Retirement planning is for people who want clarity, confidence, and direction as they approach or enter retirement. It is especially important for individuals who are within five to ten years of retiring or who are already retired and want to make sure their decisions support the lifestyle they worked so hard to achieve. At this stage, the focus shifts from simply growing assets to making sure those assets last, generate income, and align with real-world spending needs.

Retirement planning is also for those who feel unsure or overwhelmed by the many moving parts involved—investments, income, taxes, and timing decisions—and want a clear framework for how everything fits together. It is designed for people who value thoughtful guidance and want a plan that brings structure, reduces uncertainty, and helps them move forward into retirement with confidence and peace of mind.

The best time to start retirement planning is before retirement, ideally within five to ten years of when you expect to stop working. This is the stage when decisions begin to matter more, mistakes become harder to undo, and the focus starts shifting from growing assets to creating sustainable income. Planning early allows you to make thoughtful adjustments rather than rushed decisions once retirement begins.

That said, it is never too late to start. Many people begin retirement planning after they have already retired and still benefit greatly from gaining clarity, structure, and confidence around their income, investments, and long-term direction. The key is starting at a point where planning can replace uncertainty with a clear, coordinated strategy for the years ahead.

No, you do not have to wait until you retire to work with an advisor. In fact, many people who delay planning until the final stretch find themselves feeling rushed, uncertain, or forced into decisions that are difficult to reverse. Without guidance ahead of retirement, it's common to underestimate income needs, misunderstand tax implications, or enter retirement without a clear strategy for how everything will work together. Even more concerning, if you remain invested too aggressively and the market declines right before you retire, you may be forced to delay retirement because you don't have the time or ability to recover from those losses.

Working with an advisor before retirement can often change the outcome entirely. A well-designed retirement plan can help you retire on your schedule, rather than being dependent on market timing, and in many cases allows people to retire earlier or enjoy a better lifestyle than they originally thought possible.

The Retirement Readiness Assessment is a short, straightforward questionnaire designed to help you understand how prepared you may be for retirement. Once you complete the assessment, you'll receive immediate insights into your current level of retirement readiness and the areas that may deserve closer attention.

For many people, the results highlight important aspects of retirement planning they hadn't fully considered before. If you find that the assessment raises questions or uncovers potential gaps, you're welcome to schedule a complimentary 30-minute call with one of our advisors to review your results and discuss next steps. What you do with the information is entirely up to you.

The initial consultation is typically a 30-minute phone call with one of our licensed fiduciary advisors. During this conversation, we'll discuss your current situation, the questions or concerns you have about retirement, and what prompted you to reach out.

The goal of this call is simple: to determine whether you feel we can help you and whether we believe we're a good fit for your needs. There's no obligation and no pressure—just a straightforward conversation to see if working together makes sense.

Absolutely. You will work directly with a licensed fiduciary financial advisor throughout the entire process. When you meet with us, your advisor is acting in a fiduciary capacity at all times, meaning your best interests always come first. Your fiduciary advisor will be the one preparing and walking you through your Retirement Risk Report, ensuring you receive clear, objective guidance every step of the way.

We believe taxes should be managed over your entire lifetime—not treated as a one-time or year-by-year decision. Our goal is to help you develop strategies that aim to minimize your lifetime tax burden, not just the taxes you may owe in the current year.

Many people focus only on what they'll pay in taxes this year, without considering how today's decisions may impact their taxes five, ten, or even twenty years down the road. We take a broader view by evaluating both the short-term and long-term tax consequences, so your retirement plan is designed with the full picture in mind.

Estate planning is often more complex than many people realize. While having a properly drafted trust and will is an important foundation, a well-coordinated estate plan goes beyond the documents themselves.

A complete estate plan also includes making sure beneficiary designations on assets such as IRAs, annuities, and trust accounts are aligned with your overall goals. In many cases, small adjustments to beneficiary designations can have a significant impact on how efficiently assets are passed on and how much is lost to taxes.

As both an estate planning attorney and retirement advisor, Anthony Saccaro is uniquely qualified to help ensure your estate plan and retirement strategy are properly coordinated, so your assets go where you intend, in the most tax-efficient way possible.

How we are compensated depends on the services we provide. When we manage investments on your behalf, we charge a flat fee based on the amount of assets we are managing. We do better when you do better.

If we help you with insurance products, the insurance company compensates us directly, and there is no additional fee to you. In the spirit of full transparency, all compensation is disclosed up front, and when insurance is involved, we will disclose the compensation paid to us.

There is no fee for the initial consultation and no fee to create your customized Retirement Risk Report. Our focus is on determining whether we're the right fit for each other, and we don't believe it's fair to charge a fee for an analysis if we ultimately decide that working together doesn't make sense.

We only begin charging a fee once you have become a client and we have started managing your investments. Advisory fees are deducted directly from your account, which helps save you time by eliminating the need for manual payments or administrative follow-up.

Providence Financial focuses primarily on individuals who are approaching or already in the retirement phase of life. As a result, those who are more than 10 years away from retirement may not be the best fit for our services.

We also may not be a good fit for individuals whose primary objective is aggressive growth. Our investment philosophy is centered on conservative strategies and income-focused planning designed to help ensure you don't outlive your money. That said, investing for income does not mean there is no growth. Growth still plays an important role in a well-structured retirement plan, but it is balanced with income, stability, and risk management. If your sole objective is maximizing growth without regard for income or volatility, our approach may not align with your goals.

Once you become a client, we begin by addressing your questions, concerns, and goals, and developing a plan for each. From there, we start implementing that plan and begin actively managing and monitoring your investments.

You'll also have access to our full-service client support team, who works closely with your advisor to help ensure your portfolio is continually reviewed and aligned with your goals. We stay in touch with you periodically and make adjustments as life changes, so your plan remains up to date. And of course, our team is always available if questions come up—whenever you need us.