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Stage Ready Financial Planning Joseph Eck, CFP® | Fiduciary Financial Advisor Serving Dayton, Ohio | Retirement Planning that stays in sync with your life.

Providing fee-only wealth management, designed to handle the math so you can enjoy the music. Fiduciary Financial Advisor Serving Dayton, Ohio | Retirement Planning that stays in sync with your life. You’ve spent decades saving for retirement, but the noise of complicated tax rules and stock market volatility can make it feel totally overwhelming. Now that you finally have the free time to travel more and spend time with the grandkids, you shouldn't have to be your own full-time portfolio analyst. Having helped clients prepare for and enjoy retirement for over a decade, I've learned that a great retirement plan isn't just about the accounts you own; it’s about your entire financial life working in sync. That's why Stage Ready Financial Planning was built to help retirees like yourself orchestrate and live their ideal life without stressing about the market or managing spreadsheets. As a fiduciary financial advisor in Dayton, Ohio, my only focus is your success and confidence. But managing your investment accounts is only part of the equation. With the help of your CPA and Attorney, I'll coordinate your taxes, investments, and estate plan into an easy-to-understand, high-performance plan. From tax-efficient retirement withdrawals to risk-tuned portfolios, I'll take on the heavy lifting of managing your wealth, so that every move stays in step with your vision. JOSEPH A ECK, CFP®
Owner & Financial Planner

Since 2015, I have helped families in Dayton and Southwest Ohio harmonize their financial resources with their retirement dreams. Before founding Stage Ready Financial Planning, I served as a Financial Planner at a large firm, where I realized that retirees deserved a more personal partnership—one that orchestrates a plan to stay "in step" with their lives. With a background in music education and over a decade of experience in financial planning, I believe a confident retirement begins with understanding. I don’t just manage portfolios; I "handle the math" and teach the strategies behind it so you can make informed, great decisions about your future. My mission is to combine my love for teaching with a passion for financial freedom, ensuring your investments are tuned to support your lifestyle. In addition to my years of experience, I've earned degrees from Wright State University, and the University of Houston, along with an Executive Certificate in Financial Planning from Xavier University. As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional and a member of the XY Planning Network and NAPFA,
I am committed to the highest fiduciary standards. My wife Kristen and I live in Oakwood with our dachshund pups, Lily and Henry. When I’m not "at the podium" helping clients, you can find me enjoying music, fitness, the ocean, grilling with friends, and spending time with my family.

Rolling a Roth 401(k) into a Roth IRA at retirement resets the five-year tax-free earnings clock. A lot of people headin...
10/05/2026

Rolling a Roth 401(k) into a Roth IRA at retirement resets the five-year tax-free earnings clock. A lot of people heading into retirement don't see that coming.

Let's say you've had a Roth 401(k) at work for 10, 15, even 20 years. You retire and roll it into a Roth IRA. Clean move, but if that Roth IRA is a brand new account, the IRS treats it as a brand new account.

A new five-year clock starts on January 1 of the year the Roth IRA is opened.

That means your Roth 401(k) earnings, which may have been growing for decades, now sit inside an account that just reset in the eyes of the IRS. Pull out growth before that new five-year window closes and before you're 59½, and you might owe income taxes.

The fix? Open a Roth IRA as soon as possible, even with a small contribution. If you already have a Roth IRA with at least five years of history, that timeline stays in sync when you roll in your 401(k).

I'm a big believer in starting the clock as early as possible, especially for people in their 50s who are still a few years from retirement. Opening an account with even a minimal contribution costs almost nothing. But the five-year head start can mean flexibility down the road.

Full breakdown of both Roth IRA five-year rules in my latest blog.

I almost told him to just cash the account out.He inherited a small IRA from his mother. Not the kind of money that make...
09/28/2026

I almost told him to just cash the account out.

He inherited a small IRA from his mother. Not the kind of money that makes you think twice about the tax math. He wanted to simplify things, close the account, move the money to his bank. Totally reasonable.

My gut agreed with him. But I asked if we could hold off a few days so I could run the numbers first.

Glad we didn't.

He's in his late sixties and on Medicare. When that lump sum stacked on top of his regular income, it pushed him right against an IRMAA threshold. IRMAA is a Medicare surcharge that kicks in when your income crosses certain levels and it doesn't hit you immediately. It shows up two years later in a letter from Social Security telling you that you'll pay higher monthly premiums.

So we spread the withdrawals over two years instead. He gets the same money but the tax bracket stays put and Medicare premiums don't move.

The tax bill from taking it all at once wasn't the main problem. The Medicare cost was.

The accounts that feel too small to worry about are often the ones worth slowing down for.

Scary headlines are one of the most useful planning tools I have.Not because they predict the future. Because they test ...
09/21/2026

Scary headlines are one of the most useful planning tools I have.

Not because they predict the future. Because they test whether your plan is actually built for the life you're living.

I'm in fall planning meetings right now, and the stress is real. Families are watching markets bounce. They're hearing terrifying things about AI, global conflict, what comes next. And I'm getting some version of this question pretty regularly: "Do we need to move things to safety?"

Here's what I've been walking through with them:

First we confirm what's most important to them and look at their cash cushion. How much do they have on hand for those travel plans and house projects in the next 12-36 months?

Then we look at the bond and cash allocation inside their portfolio. How many years of income do they have in conservative assets that don't require selling stock if the market drops?

I've learned over the years that when someone realizes they don't need to touch their stocks for four or five years, the tension in their voice changes.

This is because they realize their plan was never random.

Stocks, bonds, and cash each have a job. Stocks are there to grow your money over time. Bonds and cash are there to fund your life when markets struggle, so you're not forced to sell at the wrong time.

When headlines get noisy, the most valuable thing you can do isn't change your strategy. It's make sure you understand the one you already have in place.

That's exactly what these meetings are for.

We tried to save money on hotels on this trip.We picked spots close to the parks at a reasonable price. They looked fine...
09/14/2026

We tried to save money on hotels on this trip.

We picked spots close to the parks at a reasonable price. They looked fine online.

But one had a clogged drain. One had a shower I'd describe as character-building. One had a lobby that smelled like it had a story we didn't want to know.

We saved a few hundred dollars.

And I'd take every dollar of that back right now.

This is something that shows up in retirement planning too. The cheapest option and the best option are rarely the same thing.

That doesn't mean spend more on everything. It means know what you're actually optimizing for.

When you're building a retirement income plan, you can absolutely cut costs in places that don't matter to you. But if you cut them in places that do, you don't save money. You just pay for an outcome you didn't want.

The goal is to spend your money on what gives you the life you're trying to live. Not to spend as little as possible and hope it all works out.

Cheaper isn't always wrong. Cheaper as the primary driver usually is.

When you think about retirement planning, you probably think about the math. Safe withdrawal rates, tax efficiency, sequ...
09/07/2026

When you think about retirement planning, you probably think about the math. Safe withdrawal rates, tax efficiency, sequence of returns risk...

I think about those things every day, but the math is in service of something. And for most of the people I work with, that something includes other people.

My wife and I just spent five days traveling with her dad, watching him check off stadiums from a bucket list he's been working through for years. We covered five parks. He's now at 24 of 30. We've been with him for 15.

The flights, hotels, tickets, meals. None of that was cheap.

But that money bought something that doesn't show up in any spreadsheet: five full days with someone we love, doing something that lights him up.

That's what retirement income is supposed to make possible.

When I help people build a retirement plan, I want a clear picture of what they're planning for. The bills, the taxes, the investment income. And also the trips, the family, the things that have been on hold.

Your money is a tool. The goal is to orchestrate it well enough that you can actually use it for what matters.

When someone inherits money, the first questions I get are usually around taxes. Which makes sense. The rules are tricky...
08/31/2026

When someone inherits money, the first questions I get are usually around taxes.

Which makes sense. The rules are tricky and they matter. But I always want to make sure a second conversation happens too.

What would be meaningful when you think about the gift you've been given?

When someone you love passes away and leaves money behind, that inheritance is more than a dollar amount. It has intention behind it. It might represent decades of work, of saving, of choosing not to spend so that you could benefit from it.

I encourage my clients to ask themselves a few questions before making withdrawal decisions.

Is there something your loved one would have wanted you to do? A trip they always talked about. A grandkid's education. A charity they cared about.

Does any of this money fit naturally into your own plan? A home project you've been putting off. A year with lower income where a distribution makes tax sense. Something that already has a purpose.

Is there an opportunity to give now, while you can actually see the impact?

And I say all of this from the mindset that every dollar in your plan should have a job. An inherited IRA is no different. When you get in tune with what that money could actually accomplish, the tax decisions get a lot easier.

My recent blog has the full breakdown of inherited IRA rules, including the mechanics and common mistakes. But the purpose piece is the one I'd start with.

The first thing to do after inheriting an IRA isn't what you might think.It's take a breath.You've just lost someone you...
08/24/2026

The first thing to do after inheriting an IRA isn't what you might think.

It's take a breath.

You've just lost someone you care about. The money isn't going anywhere. The account will be there when you're ready to think clearly.

Then once you've given yourself some space, here's a basic checklist of next steps:

1. Gather the paperwork: Find recent account statements and a certified copy of the death certificate. You'll need both.

2. Contact your financial advisor and CPA: The tax rules on inherited accounts are specific to your situation. Getting the right team in place before you make decisions is a smart move.

3. Contact the custodian: They'll walk you through the paperwork for either a distribution or a transfer. If you're not planning on cashing the account out, ask for a direct transfer. If they issue you a check directly, you can't put the money back, and it counts as a fully taxable distribution.

4. Give some thought to what's meaningful: Before deciding on a withdrawal strategy, consider what the money could actually do for you. A charitable gift. A trip. Something your loved one would have wanted. The financial plan should follow the intention.

Inherited IRA mistakes are almost always the result of moving too fast while you're grieving. There's rarely a reason to rush. Take your time, get the right people involved, and make a decision you'll be proud of.

Many people assume that the biggest financial risk in retirement is a stock market drop. But one of the first hits new r...
08/17/2026

Many people assume that the biggest financial risk in retirement is a stock market drop. But one of the first hits new retirees take happens regardless of how the market is doing.

It's the IRS's mandatory 20% federal tax withholding on 401(k) and 403(b) distributions.

If you're retired or retiring soon, here's why that matters. Let's say you're in the 12% federal bracket and need $40,000 net from your savings. If you pull from a 401(k), the IRS requires 20% federal withholding regardless of your actual tax bracket. So you'd have to withdraw closer to $52,000 just to cover the taxes and still take home what you need.

That might be a higher withdrawal rate than you needed. And you can't put the overage back after you file in April.

Rolling your accounts into an IRA lets you fix this problem. IRAs allow you to choose exactly how much to withhold. You match it to your actual tax bracket (or whatever your CPA says). You pull only what you need and your withdrawal rate stays where your plan says it should be.

One important note: if you're retiring between age 55 and 59.5, there's a reason to pause before rolling over. The IRS waives the 10% early withdrawal penalty on distributions from employer plans in that window. If you roll those funds into an IRA before you turn 59.5, you lose that exemption. It's worth a conversation with your financial adviser before moving anything.

And whenever you do roll over, don't forget to re-do your beneficiaries.

One rollover decision at the start of retirement can affect every withdrawal you make for the next 20 years. Link to my recent blog article on this topic and more in the comments.

Retirement budgets don't usually blow up because of high grocery and utility bills. They stop working because of stuff t...
08/10/2026

Retirement budgets don't usually blow up because of high grocery and utility bills. They stop working because of stuff that was never in the original plan.

New retirees in Dayton usually have a good handle on their normal monthly expenses. They know their utilities, insurance premiums. Where their plan quietly drifts is on irregular costs: a new roof, a kitchen update, a year where travel was higher than expected because they finally had the time.

Those lump expenses are where the withdrawal rate gets away from people.

You don't have to track every dollar you spend in retirement. But you should make sure your planned withdrawal rate reflects what you actually spend. If you're pulling a certain amount each month and taking extra withdrawals throughout the year, your real withdrawal rate is higher than you think.

I've found that the year one mark is a great time to start checking this. You ran a projection. Now you have actual spending history. Maybe your monthly target increases by a few hundred dollars. Maybe you add a home maintenance savings account. You look at the real numbers, update your target, and keep going.

That's how a retirement plan is supposed to work. One adjustment at a time, based on what's actually happening.

I just wrote a blog article about this and some other important items to check once you've fully retired.

The most common Social Security maximization advice is to delay until 70. And for some people, that's the right call. Bu...
08/03/2026

The most common Social Security maximization advice is to delay until 70. And for some people, that's the right call. But not always.

I'm a big believer in maximizing total lifetime income, not just your monthly check. Those are two different goals, and confusing them can cost you money.

If you delay Social Security beyond your full retirement age, you'll lean harder on your portfolio in the early retirement years. And that adds real risk. If the market drops and you're pulling heavily from your investments while waiting on a larger benefit, you could lock in permanent losses. And depending on your health and life expectancy, delaying to 70 might not actually give you the most income over the course of your life.

Here's a question worth sitting with: what combination of Social Security timing, pension start date, and portfolio withdrawals gives you the most income, with the least tax, over your lifetime?

My recent Dayton Pre-Retirement Checklist covers Social Security strategy alongside nine other steps. Check it out if you're getting close to retirement.

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1 Oakwood Avenue, Unit 694
Dayton, OH
45409

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Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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