Retiring in two years: choosing an advisor in South Jersey.
Two years out, retirement planning stops being about accumulation and becomes about distribution. The questions change from how much you can save to how much you can spend, from which accounts, in what order, and what happens if markets fall in the first few years. An advisor evaluated on that timeline should be assessed on distribution work specifically, not on investment performance alone.
On this page
What changes in the final two years
For most of a working life, a market decline is an opportunity. Contributions continue, share prices are lower, and time repairs the damage. That arithmetic reverses at retirement. Once withdrawals begin, a decline removes shares permanently, and those shares are no longer present when markets recover.
This is why the last two years before retirement are a genuine transition rather than simply the end of a countdown. The portfolio's job changes. So does the definition of risk: it stops being volatility in the abstract and becomes the risk of running short of money at eighty-five.
The practical consequence is that the planning work in front of you is different in kind from the work behind you. Building a spending plan, establishing a cash reserve, and setting a withdrawal order are not refinements of an accumulation strategy. They are a different exercise.
Sequence-of-returns risk
Two portfolios can produce the same average annual return over twenty years and leave their owners in very different positions. The variable is order. If the poor years arrive first, while withdrawals are also being taken, the portfolio can be depleted well before the good years arrive to help.
There is no way to control the order of returns. What can be structured is the exposure to it. Common approaches include holding a defined reserve of near-term spending outside the market so that withdrawals in a down year do not have to come from equities, setting withdrawal rules that flex with portfolio value, and adjusting allocation as the withdrawal date approaches. Each involves a tradeoff, usually giving up some expected growth in exchange for reducing the damage a bad first few years can do.
Worth asking directly: ask any advisor you are evaluating how they would structure the first three years of withdrawals if markets fell twenty percent the month you retired. The specificity of the answer tells you whether distribution planning is something they do routinely or something they are describing in general terms.
The health care bridge before 65
Retiring before Medicare eligibility creates a coverage gap that has to be funded from somewhere. The usual options are COBRA continuation from a former employer, a plan bought through the Health Insurance Marketplace, coverage under a spouse's plan, or a retiree medical benefit where one exists.
These are not equivalent, and the choice is not purely a health care decision. Marketplace premium subsidies are calculated from household income, so the way you draw income in those bridge years changes what coverage costs. A withdrawal strategy chosen without reference to the coverage decision can raise the premium; a coverage decision made without reference to the withdrawal plan can constrain it. They belong in the same conversation.
Decisions that are hard to undo
A few decisions in this window are difficult or impossible to reverse, which is what makes the timeline matter more than the number of choices remaining.
Pension elections. Where a pension exists, the choice between a single-life payout and a survivor option is generally locked once made. It is worth modeling against the alternative uses of the difference in monthly income.
Social Security timing. Claiming age changes the benefit permanently and affects a surviving spouse's benefit as well. There is a limited window to withdraw an application, and it comes with conditions.
Rollover mechanics. How employer plan assets move, and whether any after-tax or company stock treatment applies, is easier to get right the first time than to correct afterward.
Other decisions in this period stay open longer. Catch-up contributions, the shape of a cash reserve, and the order of account withdrawals can all be revisited. Distinguishing between the two categories is most of what a good planning conversation does at this stage.
How advisors are paid
Compensation structure is worth understanding because it shapes what advice you are likely to receive, not because one model is universally correct.
Fee-only means the advisor is paid by clients and receives no commissions or third-party payments. Fee-based means the advisor charges fees for some services and may also receive commissions on certain products, commonly insurance. Commission-based means compensation comes from product sales. The middle category causes the most confusion, because the term sounds like the first one.
The useful question is not which label a firm uses but which specific services generate fees, which generate commissions, and what the total looks like in a normal year. Any firm should be willing to put that in writing before you engage. For our own structure, see the disclosure at the foot of this page and our article on how to choose a fee-only advisor in New Jersey.
How to evaluate an advisor on this timeline
Credentials are a filter, not an answer. The CFP® marks and the RICP® designation both indicate formal training, the latter specifically in retirement distribution. Neither tells you whether a particular advisor does this work often or does it well. Certifications are worth verifying with the issuing body rather than taken from a website.
What separates candidates in practice is usually the process. Ask how a plan gets built, what happens between annual reviews, who you will actually speak to when you have a question, and what the firm does when a plan needs to change mid-year. Then ask what they would want to see from you before giving any recommendation. An advisor who wants tax returns, plan documents, and a spending picture before offering an opinion is describing a different engagement than one who leads with a product.
Questions worth bringing to a first meeting: Are you a fiduciary at all times in this relationship, and will you confirm that in writing? Which of your services generate fees and which generate commissions? How often do you work with households retiring inside two years? How would you sequence my withdrawals across account types? How frequently will the plan be reviewed, and what triggers a review outside that schedule?
Verifying registration and history
Two public databases let you check any firm or individual before you make contact. The SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure system at adviserinfo.sec.gov holds Form ADV, which sets out a firm's services, fee structure, and disclosed conflicts of interest. FINRA BrokerCheck at brokercheck.finra.org shows registration and licensing history along with any reported customer complaints or regulatory actions.
Both are free, and neither requires you to speak to the firm first. Reluctance to hand over Form ADV Part 2 is worth noticing, though in practice you do not need to ask for it: it is already public.
What local knowledge is and is not worth
Proximity is genuinely useful for some things and irrelevant for others. New Jersey's treatment of retirement income differs from neighbouring states, and the pension and other retirement income exclusion has eligibility thresholds that reward planning attention. Property tax levels vary meaningfully between Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties, which matters if a move is under consideration. Hospital networks differ by town, which affects Medicare plan selection later.
What proximity does not substitute for is competence in distribution planning. A nearby advisor who does not do this work regularly is not a better choice than a distant one who does. Location is a convenience factor and a source of specific local knowledge. It is not a qualification.
We work with pre-retirees and retirees across Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties, and the communities we serve are listed on our cities served page.
Frequently asked questions
What is sequence-of-returns risk and why does it matter close to retirement?
It is the exposure created when market losses arrive at the same time withdrawals begin. Two portfolios can earn the same average return over a period and produce very different outcomes depending on the order in which those returns occur. Losses early in the withdrawal phase are harder to recover from, because the withdrawals themselves remove shares that would otherwise participate in a recovery.
How do I cover health care before Medicare eligibility at 65?
Common approaches include COBRA continuation coverage, a plan purchased through the Health Insurance Marketplace, coverage under a spouse's employer plan, or a retiree medical benefit if one is offered. Each carries different costs, provider networks, and enrollment deadlines. Because Marketplace subsidies are income-based, the choice interacts with how you draw income in those years, so the coverage decision and the withdrawal decision are best made together.
Is two years enough time to change anything?
Yes. Several decisions remain open on that timeline, including catch-up contributions, the structure of a cash reserve, the order in which accounts will be drawn, Social Security claiming timing, and in some cases partial Roth conversions during lower-income years. What narrows is the margin for correcting an error, not the number of available choices.
How do I verify an advisor's registration and disciplinary history?
Two public databases cover this. The SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure system at adviserinfo.sec.gov shows a firm's Form ADV, including its services, fee structure, and disclosed conflicts of interest. FINRA BrokerCheck at brokercheck.finra.org shows registration history, licensing, and any reported customer complaints or regulatory actions. Both are free and neither requires you to contact the firm first.
Key takeaways
- The final two years are a shift from accumulation to distribution, not a continuation of the same plan.
- Sequence-of-returns risk cannot be removed, but exposure to it can be structured deliberately.
- Retiring before 65 makes the coverage decision and the withdrawal decision a single problem, because Marketplace subsidies are income-based.
- Pension elections, Social Security timing, and rollover mechanics are the decisions hardest to reverse.
- Verify any advisor through adviserinfo.sec.gov and brokercheck.finra.org before you engage, not after.
Related articles.
Two years out is the right time to start.
If you are retiring inside the next two years and want the income, tax, health care, and estate pieces looked at together rather than separately, we would like to help.
This article is educational and general in nature. It is not investment, tax, or legal advice, nor a solicitation to buy or sell any product, and it does not account for your income, assets, tax situation, health, or goals. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Tax figures, program thresholds, and regulatory rules change; verify current details through primary sources and consult your own financial, tax, or legal professional regarding your circumstances.
About how we are structured. Investment advisory services are offered through Maisch Financial Partners, LLC, a New Jersey state registered investment adviser. Insurance services are offered through Maisch Financial Group, LLC. Our advisors and insurance representatives may offer clients advice and products from each entity, and insurance representatives may receive commissions on insurance products. This is a conflict of interest that is disclosed in our Form ADV. No client is under any obligation to purchase any insurance product.