Planning checklists you can work through at your kitchen table.
One guide for each part of the planning work we do. Every guide is written in plain English, opens with a free preview, and is general education rather than individualized advice.
- Social Security
What to Gather Before You File for Social Security
A practical checklist for the paperwork, timing, and follow-through that make a Social Security application go smoothly.
Read the preview - Social Security
Social Security Spousal and Survivor Benefits, Explained Plainly
How spousal, survivor, and divorced-spouse benefits work, and the questions worth confirming with SSA before either spouse files.
Read the preview - Life event
A Checklist for the Months After Losing a Spouse or Parent
A calm, step-by-step guide to the practical and financial items that need attention after a loss — and the ones that can wait.
Read the preview - Pre-retirement
Readiness Issues to Review in Your Final Year or Two of Work
A practical review of the items worth checking before you leave your last paycheck behind.
Read the preview - Withdrawals
Required Minimum Distribution Issues Worth Reviewing
A plain-English tour of the RMD planning questions that come up most often, with pointers to where the current rules live.
Read the preview - Medicare
Medicare Enrollment Rules and Penalties: What to Confirm Before You Sign Up
A plain-English walk-through of enrollment windows, working-past-65 situations, and the penalties that can follow a missed deadline.
Read the preview - Medicare
The Annual Medicare Review: What to Check Before Open Enrollment Ends
A yearly checklist for reviewing your plan's changes, coverage, and network before the enrollment window closes.
Read the preview - Medicare & taxes
IRMAA Surcharges: How Income-Related Medicare Premiums Actually Work
A general guide to how Medicare premium adjustments are tied to prior-year income, and what to consider before a large financial event.
Read the preview - Extended care
Long-Term Care Insurance: Questions to Work Through Before You Decide
A framework for thinking through extended-care coverage, what Medicare does and doesn't cover, and the policy features worth comparing.
Read the preview - Healthcare
Healthcare Costs in Retirement: Planning Before and After Medicare
A general framework for thinking through health coverage and costs across retirement, from leaving work through Medicare and beyond.
Read the preview - Roth conversions
What to Weigh Before a Roth Conversion
A framework for thinking through the timing, amount, and tradeoffs of moving traditional retirement dollars into a Roth account — not a recommendation to convert.
Read the preview - Tax review
How to Read Your Own Tax Return in Retirement
A line-by-line walk through the items on a retired household's return that most often signal a planning opportunity worth raising with your CPA or adviser.
Read the preview - Charitable giving
How Qualified Charitable Distributions Work
The general mechanics, eligibility rules, and common mistakes behind giving directly from an IRA to charity.
Read the preview - HSAs
How Health Savings Accounts Actually Work
A general walkthrough of eligibility, contributions, qualified distributions, and the Medicare interaction that catches many account holders off guard.
Read the preview - Rollovers
The Four Options for an Old 401(k)
A neutral comparison of leaving a workplace plan in place, moving it to a new employer's plan, rolling it to an IRA, or cashing it out.
Read the preview - Inherited accounts
General Distribution Rules for an Inherited IRA
How beneficiary type, account category, and titling combine to determine what an inherited IRA requires — and the deadlines that are easiest to miss.
Read the preview - Portfolio review
An Annual Portfolio Review Checklist
A structured way to look at your investment accounts once a year, before the next statement arrives and the review gets pushed to next year again.
Read the preview - Market events
What to Review When Markets Fall
A calm checklist for the weeks when headlines are loud and account balances are lower, written to be read before that happens.
Read the preview - Security
Protecting Your Accounts and Recovering From Identity Theft
Practical habits for protecting financial accounts, and the steps to take if something has already gone wrong.
Read the preview - Annuity review
How to Review an Annuity You Already Own
A step-by-step way to understand a contract you purchased years ago, before deciding whether it still fits.
Read the preview - Insurance review
Reviewing an Existing Life Insurance Policy
A way to check whether a policy purchased years ago still does what it was meant to do.
Read the preview - Estate review
An Afternoon Review of Beneficiaries and Estate Documents
A focused way to spend a few hours confirming that your accounts, documents, and the people who know about them are all current.
Read the preview
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These guides are general education and are not individualized investment, tax, legal, Medicare, or insurance advice. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Insurance guarantees depend on the claims-paying ability of the issuing carrier. Consult your own tax, legal, or insurance professional about your circumstances.