Reliance Financial Partners

Happy 1-year work anniversary, Bethany! 🎉

Thank you for being such a fantastic team player — we're so grateful to have you, and we're excited for many more years to come.

Today, we're celebrating the work that gives life purpose and the people who show up every day to build something better. Happy Labor Day! - Reliance Team

New video is live! Our team sat down to talk all things enneagram — what it is, how it works, and how we use it right here at Reliance to understand each other a little better.

Whether you already know your number or have never taken the test, this one's worth the watch. 👇

The Enneagram Explained: Discover Your Personality Type & Improve Relationships Have you ever wondered why people communicate, think, and respond s...

They were sure they needed $3 million and three more years of work. They needed neither.

We'll call them Jim and Linda. Linda was 66, Jim 63, both still working full-time with close to $3 million saved. Their plan was to grind three more years to hit a bigger number.

But when we really looked: frugal spenders, home paid off, last big expense behind them, nine grandkids all within a 30-minute drive, the picture was clear. They already had more than enough.

Four months later, they both retired. The retirement they thought was years away had simply been waiting for them to step toward it.

Wondering if your “someday” is closer than you think? Take the free quiz: https://reliancefinancialpartners.pulse.ly/yiktfrm9be

Myth: “Once I hit my savings number, the money is all mine to spend.”

A couple we'll call Randy and Vanessa came to us at 62 with $2.1 million saved, no debt, and big travel dreams. On the surface, they were set.

Then we looked closer. $1.9 million of it sat in tax-deferred accounts, money they hadn't paid taxes on yet. Once we accounted for that, they had roughly $650,000 less than they thought, and were on track to run short in their seventies.

Your account balance isn't always your spendable balance. Taxes are part of the picture. The good news: when you plan for them early, you have options.

https://reliancefinancialpartners.pulse.ly/bjewoylrps

Our founder Dana Dunkelberger wrote a thought piece for Forbes.

It's on the years between retiring and the start of required minimum distributions at 73 — and why that stretch deserves more attention than it usually gets.

Full article linked here: https://forbes.pulse.ly/ckp92dprzt

Educational content only and not individual investment, tax, or legal advice. Advisory services are offered through Reliance Financial Partners, a registered investment adviser; registration does not imply any level of skill or training.

Our founder, Dana Dunkelberger, was featured in Forbes last week.

He joined a Forbes Finance Council expert panel on turning financial reporting into strategic insight and made a point that sits at the center of how we work with clients:

"Instead of opening with, 'The portfolio returned X,' we lead with, 'You're still on track to retire at 62, and here's why.' It's the same data, reframed around the decision the client actually cares about."

Most reporting is built to describe the market. We build ours to also answer the question the client is actually asking. Same numbers, different starting point, and a very different conversation.

Congratulations, Dana! Full panel discussion here:

How To Transform Financial Reporting Into Strategic Insight Finance leaders are moving away from slow, month-end reporting and toward real-time, continuous decisioning.

Social Security can feel like a personal decision. For married couples, it's really a joint one, and the timing can shape your household income for the rest of both of your lives.

The choice one spouse makes affects the other, especially the survivor benefit that continues for whoever lives longer. Claim too early and you can lock in a smaller check for decades. Coordinate it well and the same benefit can be worth far more over a lifetime.

Our latest blog breaks down how married couples near retirement can time Social Security together, so it works for both of you.

👉https://reliancefinancialpartners.pulse.ly/mj8m2biwop

For most of your working life, success is measured by how much you save. Retirement flips that question: the real measure is how well that money turns into income you can count on.

That shift trips up a lot of smart, well-prepared people. The pieces (Social Security, withdrawals, taxes, Medicare) all connect, and the biggest wins come from coordinating them, not chasing any one of them alone.

Read our latest blog, where Dana Dunkelberger breaks down how retirees across San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country can turn a lifetime of savings into a dependable, tax-smart paycheck.

👉 https://reliancefinancialpartners.pulse.ly/mos2rtxokr