LVLUP - Advanced Retirement Solutions

10/25/2026

42 days left in Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period. It closes December 7, 2026.

The surprise rarely shows up on December 7. It shows up January 1. Plans are updated every year, and coverage changes generally take effect on the first of the year. A premium, a provider network, a medication tier, any part of your plan can be different by then. The deadline is not when things change. It is your last chance to choose which changes you live with.

Doing nothing is still a decision. It just hands the outcome to whatever arrives on January 1.

The tax side moves slower but lands just as hard. What you earn in a year like this one can shape what you pay for healthcare years from now. Our complimentary Tax Analysis Report is built with licensed tax-analysis software and gives a forward-looking educational view of potential tax exposure across the future years of retirement. It is provided at no fee, and the process has helped clients identify thousands of dollars in potential tax obligations. That is potential exposure identified, not a promise of savings.

Review your options before December 7 at www.lvlupars.com.



Educational only& #8212;not tax, legal, or investment advice

10/25/2026

Some market risk was never chosen by the retiree at all. It was inherited from an answer they gave on a comfort questionnaire, or from a model allocation they never had a real conversation about, or from years of drift while markets climbed. Now the money they live on is carrying exposure they never actually signed up for, and no one has paused to ask whether it still fits the life they're living.

That's an advisory gap: the risk in the plan should trace back to a deliberate decision about your income, your timeline, and what a bad year would actually do to you. Not to a default. Not to inertia. Not to whatever keeps the portfolio fully invested.

In your retirement, the question stops being "how is the portfolio doing" and becomes "can my income survive this plan." Growth matters less than whether the money you draw on is there when you need it, in the order you need it. That deserves a deliberate look, not a leftover allocation.

At LVLUP Advanced Retirement Solutions, our 20/20 Financial Foresight process starts with your income needs, your downside protection, and your timeline, then sets your market exposure deliberately in the context of all seven essential attributes of retirement: comprehensive, quantitative, and customized to you, not to a model.

If your exposure is something you inherited rather than something you chose, it's worth a conversation. Visit www.lvlupars.com to schedule a strategy session.

Clarity beats guesswork.

Educational only, not tax, legal, or investment advice.

10/24/2026

43 days left.

The Annual Enrollment Period closes December 7, 2026.

A plan review takes less time than you think. You look at what changed in your plan for the new year: the premiums, the provider networks, the formulary, the extras. You compare that to what you actually used this year. Then you decide whether it still fits.

Most people skip the review entirely. Doing nothing is still a decision, and it hands the outcome to whatever changed while you were not looking.

While you are reviewing, look at your tax picture too. Income decisions made today can shape what you pay for healthcare years from now. Our complimentary Tax Analysis Report, built with licensed tax-analysis software, gives you a forward-looking view of potential tax exposure across the future years of retirement. It is provided at no fee, and the process has helped clients identify thousands of dollars in potential tax obligations.

Review your options before December 7 at www.lvlupars.com.



Educational only& #8212;not tax legal or investment advice

10/24/2026

45 days left. Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period closes December 7, 2026.

The benefits that sit outside core coverage are not locked in either. Dental, vision, hearing, the extras that helped you choose a plan in the first place, they are reworked every plan year too. What looked good last fall may not be what shows up January 1.

Doing nothing is still a decision. It just hands the outcome to whatever changed while you were not looking.

And the income decisions you make today can shape what you pay for healthcare years from now.

Want a forward-looking view of the tax side before the deadline? Our complimentary Tax Analysis Report is built with licensed tax-analysis software and gives a forward-looking view of potential tax exposure across the future years of retirement. Provided at no fee. The process has helped clients identify thousands of dollars in potential tax obligations. That is potential exposure identified, not a promise of savings.

Review your options before December 7 at www.lvlupars.com.



Educational only& #8212;not tax legal or investment advice

10/23/2026

Caregiving can create a retirement problem long before anyone realizes it.

When you step away from work, or leave it entirely, to care for an aging parent or family member, the income gap may be immediate. Your own retirement timeline can shift, your tax position and benefits may change, and the pressure to make premature retirement-account withdrawals or other rushed financial decisions can grow quickly.

The question isn’t only, “How do we fund care?” It’s also:

How do we protect the caregiver’s future retirement income, tax position, investments, insurance and protection, and family objectives at the same time?

That requires more than one-account-at-a-time advice. LVLUP’s quantitative 20/20 Financial Foresight evaluates the full picture, helping you understand the tradeoffs before a family responsibility forces a permanent financial detour.

If caregiving may affect your work or retirement plans, visit www.lvlupars.com to learn how comprehensive planning can help you move forward with clarity.

Educational only, not tax, legal, or investment advice.

10/23/2026

After a layoff, a 401(k) rollover form can look like the obvious next step. When income and next steps are uncertain, moving everything into an IRA may feel like the simplest way to get organized. If your plan holds employer stock, pause before signing.

When shares have a low cost basis and have grown substantially, Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA) treatment may be worth evaluating. In qualifying circumstances, taking employer shares out of the plan in kind may mean ordinary income tax applies to the shares’ original cost basis, while their appreciation may qualify for long-term capital gains tax when sold. Roll those same shares into an IRA, and future withdrawals generally treat the appreciation as ordinary income.

This is not an automatic tax win. NUA treatment has specific requirements, and the election is generally one-time and difficult to reverse. Keeping a large block of employer stock can also concentrate risk just when your financial security may already feel unsettled.

That makes this both a tax decision and a portfolio decision. LVLUP’s 20/20 Financial Foresight evaluates the rollover alongside your household’s broader plan, including risk, income needs, and other assets. Before signing after a layoff, look at the whole picture. Learn more at www.lvlupars.com.

Educational only, not tax, legal, or investment advice.

Retirement planning is not a single financial decision. It is the careful coordination of multiple moving parts that must work together for decades. When your retirement plan is finally aligned, you feel it immediately in your decisions, your sleep, and your peace of mind. At LVLUP Advanced Retireme...

10/23/2026

How much risk can you stand? More importantly, how much risk can your retirement income plan survive?

Most risk conversations start and end with a questionnaire or, “How would you feel if the market dropped 20%?” That measures emotion, not financial capacity.

In retirement, the math changes. When you are withdrawing, there is no paycheck adding to the account. A loss can affect money you rely on for income, not just future contributions. And with less time to recover, the sequence and timing of losses matter.

How much loss can you stomach is not the same question as how much loss can your income survive.

Yet comfort is the easy question, and it can conveniently keep assets invested. When advice is compensated as a percentage of assets, there may be little incentive to reduce the risk that generates the fee. The harder question, what can your plan afford, can go unasked.

LVLUP’s 20/20 Financial Foresight takes a comprehensive, quantitative, customized look at what your income plan can actually absorb. It considers market risk alongside income, taxes, healthcare costs, family, legacy, and longevity, then sets exposure deliberately instead of inheriting it from a comfort answer.

Everyone’s situation differs, and rules and circumstances change. Confirm current details and personal decisions with a qualified professional.

Visit www.lvlupars.com to request a strategy session.

Clarity beats guesswork.

Educational only, not tax, legal, or investment advice

10/22/2026

46 days left in Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period. It closes December 7, 2026.

Here is the part most people miss. Plans are not just re-priced every year, they are re-defined. Prior authorization can expand. Step therapy rules can tighten. A medication that went through without a question early in the year can need your doctor's approval by the next one. None of that arrives in a letter you will notice. It simply applies on January 1.

Doing nothing is still a decision. It just hands the outcome to whatever changed while you were not looking.

The tax side does not wait either. Income decisions made today can shape what you pay for healthcare years later. Our complimentary Tax Analysis Report is built with licensed tax-analysis software and gives a forward-looking educational view of potential tax exposure across the future years of retirement. It is provided at no fee, and the process has helped clients identify thousands of dollars in potential tax obligations. That is potential exposure identified, not a promise of savings.

Review your options before December 7 at www.lvlupars.com



Educational only& #8212;not tax legal or investment advice

10/22/2026

Advisory Gap: The plan still looks the same. The deduction doesn’t.

Under SECURE 2.0 Section 603, workers age 50+ whose prior-year F**A wages from their employer exceed $150,000 (indexed) must make 401(k) catch-up contributions on a Roth, after-tax basis.

That means the catch-up portion no longer gets the upfront tax deduction some savers may expect during peak earning years. It’s an easy blind spot to miss when the plan itself hasn’t changed.

20/20 Financial Foresight looks beyond the account balance to consider how today’s choices fit into your tax picture across retirement years.

Learn more at www.lvlupars.com


Educational only& #8212;not tax, legal, or investment advice

10/22/2026

When a layoff hits, Marketplace coverage often looks like the affordable answer, and advance premium tax credits can make the monthly bill manageable. The trap is what happens at tax time. Those advance credits are based on your projected income for the year, and severance pay, a 401(k) withdrawal, or a deferred compensation payout can push your actual income above that projection. The difference is generally reconciled on your tax return, and an unexpected repayment bill may follow. In week one of a layoff, the coverage decision is really an income-projection decision for the entire tax year. At LVLUP, our 20/20 Financial Foresight approach models your full-year income picture, severance, retirement account access, and Marketplace versus COBRA trade-offs before you commit to a coverage path. Educational only& #8212;not tax, legal, or investment advice.