As we approach the end of the year, you may be feeling the demands of the past few months and beginning to think about what you’d like 2027 to hold. Perhaps you’re looking forward to time with family, a slower morning or simply being home without another trip on the calendar.
There’s an opportunity to spend a little time with those wishes now, before the holidays bring renewed energy and familiar routines gather pace again. What would you like to carry into the coming year? Where would you welcome a little more room?
You may still love your work and find yourself wanting more afternoons with your grandchildren or fewer days away from home. If you’re beginning to think about working less or planning to step back from work, listening to those wishes can be a gentle starting point for a more intentional conversation about what you hope that time will allow.
When we begin that conversation together, we’d like to hear what you’re imagining. Understanding what matters to you helps us explore the financial decisions in the context of your life.
Why a wealth advisor asks about your health, family and work
When you imagine working less, the possibilities often reach into several parts of your life.
You may be looking forward to giving your health more attention or spending time with people you haven’t seen as often as you’d like. There may be parts of your work you hope to continue, alongside something you’ve wanted to learn or become involved in.
At Amida, we explore these connections through the Five Pillars of Wealth: Health, Relationships, Finances, Career and Personal Growth. They are part of how we understand wealth being™, bringing your financial decisions into the context of the life you’re living and the one you hope to create.
More time with family may mean reducing your working hours. Caring for a parent may call for both time and financial support. A different working rhythm may give you room to care for your health, while your future care remains part of the planning conversation.
Understanding these connections helps us consider your investments alongside the people, responsibilities and opportunities that matter to you. The following questions offer a thoughtful place to begin.
Five questions to explore before working less
- What would you like finished before you step back?
As you begin to picture a different pace, you may find yourself thinking about a few things you’d like to take care of first. Perhaps there’s a home repair that has waited for your attention, paperwork you’d like to put in order or a handover at work you want to approach with care.
Having these responsibilities settled may help you feel more ready to make a change. Some will take time, and others will need an allocation from your resources.
Sharing them early allows us to consider those costs alongside what you’ll need for everyday life. It also helps us understand what you hope to have behind you when that first year begins.
- What would an ordinary week look like?
With a little more space in your calendar, how might you like to spend a Tuesday?
Perhaps you’d collect your grandchildren from school and stay for dinner. You might enjoy a few hours of work, with the freedom to spend the afternoon at home. There may be fewer business trips, or more time to help a parent whose needs are changing.
An ordinary week can tell us a great deal about what you’re hoping for. It helps us explore how your spending may change and when you’ll need resources available. It also gives us room to talk about the routines that support your health and how you’d like to use your energy.
These everyday details help give your plan a shape that feels familiar to you.
- Who else is part of this decision?
As you imagine that week, you may be curious about how your partner pictures it too.
One of you may be looking forward to travel, while the other hopes to spend more time close to family. You may both want more time together, with different ideas about how you’d enjoy it. You may also be thinking about supporting adult children, or a parent may need more care.
There’s value in hearing these hopes and responsibilities while you’re still exploring what comes next. Allowing each person to share what matters can help you understand where your wishes meet and where you may need to make room for different priorities.
Those conversations give us a fuller understanding of the people your plan needs to consider.
- When would you begin drawing on your portfolio?
As your picture becomes clearer, we can begin to explore how your resources would support it.
If you reduce your working hours before retirement, your income may change before you leave work altogether. That gives us a reason to consider when you might begin drawing on your portfolio and which accounts you would use first.
We can talk through those choices with you, considering when you’ll need money available and how withdrawals fit with your other commitments.
Withdrawals can also have tax consequences, so we coordinate this part of your plan with your tax professional. Exploring the timing together gives each advisor the opportunity to consider their part before you begin making changes.
- What would you like to keep growing?
As you make room in your week, there may be interests or relationships you’d like to give more attention.
Perhaps you’d enjoy sharing what you’ve learned through mentoring. You may want to become more involved in a cause, give more of your time or money, learn something new or begin a small business.
Your work may have offered a sense of contribution and opportunities to keep growing. It can be helpful to consider how you’d like those experiences to continue as your working life changes.
Sharing these intentions allows us to consider the resources they may need, alongside your everyday costs and other commitments. What you’re looking forward to deserves a place in the plan too.
Bringing your retirement planning into the conversation
Together, your answers help us understand what you would need in place and what stepping back could allow.
Two people may have similar accounts and both hope to leave full-time work in two years. One may want to renovate their home before then, while the other is caring for a parent. Those circumstances shape how much they may need, when they’ll need it and what should remain available.
As your wealth advisor, we advise on investments and retirement, and coordinate tax and estate planning with your tax professional and attorney. Your tax professional can help you understand how the timing and source of withdrawals affect your tax return. Your attorney can help ensure your estate documents reflect the next chapter you’re planning.
Sharing what matters to you gives each professional a clearer understanding of the life those arrangements are intended to support.
Talking it through at home
If you share your life with a partner, you might find a quiet moment to talk about what you each imagine for the year ahead and beyond.
Begin with an ordinary week. Share what you’d like to have settled before working less, and the one thing you most hope this time will make room for.
You may hear something you hadn’t realized your partner was looking forward to. One of you may hope to travel, while the other wants to be close to grandchildren. One may enjoy the thought of continuing to consult, while the other feels ready to finish working.
Giving both pictures some attention helps you understand each other’s hopes. Writing them down also gives your advisors something concrete to consider as you explore how those wishes might fit together.
If you’re planning on your own, the same exercise can offer clarity. Describe the week you’d like, who you hope to spend it with and what you’d like it to include. Your answers can help you begin a conversation about the support and resources you may need.
What to bring to a first conversation
You’re welcome to talk with us while your thoughts are still taking shape. There may be possibilities you’re curious about and questions you haven’t yet had the opportunity to explore.
It helps to bring:
- the responsibilities you’d like settled first
- a rough sense of what an ordinary month costs today
- your recent account statements
- the questions you and your partner haven’t settled yet
There’s room for what you don’t know, too. Those questions help us understand where a conversation would be most useful.
You can learn more about how we work and about our founder, Ana Ramos.
Frequently asked questions
- How early should I start planning to step back from work? There is no fixed rule. Beginning before you’ve chosen a date leaves more room to explore possibilities, such as working fewer hours first or moving into a different role.
- Do I have to stop working completely? No. Working fewer hours, consulting, part-time work or a phased handover are all options to talk through. A gradual reduction in work is sometimes called phased retirement. Each approach affects when income comes in and when you may need to draw on your portfolio.
- What is the difference between a wealth advisor and a tax professional here? A wealth advisor considers your investments and retirement plan as a whole. A tax professional advises on the tax implications of your choices, including the timing of withdrawals. We work alongside your tax professional.
- Does Amida provide tax or legal advice? No. We coordinate tax and estate planning with your tax professional and attorney.
- What should I bring to a first meeting? Recent account statements, a sense of your monthly costs, the responsibilities you’d like settled first and any questions on your mind. You don’t need to have everything worked out before we begin.
Start with the life you’re planning for
As you look toward 2027, it may be worth returning to the wishes that have been finding their way into your thoughts. More time with family. A little less travel. The opportunity to continue work you enjoy at a pace that leaves room for other parts of your life.
Giving those wishes attention now can help you be more intentional about what comes next. You may decide to explore a gradual change, or find that you’d like more time before choosing a direction.
At Amida, we welcome those conversations. Understanding what you hope for helps us consider your investments alongside your health, relationships, work and opportunities for personal growth.
We invite you to book a conversation with the wealth being™ experts at Amida. Together, we can explore what stepping back might look like for you and what you would need in place to support it.
Transform YOUR VISION OF WEALTH®.
Advisory services offered through Amida Wealth Advisors LLC, a registered investment adviser. This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, legal or investment advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Tax rules are subject to change, and eligibility and outcomes depend on individual circumstances. All investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Please consult your wealth advisor and qualified tax and legal professionals about your specific situation.
