Retirement income planning for the years before and after work

Grow with purpose. Retire with a paycheck.

You have spent years building your retirement savings. But an investment account is not automatically a retirement plan. We help families turn what they have built into a clearer plan for income, continued growth, taxes, protection, and the people you care about.

Talk Through Your Retirement Paycheck See How We Help

Specializing in the years before and after retirement.
Still building toward retirement? See how we help families grow with purpose.

Personal guidance. Broader support. Independent custody.

Personal Pathfinders relationship Your Pathfinders advisor leads the relationship, knows your story, and helps coordinate the decisions.

Broader Foundations support Foundations Investment Advisors supports investment management, client service, operations, and compliance.

Independent custody Eligible investment assets are held with established independent custodians, including Fidelity and Charles Schwab, rather than directly by Pathfinders.

Does this feel familiar?

You can have a retirement plan and still not know how retirement will actually work.

You have a projection or withdrawal rate, but not a clear picture of what is expected to arrive in checking each month.
You are not sure what changes if markets fall during the first years of retirement.
Social Security, pensions, taxes, Roth decisions, and account order do not feel like one connected plan.
One spouse can explain the details more confidently than the other.
You know what you own, but not the job each part is supposed to perform.

A better next step

That does not mean your current plan is wrong.

It can simply mean there are still important pieces to connect.

A withdrawal guideline can be useful. But it is not the only answer to how income, taxes, market risk, flexibility, and your spouse's future work together.

Imagine being able to explain your plan in one minute: where income is expected to come from, what stays accessible, what remains invested for later, how taxes fit, and what both spouses need to understand.

That is the clarity we work to create.

From growth to paycheck

Your savings have done one job. Retirement asks them to do the next.

A good plan does not abandon growth or pretend every dollar has the same job. It organizes the work so accumulation, transition, and income each have a purpose.

Build

During your working years, the primary job is accumulation: saving, investing, and allowing your money to grow.

Growth with direction Explore planning for the years ahead

Transition

As retirement approaches, income, taxes, market risk, timing, and both spouses' understanding need to start working together.

The shift before the paycheck

Paycheck

When work stops, your plan needs to help replace the paycheck from work—without asking every part of your money to perform the same job.

Income by design

Not sure whether your accounts are prepared for the transition? Get a Second Opinion

Five questions a clear plan answers

A clear retirement plan answers five important questions.

These questions connect the numbers to the life, family, risks, and responsibilities your money is meant to support.

Income

Where will our monthly retirement paycheck come from?

Savings, Social Security, pensions, investments, and other income sources connect into a plan you can explain.

Investments

What job does each account or investment have now?

Different portions of your money serve different jobs: income, access, stability, growth, or legacy.

Taxes

Are we choosing when to address taxes?

Distribution planning, Roth conversion questions, and account order can shape the retirement picture.

Protection

What changes if life does not cooperate?

Markets, health, inflation, and family needs deserve room in your plan before they become urgent.

Legacy

What do we want to remain for the people and causes we care about?

Your plan reflects the responsibilities that matter beyond the account balance.

Founded by Rick and Sean Sparkman A real family story shaped the planning approach.

Founded by Rick and Sean Sparkman

Someone who knows your story. A team that helps keep your plan moving.

Rick and Sean built Pathfinders after meeting families who had done the hard part: worked, saved, and built retirement accounts, but still could not clearly explain how retirement income would work. That belief became the PATH.

Your Pathfinders advisor leads the relationship, gets to know your family, and helps coordinate the decisions in front of you.

Behind that relationship, Foundations Investment Advisors supports the advisory work with investment management, client service, operations, and compliance.

Someone who knows the whole story

Your advisor understands more than the accounts. They understand the people, priorities, and concerns behind them.

Broader resources behind your advisor

Through Foundations Investment Advisors, your advisor is supported by investment-management, client-service, operational, and compliance resources.

The PATH in every conversation

The PATH keeps every conversation grounded in purpose, thoughtfulness, and plain-English explanations.

A personal relationship, supported by a broader advisory platform.

Meet the Pathfinders team

The PATH behind your plan

The PATH keeps the planning conversation tied to real life.

Money is not the goal. It is a tool for creating freedom, time, meaningful experiences, confidence, and stronger relationships. These four values help us define what your money is for and how decisions are made.

Prosperity

What does enough make possible?

Prosperity is more than account value. It can mean stability, time with family, generosity, choice, and the confidence to enjoy what you worked hard to build.

Adventure

What life does your plan make room for?

Adventure can mean travel, golf, service, grandchildren, work by choice, a new chapter, or quiet days at home. We build your plan around your version.

Thoughtfulness

Do all the important decisions work together?

Income, investments, taxes, protection, legacy, and timing affect one another. A thoughtful plan sees the whole picture before recommending a change.

Honesty

Do you understand the recommendation before deciding?

We explain what a recommendation is meant to do, what it costs, where it could fall short, and what other choices deserve consideration.

Prosperity and Adventure define what your money is for. Thoughtfulness and Honesty shape how the choices are made.

Read the full PATH philosophy

A situation we often see

Your investments can be sound and important retirement questions can still be unanswered.

You can already have an advisor, a projection, and investments you are comfortable with, and still be unsure which account creates income first, what changes during a difficult market, how taxes fit, or what the surviving spouse would need to manage alone.

Your plan can be straightforward or complex. The need to understand how the pieces work together does not change.

First question What does your money need to make possible?

We begin with the life you want to protect: dependable income, accessible money, family responsibilities, tax decisions, health and market risks, and the long-term priorities your plan has to carry.

The PATH What job does each part have?

Then we give the dollars specific jobs. Retirement income needs a dependable source. Short-term needs require accessible money. Market risk needs a withdrawal plan. Later years need assets positioned for growth, inflation, family, and legacy.

A well-built portfolio matters. A coordinated plan connects it to the life and people depending on it.

See how retirement income planning works

The planning experience

A good conversation leaves you feeling clearer, not smaller.

You are not talked down to, rushed, or buried in language that only advisors use. You leave knowing what matters, which choices need attention, and what the next step is.

Listen

We start with your life, concerns, family, income needs, and the accounts you already have.

Build

We organize the decisions around what your money needs to accomplish.

Guide

We help put your plan in place, monitor it, and adjust when life changes.

Questions worth answering

A few things people usually want to know before we talk.

The first conversation is meant to help you understand whether Pathfinders is the right fit and what a thoughtful next step could look like.

Who is Pathfinders best suited for?

Our primary focus is helping families prepare for and live through retirement. We also work with families in the building years who want investing, taxes, protection, and future retirement decisions to develop as one coordinated plan.

What happens in the first conversation?

We listen to what you are trying to figure out, help organize the questions, and decide together whether a deeper look would be useful.

Do I have to move everything?

No. The first step is understanding what you have and what it is meant to do. Decisions about accounts come later.

How is Pathfinders compensated?

Compensation depends on the services involved. It may include an advisory fee, a planning fee, or compensation from an insurance company when an insurance product is used. Before you agree to anything, we explain how compensation works, which costs apply to your situation, and who receives them.

Take the first step

Let's have a conversation.

We will listen to what you are trying to accomplish, help you understand where you stand today, and walk through any options worth considering. You could find that your current plan is working well. You could uncover opportunities to improve it. Either way, our goal is for you to leave with greater clarity and no pressure to make a decision.

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