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If you're within 10 years of retirement or already retired, the decisions you make now have outsized impact on the rest of your life. A financial advisor becomes valuable when you're navigating questions like when to claim Social Security, how to turn your savings into reliable income, how to minimize taxes in retirement, or how to protect what you've built from a major market downturn. If you're losing sleep over any of those questions, or if you've accumulated $250,000 or more and want a coordinated strategy rather than scattered accounts, working with an advisor typically pays for itself many times over.

As an Investment Advisor Representative under Brookstone Capital Management, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor, I have a fiduciary duty to my advisory clients. That means acting in your best interest at all times, fully disclosing any conflicts of interest, and building recommendations around your goals and circumstances — not around how I'm compensated. You can verify any advisor's registration and background at brokercheck.finra.org or adviserinfo.sec.gov.

The sweet spot is 5-10 years before retirement. That window gives us time to optimize tax strategies, position investments for the transition from accumulation to distribution, plan Social Security and Medicare timing, and stress-test your plan against different scenarios. That said, it's never too late — clients who come to us in their 70s still benefit significantly from coordinated income, tax, and legacy planning.

Bring (or send digitally in advance): recent statements for all retirement accounts, brokerage accounts, and bank accounts; your most recent tax return; your Social Security statement (downloadable from ssa.gov); any pension information; current life insurance and annuity policies; and a rough list of your monthly expenses. You don't need everything organized perfectly — we'll help with that. The first meeting is mostly about understanding your situation and goals.

We focus specifically on pre-retirees and retirees, generally between ages 55 and 80, who want to protect what they've accumulated and grow it at a measured pace. Our typical client has $250,000 to $2 million in investable assets, values clarity over complexity, and is more concerned about preserving their lifestyle than chasing aggressive returns.

We're transparent about fit. We're typically not the right advisor for someone in their 30s or 40s focused on aggressive accumulation, day traders or active speculators, clients seeking high-risk alternative investments, or anyone looking for tax shelters or unconventional structures. If you're not a fit, we'll tell you and refer you to someone who is.

In year one, expect 3-4 meetings as we build and implement your plan. After that, most clients prefer two formal review meetings per year — typically a mid-year check-in and an end-of-year planning meeting — plus ad-hoc calls or emails as needed. Major life events (retirement, inheritance, market volatility, health changes) trigger additional meetings at no extra cost.

You work directly with me, Hartman Andersen, as your primary advisor. I personally handle your planning, investment direction, and ongoing reviews. You'll always know who you're talking to.

Continuity planning is part of operating responsibly as an independent advisor. Hartman Retirement Partners operates under Brookstone Capital Management, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor, which provides a continuity framework so your accounts and planning remain supported in the event of my incapacity or death. We can discuss the specifics during onboarding.

We focus on protecting principal first and growing it at a sustainable rate second. For pre-retirees and retirees, the math of recovery from large losses is brutal — a 40% drawdown requires a 67% gain to break even, and you may not have the time horizon to wait. So we build portfolios designed to participate in market growth while limiting downside exposure, using a combination of diversified investments matched to your specific income needs, time horizon, and risk tolerance.

Sometimes. Annuities are tools, not solutions — they fit some situations and not others. For clients who need a guaranteed income stream they can't outlive, certain annuities can play a role in a broader plan. For clients who already have sufficient income from Social Security and pensions, they're usually unnecessary. We never recommend an annuity (or any product) unless it solves a specific problem in your plan, and we always explain the costs, trade-offs, and alternatives.

We use a blended approach. Low-cost index funds and ETFs form the core of most portfolios because they're tax-efficient and cost-effective. Where active management adds value — typically in fixed income, certain alternative strategies, or downside protection — we use it selectively. The goal is the right tool for each part of your portfolio, not ideology.

Several ways, depending on your situation. We typically maintain a cash and short-term reserve sufficient to cover 1-3 years of expenses, so you're never forced to sell investments during a downturn. We diversify across asset classes that historically move differently from each other. For clients who need additional protection, we may use specific strategies like buffered ETFs, fixed-indexed annuities, structured notes, or bond ladders that reduce downside exposure. The right mix depends on your time horizon and how much market volatility you're comfortable with. For the full picture on sequence-of-returns risk and the specific tools we use, read: How to Protect Your Retirement Savings from a Market Crash

There's no single answer, and no responsible advisor can promise one. Returns vary with markets, time horizon, and how a portfolio is built, and past performance never guarantees future results. For retirees focused on preservation, we design portfolios with the goal of keeping pace with inflation over time while taking less risk than the overall stock market — and we stress-test your plan against a range of outcomes rather than assuming any single rate. Your specific situation — your spending needs, other income sources, and time horizon — drives the approach, not a target number. Anyone promising a specific return should be approached with skepticism.

For anything we manage in the market, we charge a competitive percentage of the assets we manage for you, billed quarterly. There are no commissions on investments and no hidden fees — our advisory compensation is a straightforward percentage of the assets we manage, not commissions tied to the products we recommend. For life insurance and annuities, we receive a commission paid by the issuing insurance company; there is no separate commission charge added to your premium or contract value. We provide a complete cost breakdown before you ever sign anything.

While we don't have a minimum amount of investable assets required to start working with you, we focus on clients where we can deliver meaningful, coordinated value.

Yes, and we're transparent about all of them. Mutual funds and ETFs have internal expense ratios — we work to minimize these, typically under 0.20% annually for our core holdings, and 1/12th of those annual internal expense ratios are paid monthly out of the accounts managed. The custodians we use, Schwab and Fidelity, may charge small transaction fees, but those are not charged to you — our Registered Investment Advisory firm, Brookstone Capital Management, pays any of those transaction fees. If you hold an annuity, it usually does not have any fees charged to you; if it does, those fees are disclosed in its prospectus. We'll show you a complete cost breakdown before you ever sign anything.

The most expensive answer is “as soon as I'm eligible at 62” — for most people. Claiming early permanently reduces your benefit, while delaying past full retirement age (66-67 for most pre-retirees) increases it by 8% per year up to age 70. The right strategy depends on your health, marital status, other income, life expectancy, tax situation, and overall retirement environment. For married couples, coordinating claiming strategies between spouses can add tens of thousands of dollars over a lifetime. Depending on the situation, filing at age 70 may produce the strongest lifetime outcome; other times, filing earlier is more advantageous because you can preserve retirement account balances and let them continue to grow tax-deferred before you start drawing from them. Looking at your situation inside a financial plan is crucial to answer the “when to file” question. For a deeper look at how claiming age affects your taxes — including a full example — read our guide: When Should You Claim Social Security?

The honest answer: it depends on your spending, not a generic number. The classic “4% rule” suggests you need 25 times your annual expenses, but that rule was developed for 30-year retirements with specific market assumptions and may not fit your situation. We work backward from your actual spending — what you need monthly to live the life you want — then build a plan to fund it from Social Security, savings, pensions, and other income sources. Some clients can retire comfortably on $500,000; others need $2 million for the same lifestyle. The variable is how you live, not a magic number.

For many pre-retirees, yes — but timing and amount matter enormously. The window between retirement and starting Social Security or RMDs (required minimum distributions at age 73) is often the lowest tax-rate period of your life. Converting traditional IRA dollars to Roth during that window can save substantial taxes over a lifetime and leave more to your heirs. But conversions are taxable events, so doing them in the wrong year or wrong amount can backfire. This requires running specific projections based on your tax bracket, expected income, and goals.

Once you turn 73, the IRS requires you to start withdrawing a minimum amount from traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, and similar pre-tax accounts each year. The amount is calculated based on your account balance and life expectancy. Failing to take your RMD triggers a penalty of 25% of the amount you should have withdrawn (recently reduced from 50%). RMDs are taxable as ordinary income, which can push you into higher tax brackets and increase Medicare premiums. Strategic planning before age 73 — including potential Roth conversions, Qualified Charitable Distributions, and withdrawal sequencing — can significantly reduce the lifetime tax impact.

There are several approaches, and most retirees benefit from a combination. The “bucket strategy” segments your money into short-term (cash for 1-2 years of expenses), medium-term (bonds for years 3-10), and long-term (stocks for years 10+) buckets, refilling as needed. The “total return” approach takes withdrawals from a diversified portfolio at a sustainable rate. The “income floor” approach uses Social Security, pensions, and annuities to cover essential expenses, with investments handling discretionary spending. The right approach depends on your specific situation — how much you have, what you spend, and how comfortable you are with market volatility.

In our experience, it's underestimating how long they'll live and how much inflation will erode their purchasing power. A 65-year-old today has roughly a 50% chance of living past 85 and a meaningful chance of living past 90 or 95. Twenty-five-plus years of inflation can cut buying power dramatically. Retirees who stay too conservative — keeping everything in cash and CDs — can struggle to maintain their lifestyle as inflation compounds over a 25-30 year retirement. Protecting principal is critical, but so is keeping enough growth potential to outpace inflation over a long retirement.

Your assets are held at an independent custodian — Schwab or Fidelity — not at our firm. We don't take custody of your money. You receive statements directly from the custodian, can log in and view your accounts anytime, and can verify holdings independently. This structure provides important protection: if anything ever happened to our firm, your assets would remain safely with the custodian.

You can review my full regulatory record at brokercheck.finra.org by searching my name or CRD number 7001766. You can also view our parent RIA's Form ADV, which discloses our business practices, fees, and any disciplinary history, at adviserinfo.sec.gov. Transparency is non-negotiable in this business — if anything raises questions, ask us directly.

Both. We're based in St. George, Utah and welcome in-person meetings. As a federally registered Investment Advisor Representative, I can work with advisory clients in any state across the U.S. We work with clients in Utah, Nevada, California, and nationwide via video meetings, screen sharing, and secure document portals. Many of our retired clients prefer the convenience of meeting from home, especially during winter or while traveling. If a client needs an annuity or insurance product in a state where I'm not currently licensed, I can obtain the appropriate state licensing for that purpose. Whatever works for you works for us.

Schedule a complimentary 30-minute introductory call. We'll talk about your situation, what you're trying to accomplish, and whether we're a good fit. There's no obligation, no pitch, and no pressure. If we're a fit, we'll outline the next steps. If we're not, we'll point you toward someone who is.