Protecting Your Life’s Work

 How a Single Volatile Year Can Redefine Your Retirement

You have worked hard, saved diligently, and spent decades building a nest egg to ensure a comfortable future. For those between the ages of 50 and 65+, the transition from accumulating wealth to distributing it is closer than ever.

However, this transition introduces a critical vulnerability that many pre-retirees overlook until it is too late: Sequence of Returns Risk.

Historical market data shows that if the market drops right as you are about to retire, everything changes. A single bad year at the start of your retirement can significantly reduce your sustainable lifetime income, forcing you to withdraw from a shrinking pool of principal assets.

At SharpStone Financial, we believe planning should never feel rushed or complicated. Founded by Chadley Crull, who has spent nearly 30 years helping individuals protect their financial futures, our firm specializes in helping you create lifetime income that you cannot outlive—built entirely off what you have already achieved, and protected from downside market risk.

The Reality of "Sequence of Returns Risk"

When you are actively working and saving, market corrections are simply buying opportunities. Time is on your side, allowing your retirement savings to recover. However, the math changes completely the moment you stop contributing and start withdrawing.

Consider the historical precedent of two hypothetical retirees, both starting with the exact same initial balance and experiencing the exact same average market returns over a 20-year period:

• Retiree A Experiences strong growth in the first few years of retirement. Because their retirement account grows early on, their annual income withdrawals represent a small percentage of their total wealth, allowing the principal baseline to thrive.
• Retiree B Retires directly into a bear market (similar to the market downturns seen in 2000 or 2008). To meet their living expenses, they pull money out to live on, while their retirement accounts may also be reduced due to downside market risk.

Even if the market rebounds beautifully in years 5 through 20, Retiree B’s portfolio may never fully recover because too much principal was cannibalized during the initial down years. One bad year at the starting line can permanently alter your financial trajectory.

Moving Beyond Market Ups and Downs

A truly secure retirement strategy separates your essential income requirements from the volatility of Wall Street. Our team-based approach focuses on implementing proven retirement and life insurance strategies designed to preserve your hard-earned assets.

Through specialized vehicles like annuities, we can assist you in establishing a steady, contractual, and reliable income stream. By incorporating guaranteed lifetime withdrawal income strategies into your overall roadmap, you help ensure that your base costs such as housing, healthcare, and daily living—are covered, regardless of how the broader market performs. This removes the anxiety of checking ticker symbols and replaces it with predictable clarity.

What to Expect From Your First Conversation

At SharpStone Financial, our focus is entirely on relationships, education, and transparent advice. We provide a collaborative, team-based approach to ensure you receive comprehensive strategies tailored specifically to your unique needs.

Your initial consultation with us is entirely educational:

• No Cost & No Obligation: We believe trust is built at a pace that feels comfortable for you.
• A Dedicated Review: We will look over your retirement timeline, evaluate your current sources of retirement income, and assess any life insurance protection needs.
• A Second Opinion: Many pre-retirees connect with us simply to get an objective second opinion on their current trajectory—and that is perfectly okay.

Do not let a volatile market dictate the quality of your retirement. Let's build a strategy designed for long-term stability rather than short-term trends.