Retirement Income Planning for Texans

Create a Retirement Paycheck You Can't Outlive

Find your monthly income gap and explore insurance-based strategies designed to cover essential expenses, so the rest of your portfolio can stay invested for growth, flexibility, and legacy.

No contact information required. Takes less than five minutes.

Couple reviewing retirement planning documents

Hope Is Not a Retirement Plan

You've spent decades saving. But a retirement account is not the same as a retirement paycheck.

Housing
Groceries
Healthcare
Insurance
Utilities
Transportation

These bills do not pause when the market dips. You need a plan for turning savings into guaranteed income.

The Retirement Question Nobody Is Asking You

How much of your monthly retirement income is guaranteed for life?

An investment plan and a retirement income plan are not the same thing.

Investments help grow your savings. A retirement income plan determines how those savings will support you month after month.

For most of your working life, your paycheck arrived on schedule. Retirement should not mean trading that paycheck for a series of uncertain withdrawals.

  • Your advisor may not focus on retirement income

    Your advisor can continue managing your investments while an income specialist helps create a more dependable retirement paycheck.

  • Social Security may not cover the full bill

    Social Security provides an important foundation, but the rest of your monthly expenses must come from other income or savings.

  • The market should not decide when you retire

    A downturn near retirement could force you to delay, spend less, or withdraw money while account values are down.

The first step is not buying anything.The first step is knowing your income gap.

I Lost 25% of My Retirement Savings. Twice.

That is why I believe a portfolio alone is not an income plan.

After 30 years in financial services, including two market crashes that each cost me a quarter of my savings, I stopped asking how much I could make and started asking how much income I could guarantee.

You do not have to learn that lesson the hard way. You can find out exactly where you stand. You can cover your essentials with income that doesn't depend on the market. You can stop wondering and start knowing.

That is the plan I help Texans build every day.

30 Plus Years Financial Services Experience Licensed Texas Life and Health Insurance Professional Independent, I Work For You
John Schwalenberg, licensed Texas insurance agent

What an Income Plan Actually Looks Like

An income plan starts with one question: what will it cost you to live your life in retirement, every month?

Income gap chart showing expenses versus guaranteed income

Illustrative example only. Your numbers will vary.

The difference between what you need and what you have guaranteed is your income gap. That gap is what we are solving for.

Here is where most people stop.

They assume the gap has to come from their portfolio. It doesn't have to.

A portion of your retirement savings can be converted into a Pension Strategy, a guaranteed monthly income stream that covers your essential expenses for life, regardless of how long you live or what the market does. Not all of your savings. Just enough to close the gap.

With a Pension Strategy, You Are in Control

  • You lock in the amount

    Cannot be reduced by Congress

  • You decide when income starts

    Cannot be delayed by a change in retirement age

  • Not subject to political decisions you have no control over

Social Security is your baseline income. Your Pension Strategy builds on top of it. Together they create an income foundation that no market downturn, no political decision, and no change in retirement rules can take away.

What that does to the rest of your portfolio is remarkable. It no longer has to carry the full burden of your lifestyle. It can stay invested. It can recover from downturns. It can grow and be used for the things that make retirement genuinely enjoyable.

Travel. Family. Home. The causes you care about.

Guarantee the Bills. Enjoy the Rest.

Three Steps to Your Own Pension

Simple, transparent, and always at your pace.

calculator with rising bar chart icon

1. Calculate Your Gap

Know exactly how much monthly income you're missing.

spyglass pointing toward a star icon

2. Explore Your Options

Discover different ways to close your income gap.

blueprint and drafting compass icon

3. Create Your Own Pension

Build a dependable retirement paycheck that fits your life.

What Happens Next? A couple in their sixties walking their dog together in a park, smiling.

Retire With Confidence

When guaranteed income covers your essential expenses, everything changes.

  • Spend without second-guessing.
  • Stop worrying about market swings.
  • Trust your paycheck to last a lifetime.
Free Planning Tool

Do You Know Your Income Gap?

Most people never calculate it.

Without that number, you are guessing, and guessing usually leads to one of two outcomes:

  • Working longer than you planned
  • Spending less than you hoped, right when you finally have time to enjoy it

No personal information required.

No obligation.

Just your number.

Calculate My Gap

Free. Anonymous. Takes Less Than 5 Minutes.

Calculator results are illustrative only and will vary based on user inputs. For informational purposes only.

Meet Twins Hope & Helen

Same $40,000 Income Gap. Two Different Retirement Jobs

Both begin at age 55 with $500,000 saved. Neither way is wrong, they just organize their money differently.

Hope
Hope

Her portfolio has two jobs.

  • Age 55: $500,000 stays fully invested
  • Age 65: Grown to $1,000,000
  • Same year: $40,000 a year must come from the portfolio
  • The portfolio's job: create the paycheck AND keep growing
Full Portfolio $1,000,000 Withdrawal $40,000 a year Growth & Flexibility Stays invested

Every paycheck depends on what the market is doing.

Helen
Helen

Her portfolio only has one job: growth.

  • Age 55: $266,586 goes to her Pension Strategy. $233,414 remains for growth and flexibility.
  • Age 65: Remaining portfolio grown to $466,828
  • Same year: $40,000 a year, guaranteed by the Pension Strategy
Pension Strategy $266,586 Guaranteed Paycheck $40,000 a year Remaining Portfolio $466,828 Growth & Flexibility Stays invested

Her retirement paycheck is separated from market withdrawals.

Hope's dollars do two jobs at once. Helen's do the same two jobs, just divided ahead of time. Neither is wrong, and depending on the market, either sister might end up with more money. But more money was never the goal. Dependable income was, income the market can't touch. Guarantee the bills. Enjoy the rest.

See How Their Retirement Could Unfold

Take The Next Step

Schedule Your Retirement Income Consultation

No obligation, no sales pitch. Just a straightforward conversation about your retirement income picture.

The call works best when you come with a general sense of your monthly essential expenses and your guaranteed income sources like Social Security or any pension. If you have already used the Income Gap Calculator you are already prepared.

Prefer to reach out directly? Email admin@createyourownpension.org