Plenty of families across Central Wisconsin and the Northwoods have built real wealth, but not much of it sits in a brokerage account. It's in acreage, equipment, buildings, timber, or a family operation that's been passed down for generations. That kind of wealth deserves planning built for it. Standard retirement advice tends to assume your assets are liquid and easy to divide. Land rarely is. The liquidity question When most of your net worth is in property, cash flow in retirement becomes the central question. Will the land produce income through rent or leasing? Will some of it be sold, and when? How will you cover living expenses, healthcare, and taxes without being forced to sell at a bad time? A clear retirement income plan can map out how your land, savings, and Social Security work together year by year. Passing it on fairly Many landowners want to keep the property in the family, but not every child wants to farm or manage land. Dividing a single operation fairly among heirs is one of the hardest parts of rural estate planning. Coordinating ownership structure, insurance, and estate documents early gives you more options and fewer surprises for the next generation. Taxes on appreciated property Land bought decades ago may be worth many times what was paid for it. Selling, gifting, or transferring it each carry different tax consequences. These decisions are best made alongside your broader financial plan, not in isolation. Planning that understands rural life At Ison Financial Planning, we work with farmers, hunters, and landowners throughout Central Wisconsin. We understand that your land is more than a line on a balance sheet, and we build comprehensive financial plans that treat it that way. Schedule a consultation or call (715) 675-0609 to start the conversation.
If you've met with a financial advisor in the last few years, you've probably seen it: a single number, often shown as a percentage, telling you how likely your retirement plan is to "succeed." Maybe it was 85%. Maybe 92%. It sounds reassuring. But ask yourself what that number actually tells you to do on a Tuesday in March, three years into retirement. Usually the answer is: not much. What a probability score measures Most success scores come from running thousands of simulated market scenarios and counting how many end with money left over. That's a useful stress test. It is not a spending plan. A score won't tell you which account to draw from first, how much you can take out this year without creating a tax problem, or what happens to your income when Social Security starts or a pension kicks in. It also can't tell you what "failure" looks like. Running out at 94 is very different from having to cut back at 70. What an income map shows instead At Ison Financial Planning, we build a 15-year projection of the income each of your accounts can realistically generate. Instead of a single percentage, you see: How much you can plan to spend each year, and where it comes from When Social Security, pensions, and required distributions come into play How withdrawals from your 401(k), IRA, and taxable accounts interact with your tax bill Where the tight years are, so you can plan around them now It's a plan you can actually follow, and one we revisit as markets, tax rules, and your life change. Especially useful before you retire Many of our clients are five to ten years from leaving work. That's the ideal time to build this picture, because there's still room to adjust savings, rollover timing, and Social Security decisions before they're locked in. See your next 15 years If your current plan stops at a savings goal or a success score, we'd be glad to show you what a month-by-month retirement income plan looks like for your accounts. Schedule a consultation or call (715) 675-0609.
