Derek J. Delaney - PharmD Financial Planning LLC

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Derek J. Delaney - PharmD Financial Planning LLC Welcome to PharmD Financial Planning. I am a flat-fee, fiduciary, and location-independent retirement planner.

My mission is to help my clients give themselves permission to retire. To learn more about PharmD FP, check-out the firms disclosures here 👇
https://pharmdfp.com/disclosures

10/01/2026

October 1st is a good reminder:

There are only three months left to make some of your best retirement planning moves for 2026.

If you’re within five years of retirement, this is a great time to review:

• Roth conversion opportunities

• Capital gains and loss harvesting

• Charitable giving strategies• 401(k) and HSA contributions

• Medicare and IRMAA planning

• Required Minimum Distributions

• Your retirement income plan for next year

The mistake I often see?

Waiting until December.

By then, some opportunities may be harder, or impossible, to execute. Good retirement planning isn’t just about picking investments.

It’s about coordinating your investments, taxes, income, Social Security, Medicare, and estate plan so they all work together.

The calendar matters.

And the next 90 days can make a meaningful difference.

If retirement is getting close, now is the time to make sure 2026 ends intentionally, not accidentally.

Retire with confidence, not questions.

09/30/2026

One of the biggest retirement decisions has nothing to do with your portfolio.

It’s when you retire.

A retirement date can affect:

• How much income you earn in your final working year

• Whether a Roth conversion makes sense

• Your Medicare premiums two years later

• When you should claim Social Security

• How much you can withdraw from investments

• Whether you have an opportunity to realize capital gains at a lower tax rate

That’s why I often tell people:

Retirement isn’t an event. It’s a transition.

The 12–24 months surrounding retirement can create some of the best financial planning opportunities you’ll have for the rest of your life.

But those opportunities are easy to miss if the plan is simply:

“I’ll retire on December 31st and figure everything else out afterward.”

Sometimes moving retirement by a few weeks, or even a few months, can materially change the planning opportunities available.

Before picking your retirement date, it’s worth asking:

What does this date do to the rest of my financial plan?

Retire with confidence, not questions.

09/29/2026

One of the biggest retirement planning opportunities often begins after your paycheck stops.

For many retirees, there’s a window between:

➡️ Their last paycheck

➡️ Social Security starting

➡️ Required Minimum Distributions beginning

During those years, taxable income may temporarily drop. And that can create an opportunity.

Instead of simply trying to pay the least amount of tax this year, it may make sense to intentionally recognize income while your tax rate is lower.

That could mean:

• Converting part of a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA

• Realizing capital gains at favorable tax rates

• Managing withdrawals before RMDs begin

• Coordinating income to help control future Medicare IRMAA surcharges

• Building more tax diversification for later retirement

The goal isn’t always to minimize this year’s tax bill.

The goal is to minimize taxes over your entire retirement.

I often tell people that retirement planning changes when you stop asking:“How much tax do I owe this year?”…and start asking: “How much tax will I pay over the next 20 or 30 years?”

Those are two very different questions.

And the years immediately surrounding retirement can be some of the most valuable planning years you’ll ever have.

09/28/2026

If you’re within 5 years of retirement, there’s a tax-planning opportunity you may not want to miss.

And it has nothing to do with picking the next hot investment.

It’s the window between your last paycheck and the years when Social Security and required minimum distributions begin filling up your tax return.

For many retirees, those can be some of the lowest-income years they’ll have in decades.

That creates an opportunity to ask:

Should I intentionally pay some taxes now?

A Roth conversion allows you to move money from a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA, pay the tax today, and potentially reduce the amount of taxable retirement money you’ll have later.

Why might that matter?

Because future IRA withdrawals can affect more than just your federal tax bracket.

They can also affect:

• How much of your Social Security is taxable
• Your Medicare premiums
• Future required minimum distributions
• The taxes a surviving spouse may eventually pay

The goal isn’t simply to pay the least amount of tax THIS year.

The goal is to pay the least amount of tax over your retirement lifetime.

That’s a very different question.

And with the fourth quarter approaching, now is a good time to start running the numbers.

Retirement planning isn’t just about having enough money.

It’s about figuring out how to use it efficiently once the paycheck stops.

Retire with confidence, not questions.

09/21/2026

One of the biggest tax-planning opportunities in retirement can happen right after you retire.

And a lot of people miss it.

When your paycheck stops, but before Social Security and required minimum distributions fully kick in, your taxable income may temporarily drop.

That can create a valuable planning window.

During those years, it may make sense to consider:

• Roth conversions
• Strategic IRA withdrawals
• Capital-gain harvesting
• Social Security timing
• Managing future Medicare IRMAA exposure

The goal isn’t always to pay the least amount of tax this year.

Sometimes, paying a little more tax now can help you pay a lot less later.

That’s especially true if you retire with a large traditional 401(k) or IRA and let it continue growing until required minimum distributions begin.

At that point, you may have much less control over your taxable income.

Good retirement tax planning is really about looking at your entire retirement, not just this year’s tax bill.

For many retirees, the first few years after leaving work may be some of the most important tax-planning years they’ll ever have.

If you’re within a few years of retirement, this is worth planning before your final paycheck arrives.

09/14/2026

Interest rates may be changing again.

And if you’re getting close to retirement, it’s easy to wonder:

Should I change my portfolio?
Should I move more money to cash?
Should I delay retirement?
Should I be worried?

Those are fair questions.

But the better question is this:

Is your retirement plan built to handle change?

Because interest rates will change.

Markets will go through rough stretches.

Inflation will rise and fall.

Tax laws will change.

And retirement will rarely unfold exactly the way you expect.

If you’re within a few years of retirement, your portfolio has a different job than it did 10 or 20 years ago.

It’s no longer just about growth.

It also needs to help provide income, manage taxes, and give you enough flexibility so you aren’t forced to sell investments at the worst possible time.

That’s why I’d spend less time trying to predict what the Federal Reserve will do next and more time asking:

• Where will my retirement income come from?
• Do I have enough safe money to weather a market decline?
• Is my portfolio designed around the withdrawals I’ll need?
• Have I coordinated Social Security, taxes, and my investment strategy?
• Can my plan adjust when life or the markets change?

A good retirement plan shouldn’t depend on getting every economic prediction right.

It should be built to work through uncertainty.

If you’re within five years of retirement and want a clearer picture of whether your plan is ready, I’d be happy to help!

08/31/2026

Your Social Security check may get a raise next year.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll feel richer.

AARP currently estimates the 2027 Social Security COLA could be around 3.5%.

For someone receiving $3,000 per month, that would mean roughly another $105 per month.

Sounds good, right?

The problem is that the increase is happening because the cost of living is rising too.

Groceries.
Insurance.
Property taxes.
Healthcare.
Travel.

That’s the bigger retirement planning issue.

Retirement could last 25 or 30 years, and the lifestyle you can afford at age 65 may cost a lot more by age 85.

For example, a $100,000 lifestyle today would cost roughly $181,000 in 20 years with 3% inflation.

That’s why retirement planning shouldn’t just answer:

“Do I have enough to retire today?”

It should answer:

“Can my income keep up with my lifestyle for the rest of my life?”

That means coordinating Social Security, investments, taxes, healthcare costs, and your withdrawal strategy.

If you’re within five years of retirement and want to know whether your income plan can keep up with inflation, taxes, and the life you want to live, schedule a Retirement Readiness Call with me today.

08/24/2026

Higher interest rates aren’t necessarily bad news for retirement.

That may sound strange after years of headlines about rising borrowing costs and bond market volatility.

But if you’re approaching retirement, there’s another side to the story.

For a long time, conservative investments paid next to nothing.

That made it difficult for retirees to earn a meaningful return without taking more risk.

Today, higher yields can make cash, CDs, Treasuries, and high-quality bonds much more useful in a retirement plan.

And that matters because one of the biggest risks in retirement isn’t simply that the stock market goes down.

It’s being forced to sell stocks while they’re down just to pay your bills.

A thoughtful retirement income plan can help create different places to pull money from:

• Cash for near-term spending
• Bonds for intermediate needs
• Stocks for long-term growth
• Social Security and pensions for dependable income
• A tax strategy for deciding which accounts to use first

The goal isn’t to perfectly predict where interest rates or the stock market are headed next.

The goal is to build a retirement plan that doesn’t require you to.

If retirement is getting close, don’t just ask:

“Have I saved enough?”

Also ask:

“How will everything I’ve saved actually turn into a paycheck once I stop working?”

That’s where retirement planning gets real.

08/17/2026

A bigger Social Security raise sounds like good news.

But there’s a catch.

Current estimates suggest Social Security benefits could increase by more than 3% in 2027.

Why?

Because things are getting more expensive.

That’s the part of retirement planning people often underestimate.

If your lifestyle costs $100,000 today, at 3% inflation that same lifestyle could cost roughly:

$134,000 in 10 years

$181,000 in 20 years

$243,000 in 30 years

You’re not necessarily living better.

You’re just paying more to live the same life.

That’s why retirement planning shouldn’t start with:

“How much money do I have?”

A better question is:

“How do I turn what I’ve saved into a rising stream of income that can support me for the next 30+ years?”

That means coordinating:

• Social Security

• Investments

• Withdrawal strategy

• Taxes

• Roth conversions

• Medicare costs

Retirement isn’t just about having enough money on Day 1.

It’s about making sure your money can keep up on Day 10,000.

If you’re within five years of retirement and wondering whether your savings can support the retirement you want, that’s exactly the type of question I help people answer.

08/10/2026

What if the Fed gets it wrong?

That’s not a criticism.

It’s a reminder.

Right now, investors are trying to figure out what happens next with interest rates, inflation, employment, and the economy.

Will the Fed cut?

Will rates stay higher for longer?

Could inflation force a different path altogether?

Nobody knows for sure.

And if you’re retiring in the next few years, your retirement plan shouldn’t depend on getting that prediction right.

A strong retirement plan should be able to handle multiple outcomes.

If rates stay high, cash and fixed-rate assets may remain attractive.

If rates fall, bond prices may benefit.

If inflation stays stubborn, you still need enough long-term growth to protect your purchasing power.

And if markets get volatile?

You should already know where your next several years of retirement income are coming from.

That’s the bigger point.

Retirement planning is not about predicting the future.

It’s about building enough flexibility that you don’t have to.

Because over a 25- or 30-year retirement, something will eventually surprise us.

Probably more than once.

Your plan needs to be ready for that.

If you’re within five years of retirement and wondering whether your current strategy is built for uncertainty, that’s exactly the kind of question worth answering before you retire.

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125 28th Street NE STE #2
Owatonna, MN
55060

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Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 5pm
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