Your second opinion from a financial advisor at Ritholtz Wealth Management

When the spreadsheet balances but the paycheck plan does not

A large, well-tracked balance can make the income question look solved. It is not. A hypothetical engineer like Nils, age 57, updates his net worth every Sunday but has not written down which account pays his $80K a year after the last paycheck. That is about $6,700 a month ($80K ÷ 12). A review starts with that monthly number, then tests whether the accounts can support it.

This work tends to fit an engineer or analyst who is three to five years from retiring, has $500K or more saved, holds a large employer-stock position and has built a capable spreadsheet. When wages stop, withholding, RSU vesting and 401(k) deferrals stop too. Every spending dollar then comes from a sale or withdrawal, and each account can have a different tax result.

Ritholtz Wealth Management begins with diversification and long-run research, not a guess about next quarter's stock price. Before recommending a share sale, we map the cost basis for each lot and calculate the likely tax effect, so a move that improves concentration does not create a surprise bill.

What age switches each withdrawal rule on at Ritholtz Wealth Management?

Withdrawal rules do not begin at age 65. For a person born in 1960 or later, the useful checkpoints are age 55 for some 401(k) withdrawals, 59½ for IRA penalty relief, 62 for Social Security, 65 for Medicare and 75 for required minimum distributions. The gap between a planned last day at 60 and those dates sets the first spending plan.

Under the IRS Rule of 55, you can take money from your current employer's 401(k) without the 10% penalty after you separate, provided you leave during or after the calendar year you turn 55. IRAs get no such exception and generally wait until age 59½. The SSA lets Social Security start at 62, but someone whose full retirement age is 67 accepts a 30% reduction by claiming that early. Medicare generally begins at 65.

How much employer stock is too much three years before the last paycheck?

Once employer stock and unvested grants exceed one-fifth of total savings, that position belongs first in the review. Nils has $420K tied to his semiconductor employer out of $1.4M, or 30% ($420K ÷ $1.4M). With retirement three years away, the vesting schedule can matter as much as the portfolio allocation because a planned exit date can erase shares before he gets to sell them.

A portfolio tracker also overstates what Nils owns if it counts unvested RSUs as cash in hand. Unvested restricted stock units are usually forfeited when an employee leaves before the vest date, unless the grant agreement includes a retirement clause. An HR exit checklist may confirm a January last day without mentioning the March vest. Payroll built that form; it was not built to protect your grants.

For illustration: Nils, age 57, counts all $420K of employer stock and RSUs in his $1.4M total. He plans a January last day in the year he turns 60, just after the annual bonus. It looks tidy. But $80K of the $420K is unvested: $40K vests that March and $40K vests the March after that. Leaving in January forfeits both grants, leaving a real total of $1.32M ($1.4M − $80K). That is about one year of his $80K spending gone before tax.

The repair is unglamorous and valuable. Nils moves his last day past the first March vest, which keeps $40K. He then asks HR in writing whether the grant agreement gives retirement treatment to the second $40K. In the worst case, the forfeiture falls from $80K to $40K. If he waits for full retirement age to claim Social Security, he needs about $560K for spending from age 60 to 67 ($80K × seven years). An $80K loss removes roughly one-seventh of that bridge in pre-tax terms. The after-tax hit is smaller, since vested RSU shares count as ordinary income in the year they vest.

One stock can fall much further than a diversified fund. No investment is safe from loss, and that includes the original dollars you put in. A separate review of selling RSUs before retirement can set a sale schedule; this service finds the decision points that have to be settled first.

The number that deserves attention first

A January departure that costs $80K

What does a useful second opinion sound like at Ritholtz Wealth Management?

A useful review names your actual accounts, shows a draw order for the first 12 months after work ends, puts a dollar tax estimate beside a suggested change and admits what nobody knows, including future returns and tax-law changes. A product pitch before anyone has read your paperwork is a warning sign.

So is a return forecast. The fee is discussed openly in the first conversation and confirmed in writing before work begins; ask every firm for that same plain answer.

If retirement is still more than ten years away

You likely do not need this service yet if your last paycheck is more than ten years away, your savings are mostly broad index or target-date funds, and no single position exceeds one-fifth of the total. Keep saving. The IRS employee deferral limit for 2026 is $24,500 a year for a 401(k), with an $8,000 catch-up at age 50 or older. Check your earnings record in your online Social Security account, then revisit the plan three to five years before retirement. A review cannot repair a savings shortfall or make a plan work in every market.

Paperwork that makes a second-opinion review useful

Bring the documents that show what could disappear, what can be withdrawn and what could trigger tax. That means your RSU grant agreements and vesting schedules, recent 401(k) and IRA statements, a brokerage cost-basis report by lot and last year's federal return. A balance statement alone rarely answers those questions. The return and the cost-basis report let us separate a large balance from dollars you can actually spend after taxes. Ritholtz Wealth Management has a $500K investable-assets minimum. The firm does not publish a phone number, so the online request form is the way to reach it.

• RSU grant agreements and vesting schedule: These show what is forfeited on your planned last day and whether a retirement clause applies.
• 401(k) statement and summary plan description: These show whether partial withdrawals after separation are allowed and whether the Rule of 55 is usable.
• Latest federal tax return and brokerage cost-basis report: These show your current tax position and the embedded gain in each company-share lot. Form 8949 may be relevant when shares are sold.
• Social Security earnings record and spending spreadsheet: The SSA record supports benefit estimates at 62 and 67; the spreadsheet supplies the monthly amount the review tests.