You’ve saved for retirement. Now plan how to live on it.
Social Security, pension, withdrawals, taxes, and Medicare, evaluated in a coordinated sequence.
30 minutes. No documents required. No cost or obligation.
Firm data and Google review count as of July 2026. Google is not affiliated with Fortress Financial Group. Reviews reflect individual experiences and may not be representative of every client’s experience, and do not guarantee future results.
Your retirement decisions connect.
Your retirement date, Social Security, and withdrawals are one decision, not several. Change one and the others move. We help you evaluate the sequence and tradeoffs.
Get the order of your retirement decisions straight before anything is signed.
Schedule a Free 30-Minute CallThe years around retirement carry a concentrated set of deadlines.
The goal is to build the sequence before a pension election, coverage deadline, or account decision forces the issue. Some of these have fixed windows: pension elections are often one-time, Medicare initial enrollment spans seven months around 65, and IRMAA looks back at income from two years prior.
Build the sequence before the last day of work.
- Confirm the household spending target
- Lock down pension election and survivor choices
- Set a Social Security claiming strategy
- Identify healthcare coverage before and after Medicare eligibility
- Review retirement accounts, debt, cash reserves, and large purchases
- Identify decisions with employer or coverage deadlines
Turn the plan into repeatable household cash flow.
- Establish the source and timing of monthly cash flow
- Monitor withdrawals, realized gains, and tax projections
- Revisit Roth conversion scenarios with your tax professional
- Address Medicare and IRMAA timing
- Review investment risk after the paycheck ends
- Keep beneficiaries and estate documents aligned with current wishes
A retirement plan you can use after the meeting.
Your plan should show where income may come from, which decisions have deadlines, what assumptions are being used, and what would cause the plan to change. It should also make clear which actions belong to Fortress, which belong to you, and which require a CPA or attorney.
Start with the retirement question on your mind.
Introductory call
A 30-minute conversation about your timing, what you are deciding, and what we would look at first.
Discovery
We review benefit statements, pension elections, account statements, Social Security information, healthcare timing, tax documents, spending, and the goals retirement needs to support.
Plan and implementation
We explain the alternatives, document the agreed sequence, and coordinate the investment and account work within our scope.
Ongoing review
We revisit withdrawals, taxes, investments, benefits, and estate implementation as your life and the planning environment change.
Before you choose a date or an election.
What does working with Fortress cost?
Fortress is fee-only. Our advisory fee is a percentage of the assets we manage, ranging from 0.45% to 1.25% per year depending on the size and complexity of the household. There are no commissions, no product sales, and no hourly surprises. Your exact fee is quoted in writing before you decide to engage, and the full schedule is in our Form ADV, linked in the footer of every page.
Why an asset-based fee instead of a flat fee?
Because the work is ongoing, not transactional. One fee covers planning, investment management, coordination with your CPA and attorney, and the service between meetings, and it scales with the responsibility we take on rather than with how often you call. It also keeps the relationship simple: no meters running, no invoices for questions. If a different arrangement fits a situation better, we will say so before you engage.
Who does Fortress typically work with?
More than 330 households, most of them people approaching or in retirement: Mayo Clinic professionals, families with a first seven figures saved, business owners, and multi-generational households. Complexity, not account size, drives how we staff a relationship. If we are not the right fit, we will say so on the first call.
Do I need a firm retirement date before calling?
No. Comparing several possible dates is often part of the work.
Can you review a pension lump sum versus monthly income?
Yes. Using your benefit statement and assumptions that fit your household, we walk through survivor coverage, taxes, liquidity, how interest rates affect the lump-sum figure, and the role each path would play in monthly income. The comparison clarifies the tradeoffs; it cannot promise that one election will turn out better than the other.
Do you help with Medicare?
We incorporate Medicare timing, estimated healthcare costs, and potential IRMAA effects into the financial plan. We do not sell Medicare policies, and coverage decisions may require a licensed insurance or Medicare professional.
What if I am already retired?
We can review how current spending, withdrawals, Social Security, required distributions, investment risk, taxes, and estate considerations are working together.
Will you coordinate with my CPA and attorney?
Yes. Fortress does not prepare tax returns or draft legal documents, but we can share planning information and coordinate decisions with those professionals when you authorize us to do so.
Guides for the years around retirement.
From the Fortress blog and the Retire & Thrive conversations.
Real advisors, across the table.
Your introductory call is with a Fortress advisor, not a call center. You will work with a lead advisor supported by the full 11-person team.
Cody SchaeferCFP®, RICP®
Dan LangworthyCIMA®, CPWA®
Jack ZinserCFP®Put the retirement decisions into a coordinated sequence.
Use the first call to explain what is changing, what deadlines are approaching, and where you want a second set of eyes.
Prefer to start by phone? (507) 529-1400
When providing investment advisory services, Fortress Financial Group acts as a fiduciary. Planning scenarios depend on assumptions and current information and do not guarantee future outcomes. This page is not individualized investment, tax, legal, Medicare, or insurance advice.