Retirement Planning

Retirement planning is not just about reaching a savings number. It is about understanding how your income, investments, taxes, healthcare, family priorities, and long-term goals fit together. At Carnegie Private Wealth, based in Charlotte’s SouthPark area, we help individuals, families, executives, professionals, and business owners prepare for retirement with thoughtful planning designed to create more clarity, less stress, and greater confidence.

How long your retirement savings will last depends on several factors, including your spending needs, investment strategy, retirement age, life expectancy, inflation, taxes, healthcare costs, and income sources like Social Security or pensions. At Carnegie Private Wealth, we help clients in Charlotte and beyond model different retirement scenarios so they can see how their plan may hold up over time and make decisions with more clarity and confidence.

The amount you need to retire depends on the lifestyle you want, your expected expenses, healthcare needs, taxes, debt, and reliable income sources. A common starting point is estimating annual retirement spending, subtracting predictable income like Social Security or pensions, and determining how much your portfolio may need to provide. Rules of thumb can help, but a personalized retirement plan is more useful than a generic number.

Start by estimating your expected annual expenses in retirement, including housing, healthcare, taxes, travel, insurance, giving, and family support. Then subtract expected income from Social Security, pensions, rental income, or business income. The remaining gap is what your savings and investment portfolio may need to support. A thoughtful retirement income plan should also account for inflation, market volatility, taxes, and longevity.

The right retirement accounts depend on your employment situation, income, tax picture, and long-term goals. Common options include traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k) plans, SIMPLE IRAs, SEP IRAs, and taxable investment accounts. Business owners and executives may need additional planning around employer plans, deferred compensation, stock awards, or self-employed retirement plans. The IRS recognizes several retirement plan types, including 401(k), SIMPLE IRA, and SEP plans.

Avoiding the risk of outliving your money starts with a retirement plan that accounts for spending, investment risk, inflation, taxes, healthcare, and longevity. It may also involve flexible withdrawal strategies, maintaining an appropriate investment mix, reviewing expenses regularly, and coordinating Social Security, pension, and portfolio income. Carnegie Private Wealth helps clients think beyond one retirement number and build a plan designed to adapt as life changes.

A 401(k) is an employer-sponsored retirement plan that often allows employee contributions, employer contributions, and Roth or pre-tax options. A SIMPLE IRA is generally used by smaller businesses and allows employee salary deferrals with required employer contributions. A SEP IRA is often used by self-employed individuals or business owners and is typically funded by employer contributions. The IRS lists 401(k), SIMPLE IRA, and SEP plans among common retirement plan types. SIMPLE IRAs generally include required employer contributions, while SEP IRAs are often employer-funded plans used by small businesses and self-employed professionals.

The 4% rule can be a helpful starting point, but it should not be treated as a guarantee. It was originally based on historical research around withdrawing 4% of a portfolio in the first year of retirement and adjusting that amount for inflation over a 30-year retirement period. More recent commentary suggests withdrawal strategies should be flexible and personalized based on market conditions, inflation, retirement length, taxes, spending needs, and risk tolerance.

Required minimum distributions, or RMDs, are the minimum amounts you generally must withdraw each year from certain retirement accounts once you reach the required age. The IRS states that RMDs generally begin at age 73 for traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and many employer retirement plans. Roth IRAs and designated Roth accounts generally do not require lifetime RMDs for the original account owner, although beneficiaries may be subject to distribution rules.

Inflation can reduce your purchasing power over time, which means retirement income planning should account for rising costs in areas like healthcare, housing, food, insurance, and travel. Planning for inflation may include maintaining growth-oriented investments, revisiting spending assumptions, coordinating guaranteed income sources, and stress-testing your retirement plan. Carnegie Private Wealth helps clients evaluate how inflation may affect retirement income needs over a long retirement.

Common retirement planning mistakes include underestimating healthcare costs, retiring without a clear income strategy, claiming Social Security without reviewing the long-term impact, ignoring taxes, taking too much portfolio risk or too little, failing to plan for inflation, and not updating estate documents or beneficiaries. Another common mistake is viewing retirement planning only as an investment question instead of a full-life planning conversation.

There is no single amount everyone should have saved by age 60. The right number depends on your desired retirement age, lifestyle, expected income sources, health, family obligations, debt, tax situation, and how long your retirement may last. For many people, age 60 is an important time to stress-test the plan, review income needs, evaluate healthcare and Medicare timing, and make sure retirement goals are realistic.

You may want to consider supplemental Medicare insurance if you expect to rely on Original Medicare and want help covering some out-of-pocket costs. Medigap, also called Medicare Supplement Insurance, is sold by private insurance companies to help fill certain “gaps” in Original Medicare coverage. Medicare notes that the best time to buy a Medigap policy is usually during your Medigap Open Enrollment Period, and CMS states that Medigap policies generally require enrollment in Medicare Part A and Part B.

You may want to consider supplemental Medicare insurance if you expect to rely on Original Medicare and want help covering some out-of-pocket costs. Medigap, also called Medicare Supplement Insurance, is sold by private insurance companies to help fill certain “gaps” in Original Medicare coverage. Medicare notes that the best time to buy a Medigap policy is usually during your Medigap Open Enrollment Period, and CMS states that Medigap policies generally require enrollment in Medicare Part A and Part B.