Retirement Planning in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles is big enough that no two retirements here look alike. A renter in 90019 and a long-time owner in 90034 face different problems with the same paycheck. What they share is the handoff from earning to drawing down. This page covers the two pieces of that handoff we are licensed to handle. Income you cannot outlive, and the cost of long-term care.

Earning stops. Spending does not.

While you work, money arrives on a schedule. Retirement removes the schedule and leaves you with a balance. Those are not the same thing, and the difference is easy to miss. A balance can look large and still run dry. It may have to cover a long life, a poor market, and a care need at once. So the useful question is not how much you have. It is how much arrives each month, for how long, and what happens if you live many more years.

Where an annuity fits, and where it does not

An annuity is a promise from an insurance company, bought with your money. You give up ready access to that money. In return the company owes you payments, often for the rest of your life. That swap is the entire point, and it cuts both ways.

Long-term care is daily help, not treatment

People hear long-term care and picture a hospital. It is closer to home than that. It means help with bathing, dressing, meals, and getting from the bed to a chair. Family often provides it first, unpaid, for a long stretch. Medicare pays very little toward this kind of help, and most health plans pay less. Our Medicare page for Los Angeles explains what Medicare does cover.

Couples and the second person

A couple has to plan for two care events, not one. The first can drain what both were living on. The second person then carries on with less, sometimes for many years. In Los Angeles County we also see adult children doing the caring, often while working. Any plan that ignores them is not finished.

When the honest answer is to do nothing

Sometimes we review a situation and recommend no change at all. An older policy may be worth keeping. A household may already have enough income and enough cash. Replacing something that works is a cost with no gain. We would rather tell you that than write a sale. See our approach and our income planning overview.

Working with us from across the county

We are based in Orange County, and we work with Los Angeles clients by phone and video. Our agents here work in both English and Spanish. We serve neighbouring cities on the same terms, including Glendale and Pasadena. Every conversation is with a licensed agent, and it costs you nothing. Call (714) 922-0043 or get in touch when you want a plain conversation.