Ascend Wealth Management

There's a misconception that retirement is binary. You're either working or you're not. But it's not that simple.

Ryan was talking to a client recently who's fully able to retire. But he loves his job, loves his team, and wants to finish strong. So instead of retiring, Ryan and the client came up with a new option: dabbling in retirement. Save less, since he already had enough. Spend some of it now. Stop waiting to take the bigger trip. Go ahead and bring the family somewhere they'd never been before.

He's not fully retired, or fully working. He's somewhere in between, on purpose.

Have you ever thought about what a "partial retirement" might look like for you?

Do I have enough money to retire?

We're good at answering that question. But when the answer is yes, a more interesting one follows: why haven't you retired yet?

Sometimes it's not about the money at all. It's identity. Purpose. The friends you'd be leaving behind at the office. Sometimes the biggest thing we help a client find isn't a number; it's the answer to what's actually been holding them back.

Has anyone ever pushed you to really define what the next chapter looks like?

76 years. One Olympic gold medal. That was the British Cycling record before 2002.

Then Dave Brailsford took over as head of the team. Instead of chasing one big breakthrough, his goal was to find 1% improvements across a whole range of small things, then let them compound. Within six years, his team won 7 of the 10 gold medals in track cycling at the Beijing Olympics — and matched it again in London four years later. From there, his team went on to win three of the next four Tour de France titles.

What does this have to do with wealth planning? Brailsford called it "marginal gains." We call it controlling the controllables. For us, that looks like:

The right Social Security filing timing for your situation
An income tax reduction strategy built around your complete picture
A series of other separate decisions many people never think to look at closely

It's not about picking a stock that's supposed to outperform, or finding one clever trick that changes everything. It's about finding measurable ways to move the needle. Curious how many "controllables" you're leaving on the table? Shoot us a message, and let's chat.

Ryan has a confession: he used to play stockbroker in his basement as a kid, briefcase and all. Funny enough, he's never owned a single individual stock in his career.

Clients ask him all the time — what do you think about this company, or that one? His honest answer: he doesn't know. And he'd argue most "experts" don't either.

Here's the mindset behind the Ascend approach instead: everyone wants to hit a home run, but consistent singles and doubles win the game over time. Steady, repeatable decisions beat chasing the occasional big swing.

Curious what winning looks like for your own retirement plan?

"Pay the lowest tax bill you can, every single year." It's not bad advice, but it's incomplete. You can't defer taxes forever, and there are situations where paying more tax now, on purpose, can mean paying meaningfully less over your lifetime. Here's why.

"Conventional wisdom is often good at giving average advice. But your plan is not average." That's what Ryan shared on a recent call with fellow advisors — and you could hear the room react.

Conventional wisdom is built for the average person. And if you're reading this, your situation probably isn't average. Curious what that means for your plan? Drop a comment or send us a message, and we'll share more.