A Letter From a Client: What Didn’t We Know About Retirement

At Theia Financial, we often say that retirement has two very different phases: building wealth and living from it. The shift between the two can be subtle — until suddenly, it isn’t.

The following story comes from a client who generously agreed to share her experience. It’s a reflection on what she and her husband didn’t know about retirement income planning — and how gaining clarity changed everything.

Her words capture something we see often: confidence during the accumulation years doesn’t always translate into confidence about generating reliable income for the rest of your life.

We share her story in the hope that it helps you ask better questions — and gain clarity before retirement feels vague or uncertain.

What We Didn’t Know About Retirement Could Have Cost Us Everything

We didn’t know that life goes much faster than we think it will — or want it to.

I reflect on my earlier years when retirement seemed like a lifetime away and was vague and obscure. I was at the peak of my publishing career while also being a mom and wife. “Doing it all” became so ingrained in me that I couldn’t fathom slowing down or not working. My husband and I were a team, and we worked hard to build our lifestyle and help other family members whenever possible.

I had what many would consider significant accomplishments in my career, working my way up to the top rung at my publishing company and eventually borrowing the money to buy it with another partner. After building the company to the point of paying off the loan and selling part of it, we finally had a substantial nest egg to contribute to our future.

With no real experience in personal investing, we hired a financial advisor who managed a friend’s investments and gave him full rein to direct and select ours. By early 2007, all our money was placed in investments dependent on stock market performance. We thought we were doing everything right.

What We Didn’t Know About Investing

Then came 2008.

As the market moved into a major downturn during the mortgage crisis, we discovered our trusted financial advisor was not trustworthy. Watching our hard-earned money disappear was paralyzing. We feared we would lose everything.

Fueled by panic, a bad experience with this advisor, and a lack of understanding about market cycles and long-term strategy, we made the most significant money mistake of our lives: we pulled out at the worst possible time, locking in substantial losses. We were in our 40s. We had time. We could have weathered the downturn and participated in the recovery. But at the time, we didn’t know what we didn’t know.

What We Learned About Investing

After the dust settled, we realized we needed to increase our investment knowledge, better understand our risk tolerance, and continue investing to rebuild. We found a highly reputable advisory firm that listened to our goals and aligned with our comfort level. For almost fifteen years, we worked with a key advisor there who grew our investments with a “stay the course” approach.

Over time, our confidence returned. We no longer felt compelled to watch every market move with fear. We focused on our careers and family while they focused on managing the investments. We believed we had finally found the right advisor for life.

What We Didn’t Know About Retirement

Then my husband turned 66, and retirement became real. In meetings with our advisor, we raised concerns about having most of our money still dependent on market performance. Would we have time to recover from another significant downturn at 66 and 69? He suggested moving more money into bonds and rebalanced slightly, but not significantly. When we asked specifically how we would generate income in retirement, the answer was broad: we would apply a percentage of our portfolio each year to supplement Social Security.

There were no dollar amounts. No timeline. No detailed strategy. We left those meetings feeling the same way we had decades earlier: retirement was still vague and obscure. We didn’t know if we had enough. We didn’t know how income would actually work. Once again, we didn’t know what we didn’t know.

The Conversation That Changed Everything

Around that same time, a respected colleague recommended I speak with a retirement-specialized advisor who works specifically with accomplished women and couples entering retirement. We weren’t looking to change firms. But I accepted an introductory meeting. In my first one-hour conversation with an advisor at Theia Financial, we were asked about our needs, wishes, and wants in retirement — not just our portfolio.

She gave me a tool to evaluate our monthly income needs. She explained Social Security and Medicare options we didn’t know existed. We discussed tax implications in retirement. But the moment that changed everything was when she said:

“There is no retirement without a reliable monthly income.”

That statement hit me deeply. We did not understand how our investments would convert into dependable income. A light switched on. We were in danger of repeating our 40s mistake — not because we had a bad advisor this time, but because we were facing an entirely different financial mission.

Accumulation and De-Accumulation Are Not the Same

Like many people, we believed once you found the right advisor, they would guide you through every stage of life. But I suddenly understood something critical: building assets and generating retirement income are two completely different disciplines.

Our advisor was excellent at accumulation and long-term investment management. His focus was staying the course. But retirement requires de-accumulation strategy — coordinated income planning, tax distribution management, Social Security optimization, Medicare decisions, and risk mitigation. These are different missions requiring different expertise. When I shared this realization with my husband, he agreed we needed to explore this further.

We Learned We Could Retire — With Guaranteed Monthly Income

After several meetings and detailed information exchanges, the team at Theia Financial completed significant upfront work to develop a definitive retirement plan. The result was clarity we had never experienced before. Their plan demonstrated that we could retire and generate reliable monthly income for the rest of our lives — income to meet essential needs and discretionary income to support our wants and wishes.

Retirement was no longer vague or obscure. After a lifetime of hard work, we could finally look forward to this next chapter with clarity and confidence.

What Don’t Others Know About Retirement?

We are profoundly grateful that, by chance, we were introduced to Theia Financial at exactly the right time. But what if that meeting had never happened? Millions of people will enter retirement trusting that their current advisor is equipped to guide them through this stage — without realizing the difference between growing assets and turning them into income. You have one chance to get retirement right. Your retirement plan should not feel foggy. It should be crystal clear.

Ask yourself:

• Does your advisor have extensive experience building retirement income plans that coordinate investments, Social Security, and annuity products designed to generate lifelong income?

• Have you seen your retirement income mapped out in actual dollars and timelines?

• Is your advisor current on evolving tax laws and how they impact distributions?

• Are they equipped to guide Medicare decisions and healthcare planning?

• Do they understand the nuances of Social Security for your specific situation?

• Have they asked about your needs, wants, and wishes?

• Are you 100% confident your advisor can develop a holistic plan that includes income you won’t outlive?

We learned — thankfully before it was too late — that accumulation and retirement income strategy are not the same thing. And what you don’t know at this stage can cost you everything. Don’t wait to get retirement right — schedule your Strategy Session with a Theia Financial advisor today.