We meet with a substantial number of people each year who are preparing for retirement. If you
are planning on retiring, the thought of structuring your retirement income plan can feel like
trying to solve a rubix cube. On one side of the cube is your 401(k). On another, your pension.
Flip the cube over and there is your social security. The other sides of the cube are your spouse’s
401(k), IRA, and his/her social security. Solving for one color can feel daunting in and of itself.
For example, you typically have four options when trying to decide what to do with your 401(k),
each having different rules and tax implications. You may open the availability of choices to
investments that did not exist in your 401(k). Distribution rules vary depending upon the type of
retirement account, something you may not have considered during the accumulation phase
when you didn’t have to concern yourself with anything other than contributions and rates of
return. Just when you solve for the 401(k) color, flip over to another side and you have decisions
to make for social security, another color. What is the best age to begin social security? What is
the best way to claim? On your own benefit, your spouse’s benefit, on a divorced spousal option
or widow or widowers' benefit? Then there are pension decisions representing another color: is it
best to select a joint option that covers both lives, or take the larger single life option and
purchase a life insurance policy in the event that the pension recipient dies before their spouse?

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It is obviously important to know the options, consequences and rules of each “side” of your
retirement rubix cube. Your and your spouse’s 401(k), IRAs, pension and social security are
important each and of themselves. But the best retirement plans are put together solving for the
entire puzzle. How and when you take your social security, for example, will definitely affect
when and how much money you will use from your own personal investments. My professional
pet peeve is when a source of so called “advice” gets people to focus on only one of these sides
of the cube. Articles written on the mathematics of social security and potentially how to get the
most out of the program are great if that is all you are concerned with. Seminars selling a one-
size-fits all investment to everyone who shows up for a free dinner obviously dismiss the fact
that circumstances are different from one individual to the next. Co-workers who will tell you
that a particular pension option is always the best, really have no clue how that benefit election
will affect individuals differently based upon the other sides of their cube. In fact, that is entirely
the reason that different options exist. Options were put into place not to try and trick you, but to
give you the opportunity to calculate what is best for you. It’s much easier to solve for only one
side of the cube than it is the entire cube. My point has become obvious by now. About the only
retirement advice that I can give to everyone unequivocally, is to make sure that you are not

messing up “blue” when you are paying attention to the “red” or “yellow” sides of your
retirement rubix cube.