These Thoughtful Retirement Planning Steps Help Protect the Life You Want in Retirement

This kind of planning focuses on the intentional design of your estate, philanthropy and long-term care protection, helping to ensure your wealth supports your values, helping to preserve your independence and protect the people you care about.

By Brian Skrobonja, Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®)

published 12 February 2026

in Features

A couple take time to enjoy the sunset over the water while on a mountain hike.

As retirement gets closer, most planning conversations stay comfortably focused on income and investments.

What often gets delayed — or avoided entirely — are the more important elements of retirement planning: Estate planning, philanthropy and protecting assets against long-term care and health events.

The reason is simple. These topics force more difficult conversations. They touch on health, dependency and mortality — subjects most people would rather postpone talking about. But framing this planning as "end-of-life" thinking misses the point entirely.

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This isn't about preparing for the end. It's about protecting what you've built and preserving your ability to live the life you want — for as long as possible.

When these issues aren't addressed early, they tend to be dealt with later under pressure, often during a health event or family crisis. At that point, decisions are reactive instead of intentional, and the cost — financial and emotional — is usually much higher.

This is about more than documents

Estate planning, at its core, is not about documents. It's about control. It's about helping to ensure that your assets are managed and transferred according to your wishes, not default rules. It's about reducing friction for the people you care about and preventing wealth from being lost to inefficiency or confusion.

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The author of this article is a participant in Kiplinger's Adviser Intel program, a curated network of trusted financial professionals who share expert insights on wealth building and preservation. Contributors, including fiduciary financial planners, wealth managers, CEOs and attorneys, provide actionable advice about retirement planning, estate planning, tax strategies and more. Experts are invited to contribute and do not pay to be included, so you can trust their advice is honest and valuable.

Philanthropy fits into this same conversation. For many retirees, giving isn't an afterthought — it's an expression of values. Thoughtful charitable planning allows you to support causes you care about in a way that aligns with your overall financial strategy, rather than competing with it.

Then there's asset protection, particularly around long-term care. This is one of the most misunderstood and avoided areas of retirement planning. The reality is that extended care is not a remote possibility — it's a planning variable. Ignoring it doesn't eliminate the risk; it simply transfers it to your portfolio, your spouse or your family.

When protection planning is done well, it doesn't restrict lifestyle — it helps preserve it. It creates flexibility. It helps safeguard income. And it helps ensure that a lifetime of disciplined saving isn't quietly eroded by one unplanned event.

Thoughtful retirement planning is not about pessimism. It's about intention. It's the difference between hoping things work out and designing a strategy that supports your health, your independence, your legacy and your ability to enjoy retirement on your terms.

This is the stage where planning moves beyond accumulation and income — and becomes about stewardship.

Turning unspoken legacy goals into intentional strategy

Most people carry clear legacy goals in their minds, but those goals are rarely on paper or included in conversations. These people know what matters to them. They know who they want to protect. They often have a strong sense of who should carry forward their values, traditions or resources. What's missing isn't intention — it's articulation.

This is where professional planning begins to work. When legacy goals are finally named and communicated, planning shifts from transactional to intentional. The conversation expands beyond "who gets what" to "who should be supported, empowered or protected" — and why.

These discussions frequently reveal priorities that were never reflected in the financial plan. A surviving spouse's security. A child who may need more guidance or protection. Grandchildren, charitable causes or family members who share a common set of values. Legacy planning isn't about equal distribution — it's about aligned distribution.

Once these goals are clear, something important happens: The financial strategy can finally be coordinated around them.

Tax planning, in particular, becomes more purposeful. When assets are viewed through a legacy lens, it often makes sense to reconsider how tax-deferred accounts will eventually be taxed — and by whom.

In many cases, this opens the door to intentionally converting portions of tax-deferred assets into tax-free assets over time, with minimal tax impact, because the strategy is coordinated rather than reactive.

This isn't about avoiding taxes at all costs. It's about paying them on your terms, at the right time and for the right reason — in service of preserving what you're trying to pass on.

Preserving independence, choice and control

The same principle applies to long-term care planning. Too often, the conversation gets stuck on expensive, stand-alone insurance policies that feel disconnected from the rest of the plan. But protecting assets from health care-related erosion doesn't have to be separate from growth or legacy planning.

When approached intentionally, solutions for long-term care can be integrated into the allocation engine itself — supporting growth while also helping provide protection. The goal isn't to plan for decline; it's to preserve independence, choice and control without sacrificing opportunity.

When legacy, taxes, growth and protection are designed together, trade-offs become clearer, and outcomes become more predictable. This is what transforms a collection of accounts into a coordinated system — one that reflects your values, protects the people you care about and supports a life well lived.

This level of planning doesn't happen by accident. It happens when conversations move from what's comfortable to what's meaningful — and when strategy is built around intention rather than default outcomes.

Creating the outline of an intentional retirement plan

Once legacy, protection and tax awareness are part of the conversation, the next step is not to jump to solutions — it's to create a clear outline of what the plan is actually meant to do. Before strategies are selected, because structure matters.

Step No. 1: Clarify who and what you care about.

Every well-designed plan starts with people and values, not products.

Who do you want to protect?
Who do you want to support?
Who do you trust to carry forward what's important to you?

This includes family, but it often extends beyond it. Many people care deeply about causes, organizations or missions they've supported quietly for years. Others want certain values — responsibility, generosity, independence, education — to be felt by the next generation, not just funded.

These priorities are often clear internally but unspoken. Writing them down and communicating them creates alignment. It also determines how assets should be positioned, distributed and protected. Legacy planning is not about perfection — it's about intention and trust.

Step No. 2: Understand where you're exposed to future taxes.

With legacy goals defined, the next step is understanding how your assets will actually be taxed over time.

How much of your wealth is sitting in tax-deferred accounts that will be subject to future tax increases and required minimum distributions?
How much is already tax-free?
How much sits in after-tax or taxable accounts?

This segmentation matters. Not all dollars are created equal. Each "bucket" behaves differently, is taxed differently and should be assigned a different role in the plan.

When assets aren't clearly segmented, tax planning becomes reactive. When they are, tax mitigation becomes intentional.

This is often where opportunities emerge — particularly when tax-deferred assets can be repositioned or converted in a coordinated way, over time, with minimal tax impact.

The goal isn't to eliminate taxes. It's to manage when, how and at what rate they're paid in support of income, protection and legacy.

Step No. 3: Assign roles to each asset.

Once assets are segmented, the plan begins to take shape.

Some assets are best suited for income
Some for growth
Some for tax efficiency
Some for legacy transfer
Some for protection

Trying to make every account do everything usually leads to inefficiency. When assets are intentionally designated for specific roles, the entire system becomes more durable and easier to manage. This is where coordination replaces complexity.

Step No. 4: Design the long-term care "faucet."

Long-term care planning is not theoretical. In my experience, clients who have cared for parents, siblings or spouses — or who are navigating care themselves — understand this immediately.

When a health event occurs, income needs don't increase by hundreds of dollars per month. They often increase by thousands.

In many cases, the cost of care can exceed $100,000 annually. This isn't an edge case — it's a reality for a significant portion of retirees.

The real question isn't if care will be needed. Statistically, most people will require some level of support. The real question is where will the money come from — and who bears the burden?

How much pressure do you want to place on a spouse?
How much responsibility do you want to place on your children?

A well-designed plan identifies an intentional "faucet" — a source of funding that can be turned on when a health event occurs, without dismantling the rest of the plan. This may involve insurance, asset repositioning or integrated solutions that support growth while also providing protection.

What matters most is that the decision is made in advance, not during a crisis.

When these steps are taken together — values clarified, assets segmented, taxes coordinated and protection designed — retirement planning stops being a collection of accounts and becomes a system. One built to support independence, protect relationships and preserve the life you've worked hard to create.

Before making changes to investments and making important decisions about long-term care or tax strategy, it's critical to understand whether your current retirement plan is aligned with what comes next. The WealthSync™ Process, built from decades of experience, helps business owners and high-achieving families navigate this transition with intention. The 7-Minute WealthSync™ Diagnostic uncovers hidden inefficiencies, silent tax leaks and gaps between your income needs and your vision for retirement. In just a few minutes, it provides clarity around how well your income, taxes and investments are working together — and where misalignment may exist. Complete your diagnostics here.

Securities offered only by duly registered individuals through Madison Avenue Securities, LLC. (MAS), Member FINRA &SIPC. Advisory services offered only by duly registered individuals through Skrobonja Wealth Management (SWM), a registered investment advisor. Tax services offered only through Skrobonja Tax Consulting. MAS does not offer Build Banking or tax advice. Skrobonja Financial Group, LLC, Skrobonja Wealth Management, LLC, Skrobonja Insurance Services, LLC, Skrobonja Tax Consulting, and Build Banking are not affiliated with MAS.

Skrobonja Wealth Management, LLC is a registered investment adviser. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Skrobonja Wealth Management, LLC and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure.

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This is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. Please consult your legal advisor.

Brian Skrobonja contributed to this article. The appearances in Kiplinger were obtained through a PR program. The columnist received assistance from a public relations firm in preparing this piece for submission to Kiplinger.com. Kiplinger was not compensated in any way.

Disclaimer

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

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Brian Skrobonja is a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®) and Certified Private Wealth Advisor (CPWA®), as well as an author, blogger, podcaster and speaker. He is the founder and president of a St. Louis, Mo.-based wealth management firm. His goal is to help his audience discover the root of their beliefs about money and challenge them to think differently to reach their goals. Brian is the author of three books, and his Common Sense podcast was named one of the Top 10 podcasts by Forbes. In 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, Brian was awarded Best Wealth Manager. In 2021, he received Best in Business and the Future 50 in 2018 from St. Louis Small Business.