Retirement Planning for Partners at PwC, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG
You’ve built something complex. Let’s make sure you don’t unwind it poorly.
If you’re a partner at PwC, Deloitte, EY, or KPMG, your retirement isn’t a single decision.
It’s a series of interconnected decisions—many of which happen at the same time.
And the challenge isn’t just understanding each piece…
It’s understanding how they all work together.
That’s where many mistakes happen.
No pressure. Just a conversation to see if we can help.
This Is Different Than “Normal” Retirement Planning
Most people retire from:
- A 401(k)
- Maybe a pension
- Social Security
That’s not your situation.
Your retirement is built from a system that includes:
- Firm-based retirement programs (some funded, some not)
- A pension that can represent a significant portion of your future income
- Deferred compensation
- Firm capital that must be distributed over time
- Income and tax situations that will change after you stop working
- Investment constraints tied to independence requirements
Individually, each of these can be managed.
Together, they require coordination.
The Real Challenge Isn’t Complexity—It’s Coordination
What makes this hard isn’t that any one decision is impossible.
It’s that every decision affects the others.
- When you retire affects when your pension and other benefits begin
- When income begins affects how it is taxed
- Your tax picture today affects your tax picture for decades
- Firm capital distributions affect timing, liquidity, and taxes
- Independence requirements shape how your investments are structured
This isn’t linear.
It’s a system.
And systems require a different way of thinking.
Where We Help (And Why Clients Like You Hire Us)
You don’t need someone to “manage your investments.”
You need someone to help you think through:
1. How your pension fits into your overall plan
For many partners, the pension is one of the largest and most important decisions.
Key questions include:
- How does the pension grow if you continue working?
- When does it “max out,” if at all?
- How does it interact with your other income sources?
- What are the tax implications of how and when you take it?
- How do your pension choices now affect your spouse in the future?
This isn’t just about choosing an option.
It’s about understanding how that choice affects everything else.
2. How to balance taxes today with taxes in retirement
This is often the biggest concern—and where the biggest opportunities are.
You may have:
- High-income final working years
- Irregular income tied to firm payouts
- Multi-year income streams after retirement
- A shift from working income and taxes to retirement income and related taxes
The goal is not just to reduce taxes this year.
It’s to:
Make coordinated decisions so you don’t pay unnecessary taxes over the next 10–20-30 years.
3. How your income actually works in retirement
It’s not just:
- “What do I have?”
But:
- When does it show up?
- How reliable is it?
- How does it change over time?
Some income may be stable.
Some may depend on timing or structure.
Some may overlap in ways that create tax or planning challenges.
Understanding this clearly changes your decisions.
4. How to invest while meeting independence requirements
In your world, investing isn’t just about risk and return.
It’s about:
- Meeting independence requirements
- Pre-clearing investments and ongoing monitoring of holdings
- Understanding how those requirements evolve after retirement
Your investment strategy has to work within those rules, not around them.
5. How to make decisions before you’re forced to
In your situation, timing matters.
There are moments where:
- Decisions become fixed
- Options narrow
- Opportunities disappear
The goal is to make the key decisions before they become urgent.
How We Work With You
We don’t show up with a pre-built answer.
We build the answer with you.
Step 1: Organize everything into one clear picture
We map out:
- Pension options and timing
- Firm capital distribution structure
- Deferred compensation and other benefits
- Income timing across years
- Tax implications across both working years and retirement
Step 2: Run multiple scenarios
Not just “here’s the plan.”
We test:
- Different retirement timelines
- Different income timing assumptions
- Different tax environments
- Different investment approaches within your constraints
- So you can see the tradeoffs clearly.
Step 3: Connect every decision
Using our Retirement Master Plan framework:
Spend → Make → Keep → Invest → Leave
This ensures:
- Your income supports your lifestyle
- Your tax decisions are coordinated over time
- Your investments align with real-world constraints
- Your legacy is a key component, not an afterthought
- Everything works together—not separately
Step 4: Help you decide with clarity
At the end of the day, this isn’t about more information.
It’s about better decisions.
How to Tell If You’re Getting Good Advice
If you’re already working with an advisor, here are a few good questions to ask:
- Are they comparing pension options across different retirement dates?
- Have they talked through the age 55 rule?
- Have they reviewed NUA for my company stock?
- Are they planning taxes across multiple years—not just this one?
If those conversations aren’t happening, there may be gaps.
Let’s Make Sure You Get This Right
You’ve worked a long time to get here.
Retirement isn’t just about stopping work—it’s about making a series of decisions that shape what comes next.
If you’re close to that transition and want to think through it carefully, we can help.