratio is only 0.10% or less. We then monitor each portfolio daily for opportunities to rebalance based on need rather than some calendar-based timetable to ensure the integrity of the chosen portfolio’s characteristics at all times.

8. Execution and Establishment of Intervals for Formal Plan Update and Review

It was a lot of work to get to this step, but this is just the start of your journey. Life will begin to happen, and variables will change. Some we control, such as our lifestyle goals, and some we don't, such as health changes, actual market returns, the realization of unplanned contingencies. It is important to meet formally on a semi-annual basis to update these variables that feed into your plan so we can make small corrective steps in real-time. Sometimes that means you can work with more, and sometimes that may mean having to make further trade-off decisions.  Still, at least problems will not be allowed to compound and lead to the need to make potentially disruptive lifestyle changes later in retirement. You will always maintain your level of confidence in your plan and have peace of mind while you're off enjoying your best life!


ThriveRetire™ Planning

One Flat Fee | $2,250 per Quarter

Fee includes ongoing retirement planning and investment management
Fee debited directly from SPECIFIED investment account each quarter

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