Your Questions About Retirement Planning, Answered

I'm Christopher Swan, a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) and MBA based right here in Northlake, TX. I've spent 15+ years in the financial services industry — starting as a junior advisor in Austin and learning from both wirehouse and independent firms before founding Retire With Swan. I'm a fiduciary, which means I'm legally required to act in your best interest. My firm, Swan Capital Group, LLC, is a Registered Investment Adviser with the SEC (Firm ID: 310807), and I'm licensed in the state of Texas. You can verify my CFP® certification here.

A fiduciary is legally obligated to put your interests ahead of their own. Not every financial advisor operates this way — many work under a “suitability” standard, which only requires that their recommendations be “suitable,” not necessarily the best option for you. As a fiduciary CFP®, every recommendation I make must be in your best interest. That means no hidden commissions driving my advice, no proprietary products I'm incentivized to sell, and full transparency about how I'm compensated.

At a large firm, your advisor is often working within the firm's product menu and under sales quotas. I'm independent — I don't work for a bank, insurance company, or brokerage house. That means I have no obligation to recommend any particular product or investment. I also specialize exclusively in retirement income planning for families approaching or entering retirement. I'm not trying to be everything to everyone. And because I'm local — not in a downtown Dallas high-rise — you're working directly with the person who built your plan, not getting handed off to an associate.

I work with families who are within about 5 years of retirement and have generally accumulated $300,000 or more in retirement savings — 401(k)s, IRAs, pensions, or other accounts. That said, the real question isn't a dollar threshold — it's whether you have enough complexity that a comprehensive retirement income plan would genuinely help you. If you're unsure, the Swan Fit Call is the best way to find out.

The ideal time to start is 3 to 5 years before your target retirement date. That's when the most impactful decisions get made: Roth conversion timing, Social Security claiming strategy, pension elections, healthcare gap coverage, and tax-bracket management. If you wait until the month you retire, you've already missed some of the biggest planning opportunities. That said, it's never too late — I work with families who are already retired and need help organizing what they have.

The Swan Fit Call is a free 15-minute conversation — by phone or video — where we both figure out if working together makes sense. I'll ask about your situation, timeline, and what's keeping you up at night about retirement. You can ask me anything. There's no sales pitch, no pressure, and no obligation. If we're a good fit, I'll explain what the next step looks like. If we're not, I'll tell you that honestly and point you in the right direction. Book a Swan Fit Call here.

After the Swan Fit Call, the next step is a deeper discovery meeting — usually 60 to 90 minutes — where we go through everything: your accounts, income sources, tax situation, insurance, estate documents, and goals. From there, I build your personalized retirement income plan using the G.R.A.C.E. Framework. We meet again to walk through the plan together, answer your questions, and make any adjustments before we begin implementation. The whole process from first call to having a completed plan typically takes 2 to 4 weeks.

The Retire Blessed Income Blueprint is the comprehensive retirement income plan I build for every client. It maps out exactly where your income will come from each year in retirement, how your investments will be structured, when to claim Social Security, how to minimize taxes across your accounts, and what happens if markets drop or your health changes. It's not a generic report — it's a living document built specifically around your numbers, your goals, and your family. Learn more about The Plan here.

I believe in full transparency about fees. My compensation is based on assets under management (AUM), which means my fee is a percentage of the investments I manage for you. This aligns my incentives with yours — when your portfolio grows, we both benefit. I don't charge commissions, and I don't earn anything from product sales. I'll walk you through the exact fee schedule during our discovery meeting so you know precisely what you're paying before we start.

Both. I build the plan and manage the investments. Your portfolio is held at Altruist, an independent custodian (meaning your money is in your name at a regulated institution — not at my firm). I handle the day-to-day investment management, rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting, and withdrawal sequencing. You get full visibility through your own online portal, and we meet regularly to review everything together.

I'm based in Northlake at 1821 Red Bud Trail, and I meet with clients in a few ways depending on what works best for you. Many clients meet me at the Pecan Square Greeting House coworking space, which is right in the neighborhood. I also meet clients at local coffee shops around Northlake, Argyle, and the surrounding communities. And for anyone who prefers it — or lives further out — virtual meetings work great too. The point is to make this easy and comfortable for you.

Absolutely — I strongly encourage it. Retirement planning affects both of you, and the plan works best when both partners understand it, have input, and feel confident in the direction. In my experience, the best outcomes happen when both spouses are in the room. If one of you is more “hands-on” with the finances and the other isn't, that's completely fine. I'll make sure both of you understand every piece of the plan in plain language.

For the Swan Fit Call, you don't need to prepare anything — just come with your questions. If we move forward to the discovery meeting, I'll send you a simple checklist of what to gather: recent account statements, Social Security estimates, pension details, tax returns, and any insurance policies. Don't worry about having everything perfectly organized — that's literally my job.

G.R.A.C.E. stands for the five pillars that every retirement plan needs to address: Guaranteed Income (Social Security optimization, pensions, and income floors), Reserves & Insurance (emergency funds, long-term care, Medicare coordination), Asset & Income Growth (investment portfolios with guardrails for downturns), Comprehensive Tax Planning (Roth conversions, withdrawal sequencing, RMD strategies), and Estate & Legacy (beneficiary reviews, trust coordination, and legacy gifting). Most advisors focus on just one or two of these. I address all five because they're interconnected — a decision in one area affects the others.

I'm licensed to offer insurance products when they genuinely make sense for a client's plan — but I don't lead with them, and I'm not an insurance salesman. If an annuity or insurance product is the best solution for a specific need in your plan (like filling an income gap or covering long-term care risk), I'll explain exactly why and how it fits. If it's not needed, I won't recommend it. My planning fee isn't dependent on whether you buy insurance.

This is one of the biggest concerns I hear, and it's the reason I use a bucket strategy with dynamic guardrails. In short: your near-term income (the next 1–2 years of spending) is kept in stable, low-volatility holdings that aren't affected by daily market swings. Your longer-term money stays invested for growth. When markets drop, we don't panic-sell — we draw from the stable bucket while giving your growth investments time to recover. The guardrails system has built-in triggers that tell us when and how to adjust, so you're never guessing.

It means I approach money as a stewardship responsibility, not just a math problem. Many of my clients share a faith perspective that shapes how they think about generosity, legacy, and purpose in retirement. I respect that and build it into the plan — whether that means structuring charitable giving strategies, planning a legacy for your church or ministry, or simply helping you feel confident that you're being a good steward of what you've been given. That said, you don't need to share my faith to be a client. Everyone is welcome.

We typically meet two to three times per year for formal review meetings, plus ad hoc calls whenever something comes up — a tax question, a life change, or just a market concern you want to talk through. Between meetings, you have full access to your portfolio through the Altruist client portal, and you can reach me or my team by phone or email anytime. I don't disappear after the plan is built.

Texas has no state income tax, which is a significant advantage in retirement — especially for distributions from 401(k)s, IRAs, and pensions that would be taxed at the state level in most other states. Texas also offers a generous homestead exemption and an over-65 property tax freeze on school district taxes, which can meaningfully reduce your housing costs in retirement. That said, property tax rates in North Texas — especially in newer communities with MUD or PID assessments — can be high, so it's important to factor that into your income plan.

Yes, and this is one of my specialties. Texas teachers in TRS face unique challenges that most advisors don't fully understand — particularly the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), which can reduce or eliminate Social Security benefits you'd otherwise expect. I help TRS members model their pension options, coordinate with any Social Security they (or their spouse) may be entitled to, and build an income plan that accounts for the gaps TRS doesn't cover, like healthcare before Medicare eligibility. Learn more about planning for Texas teachers.

I'm headquartered in Northlake, TX and primarily serve families throughout Denton and Tarrant County — including Argyle, Justin, Lantana, Roanoke, Trophy Club, Flower Mound, Highland Village, Denton, Keller, Southlake, and Grapevine. I meet clients in person at the Pecan Square Greeting House, local coffee spots, or virtually. I also work with clients across Texas via video. If you're in the DFW area and approaching retirement, we're neighbors.