Explore Gillian & Jack's story.*

See how Schwab Wealth Advisory™ could potentially help investors like Gillian and Jack minimize taxes and navigate workplace stock options as they prepare to retire in the next few years.

Jack has an arm around Gillian as they look at the camera.

About Gillian & Jack

Gillian and Jack sit on a couch; icons for taxes and compensation planning float below

Meet Gillian and Jack, a married couple from Illinois in their mid-fifties with three children hoping to retire in their early sixties. Gillian is a director for a nonprofit while Jack works in medical sales at a publicly traded company. They saved aggressively over the years, but as they got closer to retirement, they realized they had some big questions about taxes:

  • How could they help potentially minimize taxes that may cut into their current savings and future earnings from assets during retirement?
  • What were some ideas to consider to help Jack determine when to exercise his workplace stock options with the family's current tax situation?

To address these questions, we first zoomed out to look at Gillian and Jack's entire financial picture and to fully understand their wants and needs. Then we dove in, bringing together specialists to help make sure their wealth strategies were tailored to their goals.

*These scenarios are for illustrative purposes only, are not the experience of any specific clients, and are no guarantee of future performance or success.

NOTE: Certain services may be provided by affiliated professionals and third-party firms. Schwab Wealth Advisory does not provide specific individualized legal or tax advice. Please consult a qualified legal or tax advisor where such advice is necessary or appropriate.

Tax planning

Gillian and Jack* wanted to minimize taxes on their current savings and future earnings to achieve the retirement lifestyle they had always envisioned.

How Schwab Wealth Advisory helped

We met to provide education on various topics so they could have informed discussions with their tax advisor about potential strategies, including:

  • Tax bracket management, which could potentially help minimize overall tax liability over time.
     
  • Strategies that could potentially help them maintain their desired level of retirement income during the period between retirement and when they begin taking Social Security.
     
  • Timing for qualified distributions to help level out the overall tax rate over time.
     
  • Potentially maximizing tax deductions if they decide to make charitable donations using a bunching strategy to group deductions in the same tax year.

*These scenarios are for illustrative purposes only, are not the experience of any specific clients, and are no guarantee of future performance or success.

This tax information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. Schwab Wealth Advisory does not provide specific individualized legal or tax advice. Please consult a qualified legal or tax advisor where such advice is necessary or appropriate.

Retiring early, confidently.

See how we can help with your decision to retire early—and all the other decisions that come with it.

The Charles Schwab logo and Wealth Advisory logo appears on an all-white screen. The title reads Professional Wealth Management on Your Terms.

Upbeat music plays throughout.

The logos and text fade away to show Schwab Wealth Advisor, Ryan Ledbetter, CFP®, standing in a hallway.

So clients that retire early, you might be thinking, am I doing everything that I need to do tax wise? Am I being efficient with my investments? How am I producing the income that I need in retirement, if I'm going to retire? How do I get to Medicare? When should I take my Social Security?

My name is Ryan Ledbetter. I'm a Wealth Advisor with Schwab Wealth Advisory.

Typically a client that's like around 55 years old will be wondering, can I retire early? I just had this happen with they're 55 and 52, the husband's having a difficult time. His job is really laborious, right? So they're wondering how, how much longer does he have to do this?

After going through the plan and after helping them understand these are where your assets are, this is where they're located, this is the tax implications of how we pull from these investments. This is how much you'll need, and this is how much we can effectively produce from those assets. They realized, oh, we can actually do this.

And then it's just another conversation of here's the actual written plan. Here's how the portfolio needs to be structured. They're actually retiring in the next six months and then now they get to have this dependable income going forward and they can rest easy.

The screen fades to white and the following disclosures fade onto the screen:

Schwab Wealth Advisory™ ("SWA") is a non‐discretionary investment advisory program sponsored by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab"). Schwab Wealth Advisory, Inc. ("SWAI") is a Registered Investment Adviser and provides portfolio management for the SWA program. Schwab and SWAI are affiliates and are subsidiaries of The Charles Schwab Corporation.

Portfolio Management provided by Schwab Wealth Advisory, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser and affiliate of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (Schwab). Please read the Schwab Wealth Advisory and the Schwab Wealth Advisory, Inc. Disclosure Brochures for information and disclosures about this program. The Wealth Advisor, Associate Wealth Advisor, and other representatives making investment recommendations in your Schwab Wealth Advisory accounts are employees of Schwab Wealth Advisory, Inc.

This information provided here is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax, legal, or investment planning advice. Where specific advice is necessary or appropriate, you should consult with a qualified tax advisor, CPA, Financial Planner, or Investment Manager.

Information provided herein is for general information purposes only and should not be considered an individualized recommendation or personalized investment advice. The investment strategies mentioned may not be suitable for everyone. Each investor needs to review an investment strategy for his or her own particular situation before making any investment decisions.

Financial Planning consultations are conducted by employees of Schwab Wealth Advisory, Inc. ("SWAI") or Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab") depending on the complexity of your financial situation. SWAI and Schwab are Registered Investment Advisors and wholly owned subsidiaries of the Charles Schwab Corporation.

Certain services may not be provided by affiliated professionals and third party firms. Schwab Wealth Advisory does not provide specific individualized legal or tax advice. Please consult a qualified legal or tax advisor where such advice is necessary or appropriate.

Asset allocation and diversification strategies do not ensure a profit and do not protect against losses in declining markets.

© Charles Schwab & Co, Inc., Member SIPC. All rights reserved.

(0924-KPP9)
Video Transcript

Retiring early with a Wealth Advisor

The Charles Schwab logo and Wealth Advisory logo appears on an all-white screen. The title reads Professional Wealth Management on Your Terms.

Upbeat music plays throughout.

The logos and text fade away to show Schwab Wealth Advisor, Ryan Ledbetter, CFP®, standing in a hallway.

So clients that retire early, you might be thinking, am I doing everything that I need to do tax wise? Am I being efficient with my investments? How am I producing the income that I need in retirement, if I'm going to retire? How do I get to Medicare? When should I take my Social Security?

My name is Ryan Ledbetter. I'm a Wealth Advisor with Schwab Wealth Advisory.

Typically a client that's like around 55 years old will be wondering, can I retire early? I just had this happen with they're 55 and 52, the husband's having a difficult time. His job is really laborious, right? So they're wondering how, how much longer does he have to do this?

After going through the plan and after helping them understand these are where your assets are, this is where they're located, this is the tax implications of how we pull from these investments. This is how much you'll need, and this is how much we can effectively produce from those assets. They realized, oh, we can actually do this.

And then it's just another conversation of here's the actual written plan. Here's how the portfolio needs to be structured. They're actually retiring in the next six months and then now they get to have this dependable income going forward and they can rest easy.

The screen fades to white and the following disclosures fade onto the screen:

Schwab Wealth Advisory™ ("SWA") is a non‐discretionary investment advisory program sponsored by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab"). Schwab Wealth Advisory, Inc. ("SWAI") is a Registered Investment Adviser and provides portfolio management for the SWA program. Schwab and SWAI are affiliates and are subsidiaries of The Charles Schwab Corporation.

Portfolio Management provided by Schwab Wealth Advisory, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser and affiliate of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (Schwab). Please read the Schwab Wealth Advisory and the Schwab Wealth Advisory, Inc. Disclosure Brochures for information and disclosures about this program. The Wealth Advisor, Associate Wealth Advisor, and other representatives making investment recommendations in your Schwab Wealth Advisory accounts are employees of Schwab Wealth Advisory, Inc.

This information provided here is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax, legal, or investment planning advice. Where specific advice is necessary or appropriate, you should consult with a qualified tax advisor, CPA, Financial Planner, or Investment Manager.

Information provided herein is for general information purposes only and should not be considered an individualized recommendation or personalized investment advice. The investment strategies mentioned may not be suitable for everyone. Each investor needs to review an investment strategy for his or her own particular situation before making any investment decisions.

Financial Planning consultations are conducted by employees of Schwab Wealth Advisory, Inc. ("SWAI") or Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab") depending on the complexity of your financial situation. SWAI and Schwab are Registered Investment Advisors and wholly owned subsidiaries of the Charles Schwab Corporation.

Certain services may not be provided by affiliated professionals and third party firms. Schwab Wealth Advisory does not provide specific individualized legal or tax advice. Please consult a qualified legal or tax advisor where such advice is necessary or appropriate.

Asset allocation and diversification strategies do not ensure a profit and do not protect against losses in declining markets.

© Charles Schwab & Co, Inc., Member SIPC. All rights reserved.

(0924-KPP9)

Contact your Schwab Financial Consultant or connect with us to learn more.

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Equity compensation planning

Jack* wanted to exercise his workplace stock options in the most advantageous way for the family's current financial plan and tax situation.

How Schwab Wealth Advisory helped

We met to discuss potential tax implications of various scenarios, including declining income once he retires.

  • We educated Jack on the different potential tax implications of various employee stock options.

We also brought in a Charles Schwab & Co. Equity Compensation Planner to develop exercise scenarios for Jack's stock options that could allow him to incorporate the wealth from his stock options into their overall retirement portfolio while helping to potentially minimize tax consequences.

  • We discussed how he could potentially leverage tax bracket management to reduce his overall tax burden by selling appreciated company stock in the future instead of now.

*These scenarios are for illustrative purposes only, are not the experience of any specific clients, and are no guarantee of future performance or success.

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