Many people approaching retirement have done the right things. Saved consistently, contributed to their 401(k), and made reasonable decisions along the way. And yet the closer retirement gets, the less certain they feel.
Saving is one thing but knowing how to turn those savings into an adaptable plan that suits your lifestyle and needs in the future, is another.
At Intelliplan Financial, we work with pre-retirees throughout the Columbus, OH area to answer that question, building personalized, comprehensive retirement plans that integrate your financial life into one clear, coordinated picture.
What is Holistic Financial Planning?
During your accumulation years, investment management is largely about growth. You contribute, you invest, and you let time do the work. Retirement changes that equation entirely.
When you begin drawing from your portfolio, the risks are different. A significant market downturn early in retirement can have a lasting impact on how long your money lasts — an effect known as sequence of returns risk. The accounts you draw from, the order you draw from them, and the way your portfolio is structured all carry consequences that did not exist when you were still adding to it.
Investment management for retirees is less about chasing returns and more about building a portfolio that generates reliable income, limits unnecessary risk, and supports the life you have planned. Without an approach built specifically for this phase, a portfolio designed for accumulation can work against you in distribution.
How Intelliplan Financial Approaches Investment Management in Retirement
For many investment firms, portfolio management is the entire relationship. At Intelliplan Financial, Investment or asset management is one of five pillars we coordinate into every client plan alongside financial planning, tax management, protection planning, and legacy planning.
That integration matters. A portfolio managed without awareness of your tax situation may generate unnecessary taxable events. Investments that are not coordinated with your income plan may create gaps, inefficiencies, or missed opportunities when it comes time to draw from them. When asset management is connected to the rest of your financial picture, every decision can be made with the full context in mind.
Our Investment Framework: The Bucket Plan®
We use The Bucket Plan® philosophy to structure how your investments are positioned across different time horizons:
- Your Now bucket holds assets for immediate income needs
- Your Soon bucket is invested conservatively for the years ahead
- Your Later bucket is positioned for longer-term growth, replenishing the others over time
This framework gives your portfolio a clear purpose at every stage of retirement, reducing the temptation to make reactive decisions during market volatility and helping ensure your near-term income is never dependent on short-term market performance.
Free Download: The Retirement Income Framework We Use with Every Client
The Bucket Plan® Philosophy Guide introduces how we structure retirement assets across three time horizons and why that approach may provide more stability and clarity than traditional portfolio management.
Asset Management Approaches We Use
Every client situation is different. Depending on your timeline, income needs, and risk tolerance, we may draw from approaches including:
- Sequence of returns risk management to help protect your portfolio from the outsized impact a market downturn can have in the early years of retirement
- Tax-efficient portfolio structure designed to help reduce unnecessary taxable events and coordinate with your broader withdrawal strategy
- Income-focused allocation that balances growth potential with the stability needed to support reliable retirement income
- Regular rebalancing and ongoing monitoring as your goals, timeline, and market conditions evolve
- Coordination across all account types to help ensure your investment decisions support your tax management and income planning simultaneously
Frequently Asked Questions about Investment Management
Work with a Team That Looks at the Whole Picture
Many of our clients tell us that working with a fiduciary advisor in Columbus who coordinates their investments alongside their tax strategy and income plan felt like the missing piece they had been looking for.
With nearly two decades of experience in retirement portfolio management serving Columbus and the surrounding Ohio communities, we have found that investment management is most effective when it does not operate in isolation. A portfolio built without awareness of your tax situation, your income needs, or your legacy goals is only doing part of the job.
Schedule a complimentary consultation to start building a retirement investment management approach around what you have.
Serving individuals and families throughout the greater Columbus, Ohio area including Gahanna, Dublin, Powell, Westerville, New Albany, Worthington, and surrounding communities, in person and virtually.
Take a closer look at your retirement investment management strategy and whether it’s truly aligned with your overall retirement plan.
Schedule a 20-minute complimentary consultation to review your portfolio, income needs, and identify any potential gaps in how your plan is structured for retirement.
