The Peace of Wealth

Financial Planning for Women: A Guide for Every Stage of Life

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 04:01:32 GMT

Financial planning for women is not tied to a particular age or account balance. What needs your attention changes as your career, income, family, responsibilities, and priorities change.

Depending on where you are right now, that may mean:

Getting savings, retirement contributions, and basic protections in place
Deciding how to divide money among retirement, a home, travel, children, caregiving, or another goal
Managing higher income, taxes, equity compensation, or accounts that have accumulated over time
Turning savings into retirement income you can actually live on
Reworking your finances after divorce, widowhood, an inheritance, a career shift, or another major change

You do not need to get every financial decision right at once. What matters more is knowing what deserves your attention now, what can wait, and how the decisions you are making today may affect your choices later.

Your Financial Life Will Not Follow a Straight Line

You can make thoughtful decisions and still find yourself somewhere you did not expect to be five or ten years later.

Your income changes. Careers take turns. You get married or do not. You have children, care for parents, start a business, get divorced, receive an inheritance, or realize you want a different version of retirement than the one you pictured at 35.

That is why I do not think financial planning for women can be reduced to a checklist based on age.

A 40-year-old business owner may be thinking about something entirely different from a 40-year-old executive with stock compensation, a working mother, or a woman returning to work after several years away.

Most financial advice starts by telling you what you should be doing next: save more, invest differently, pay down debt, buy insurance, make a will.

Those things may all matter. But one decision can affect several others.

A decision about work can affect your taxes, retirement savings, insurance, and the timing of other goals. A decision to buy a home, help a parent, take time away from work, or retire sooner can change what is possible elsewhere.

So instead of asking: " What should a woman my age be doing with her money?”

I think a better question is: “What decisions are in front of me now and what else do they affect?”

That is where planning becomes useful. It gives you a way to see the decisions in front of you, understand what they may change, and make choices that fit the life you want to have. The stages below are not meant to tell you where you should be. They are a way to notice the questions, tradeoffs, and decisions most likely to deserve your attention right now.

Stage 1: Getting the Basics in Place

This is not necessarily your twenties. It is the stage when you are beginning to earn, save, invest, and make more of your own financial decisions.

You may be managing student loans, a steady paycheck, workplace benefits, and savings decisions for the first time.

At this stage, it is usually helpful to have:

A cash reserve for unexpected expenses
Regular retirement contributions
An understanding of your workplace benefits
A plan for student loans or other debt
Good credit habits
Appropriate health, disability, and life insurance coverage
Basic estate documents and beneficiary designations

At this stage, I wouldn’t worry about getting every decision exactly right. You don’t need the perfect investment strategy or to know exactly what retirement will look like decades from now. Start by saving consistently, taking advantage of the benefits available to you, and building some financial breathing room. You can make adjustments as your income grows and life changes.

Stage 2: When Several Goals Compete for the Same Dollars

This is often when money starts to feel harder, even when you are earning more than you used to.

You may be trying to save for retirement while buying a home, paying for childcare, helping family, traveling, starting a business, or considering a career change. You may be supporting children now while also beginning to think about your own parents’ needs later.

The list can be long:

Retirement
A home or a move
Children and education costs
Travel and experiences
Family support or caregiving
A career transition
Starting or growing a business
Building more flexibility into your life

The hard part is rarely finding a list of things you could do with your money. It is deciding what deserves to come first when several things matter at the same time.

There is not always one mathematically perfect answer. Putting every available dollar toward retirement may look ideal on paper, but it could mean giving up something that matters deeply to you now. On the other hand, treating retirement as whatever is left over can create a problem later.

These decisions involve tradeoffs, timing, and what you want your money to make possible now, not only later.

Seeing the tradeoff clearly does not make the decision easy. But it keeps you from making it by default. A useful question to ask is:

What am I trying to make room for now, and what am I unwilling to sacrifice for a future goal?

That does not tell you exactly how every dollar should be allocated. But it gives you a clearer place to begin when every option feels important.

Stage 3: When Money Has More Moving Parts

At some point, your financial life can become more complicated without any one dramatic change.

Maybe your income has increased. Your bonus is larger. You have equity compensation. You have accumulated old 401ks from past jobs, a taxable investment account, and more cash than you know what to do with. Taxes start to feel more consequential.

The decisions are no longer just about whether to save. They are about where, when, and how.

Questions at this stage may include:

Am I using my 401(k) and other workplace benefits well?
Does a Backdoor Roth IRA make sense for me?
What should I do with restricted stock units or company stock?
Am I holding too much of my employer’s stock?
How much cash should I keep available?
Should I consolidate old retirement accounts?
Are there tax decisions I should be making before year-end?
How should my investments, taxes, and upcoming goals work together?

More moving parts do not necessarily mean your finances need to become more complicated. But they do mean one decision can start affecting several others.

A decision about equity can affect taxes. A tax decision can affect cash flow. A career change can affect benefits, retirement savings, insurance, and the timing of other goals.

Having everything coordinated does not mean having a spreadsheet for every part of your life. It means knowing which decisions affect the others before you make them.

A useful question to ask is:

Are my accounts, taxes, investments, and benefits making decisions easier or creating more to keep track of?

If the answer is “more to keep track of,” that does not mean you have done anything wrong. Your financial life may simply have reached the point where looking at one account or decision at a time no longer gives you the full answer.

Stage 4: When Retirement Is No Longer “Someday”

Eventually, the retirement question changes.

It is no longer only: “Am I saving enough?”.

It becomes: “How is all of this going to become an income I can actually live on?”

That shift brings a different set of decisions:

What will retirement actually cost?
When do I want work to become optional?
When should I claim Social Security?
Which accounts should I use first?
How will taxes change once my paycheck stops?
How will I pay for health care before and during retirement?
How long does my money need to last?
What happens if one partner dies, needs care, or retires earlier than expected?

Retirement planning goes beyond reaching a certain account balance. You need to understand how your income, spending, taxes, health care, investments, and longevity may work together over a retirement that could last several decades.

If you are starting to ask these questions, I go deeper into them in How Long Will My Money Last in Retirement? , including how I help clients think through spending, income sources, taxes, and the risks that can affect a retirement plan.

A useful question to ask is:

Do I know what my savings are meant to do for me or only how much I have accumulated?

The difference matters. An account balance tells you how much you have. A retirement plan helps you understand what that money may allow you to do.

Stage 5: When Life Changes and the Plan Needs to Change

Sometimes your financial life changes because of a decision you made. Other times, the decision gets made for you.

Divorce, widowhood, caregiving, an inheritance, a job loss, a new job, a move, or time away from work can all change what you need from your money.

In those moments, I generally do not think the first priority is making every financial decision immediately. I would start by sorting through:

What changed
What needs attention now
What can wait
Which decisions are permanent and which can be revisited later
Who needs to be involved

For example, an inheritance may require tax and investment decisions, but it may also raise questions about family, generosity, work, or what you want the money to make possible.

A divorce or widowhood may require immediate attention to cash flow, insurance, and account ownership before you make longer-term investment decisions.

A career change may create a short-term benefits decision while also raising bigger questions about how you want to work and what that means for the goals you have been saving toward. Your financial plan should be able to change when your life does. It should not depend on everything going according to a plan you made years ago.

A question to ask is: What needs to be decided now, and what can wait until I have more clarity?

Sometimes that distinction alone can make a long list of financial decisions feel much more manageable.

What Should Women Prioritize in Financial Planning?

The details will vary by person and stage of life, but most women benefit from paying attention to several core areas:

Cash flow and savings: Knowing what is coming in, what is going out, and how much flexibility you have
Retirement: Building savings and eventually creating an income you can live on
Investments: Making sure your investment approach fits your goals, timeline, and comfort with risk
Taxes: Understanding how income, investments, benefits, and major decisions affect what you keep
Insurance: Protecting your income, health, family, and assets when something unexpected happens
Estate planning: Keeping beneficiary designations, legal documents, and decision-makers current
Major life goals: Making thoughtful choices about home, work, family, travel, caregiving, giving, and the life you want your money to support

You do not need to give all of these the same attention at every point in your life. Some will matter more right now, while others can wait. What is important is recognizing when a decision in one area may change what you should be doing somewhere else.

Common Questions This Guide Can Help You Clarify

As you think about where you are today, these are some of the questions worth asking:

What deserves my attention at this stage of life?
Which goals are competing for the same money, and what tradeoffs am I making?
Which financial decisions are affecting other parts of my plan?
What would change if my income, career, health, or family situation changed?
Which decisions am I comfortable making on my own, and where would another perspective be helpful?

You may be able to answer some of these questions quickly. Others require assumptions about taxes, investments, future income, health, or several goals pulling in different directions.

Not every financial question requires an advisor. But when one decision starts affecting your taxes, investments, retirement, cash flow, or several goals at once, getting another perspective can be useful.

Start with the decision in front of you

You do not need to organize every account, make every estate-planning decision, or solve retirement all at once. Start with the financial decision you feel is highest priority. It may be a decision about work, taxes, a growing investment account, an aging parent, a home, retirement, or simply the sense that you have a lot in motion and are no longer sure how it all fits together.

Then ask: What else does this decision affect?

A question that seems to be about one account, one tax bill, or one upcoming change may also affect your cash flow, investments, retirement timeline, insurance, or the choices available to you later.

At Nexa Wealth Planning in Los Angeles, I work with women, couples, professionals, and business owners across California and beyond. A lot of the work we do starts with questions like these: figuring out which decisions need attention now, how they affect the rest of your finances, and what can wait.

Sometimes you can work through those questions yourself. And sometimes having someone look at all of the pieces with you makes the next decision much clearer.

Want to Get a Better Sense of Where You Stand?

Reading through these different stages may have brought up a few questions about your own finances. Maybe you're wondering where your money is going, whether you're saving enough for the goals that matter to you, or which goals should come first.

I've created a way for you to start putting some of those pieces together. Using my financial planning tool, you can:

Organize your financial information in one place
Get a clearer view of your spending
Identify and prioritize the goals you're working toward
Start seeing where you may want to focus next

[Get Started With the Financial Planning Tool]

You don't need to have everything figured out before you begin. This is simply a way to get a clearer look at where you are today and what you may want to work on next.

A tool can help you organize the information. The next part is deciding what to do with it.

At Nexa Wealth Planning in Los Angeles, I work with women, couples, professionals, and business owners across California and beyond. If you're wondering whether you're on track or want help deciding what deserves your attention next, we can talk through it together.

[Schedule a Conversation]

Renee Cohen, CFP® is the founder of Nexa Wealth Planning, a fee-based financial planning firm in Los Angeles serving women and couples across California and virtually nationwide.

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Ask me anything
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How Do You Know It’s Time to Hire a Financial Planner?

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 04:47:03 GMT

Has your financial life become more complex?

For many people, the need for a financial planner doesn’t happen overnight. It happens gradually as more pieces are added to their financial life.

You may have changed jobs a few times and ended up with retirement accounts in different places. You may have started investing outside your 401k, received company stock, purchased rental property, or become a business owner.

None of those things are problems by themselves. The challenge is that each new piece creates another decision, and those decisions start affecting one another.

That’s where financial planning becomes valuable. Instead of looking at each account individually, I help clients step back, organize the moving pieces, and understand how everything works together to support their goals.

Here are a few common life transitions that often prompt people to talk with a financial planner:

Getting married or combining finances.
Receiving an inheritance or other unexpected money.
Changing careers or starting a business.
Having a child or planning for education costs.
Moving toward retirement in the next several years..

Are you balancing several financial goals at once?

Very few people have just one financial goal.

You may be trying to:

Save for retirement.
Help pay for a child's education.
Buy or remodel a home.
Support aging parents.
Grow a business.
Travel or enjoy other meaningful experiences.
Build an emergency fund or pay down debt.

The challenge is deciding how to make progress on all of it without feeling like one goal has to come at the expense of another.

When I work with clients in this stage, I help them prioritize, coordinate, and make sure their money is being used in a way that fits both their short-term life and long-term goals.

Is retirement starting to feel real?

Retirement can feel far away for a long time, then suddenly start to feel very real. Once that happens, the questions usually shift from “How much am I saving?” to “Will this actually support the life I want?”

You may find yourself asking:

Will my money last?
When should I claim Social Security?
How much can I realistically spend?
Should I keep working longer?
Am I invested appropriately for this stage of life?

Those questions can’t be answered by looking at one account balance. They require looking at your retirement savings, Social Security, taxes, investments, and spending together.

When I work with clients who are starting to think seriously about retirement , I help them see the full picture so they can understand not just whether they’re on track, but what decisions may help them feel more confident about the years ahead.

These aren't questions that can be answered by looking at a single account balance. They require looking at your retirement savings, taxes, Social Security, investments, and spending together. That's where financial planning becomes valuable—helping you understand how all of those decisions work together instead of making each one independently.

When I work with clients who are starting to think seriously about retirement, I help them see the full picture so they can understand not just whether they’re on track, but what decisions may help them feel more confident about the years ahead.

Are taxes becoming part of more financial decisions?

Earlier in your career, taxes may have been something you thought about once a year.

As your financial life gets more complex, taxes often become part of decisions you’re making throughout the year. You may be wondering whether to contribute to a Traditional or Roth 401k, how to handle company stock, whether a Backdoor Roth IRA makes sense, or how to think about capital gains and year-end moves.

The goal isn’t just to reduce taxes this year. It’s to make tax decisions that support the rest of your financial plan and give you more flexibility over time.

When I work with clients, I help them step back and look at the bigger picture so tax decisions are not made in isolation. Sometimes the best move is to save taxes now. Other times, paying a little more tax today creates better options later.

Has a major life change shifted your priorities?

Life changes often create the need for a new financial plan.

Marriage, children, job changes, business sales, inheritance, divorce, and loss can all reshape your financial picture and bring new questions with them. You may need to revisit your retirement timeline, update your insurance, review your estate plan, or rethink how you’re saving and investing.

Those kinds of changes naturally bring new financial questions, and they often mean the plan that used to fit no longer fits as well. In these moments, financial planning can provide structure, help you sort through priorities, and make the next steps feel more manageable.

In a city like Los Angeles, those transitions can feel even more complicated because housing costs, taxes, and career changes often add another layer. That’s one reason a planning conversation can be so helpful.

When I work with clients during transitions, I help them sort through the urgent decisions first and then build from there. Most people don’t need to start over — they need to make thoughtful adjustments.

What to do next

If you're wondering whether it's time to work with a financial planner, here are a few practical steps you can take:

Write down the financial decisions you're currently facing. If several of them affect one another, that's often a sign it's time for a more coordinated plan.
Review your financial goals. Retirement is important, but make sure your savings, investments, and cash flow reflect the other priorities in your life as well.
Take inventory of your accounts. If you have retirement accounts from multiple employers, taxable investments, company stock, or other assets, it may be time to look at how everything fits together.
Think about what's changed over the last few years. A new job, growing family, inheritance, business sale, or approaching retirement may mean your financial plan deserves another look.
Ask for a second opinion. Sometimes the biggest value isn't finding a dramatic mistake—it's gaining confidence that you're making thoughtful decisions.

So, who needs a financial planner?

Not everyone does.

If your finances are relatively straightforward and you enjoy managing everything yourself, you may not need ongoing financial planning right now.

But if you're making decisions that affect several areas of your financial life, it can be helpful to have someone who can help you think through those choices and see how they fit together.

Many of the people I work with have done an excellent job managing their finances on their own. They’re not looking for someone to take over. They’re looking for a trusted partner who can help them think through important decisions, identify opportunities they may not have considered, and move forward with greater confidence.

If you’re wondering whether now is the right time to work with a financial planner, a conversation can help you identify what matters most, what decisions need attention first, and what support would be most useful for where you are today.

FAQs

Do I need a certain net worth to hire a financial planner?

No. What matters more is whether your financial decisions are becoming more complex or harder to manage on your own.

What if I’m already doing most of this myself?

That’s common. Many clients come in not because they’re disorganized, but because they want a second set of eyes and a clearer plan.

Is this only for people near retirement?

No. People often seek financial planning when they are in the middle of career changes, family changes, or equity compensation decisions.

Financial planning does not have to wait for a perfect moment. If your financial life is starting to feel more layered, or if a major transition has shifted your priorities, it may be time to get a second set of eyes on your plan.

If you’re wondering whether now is the right time to work with a financial planner, schedule a conversation to talk through your current situation and next steps.

The best time to hire a financial planner usually isn’t about age, income, or net worth. It’s about whether your financial decisions have become complex enough that you want a clearer plan and a trusted guide.

You may benefit from working with a financial planner if:

You're balancing several financial goals at once.
You're starting to think seriously about retirement.
You're making decisions where taxes have a bigger impact.
You're receiving stock compensation or equity.
You've experienced a major life event that's changed your priorities.

One of the biggest misconceptions about financial planning is that there’s a specific point when you’re suddenly “ready.”

People often assume they should wait until they’ve hit a savings milestone, gotten close to retirement, sold a business, or received an inheritance. But the truth is, there isn’t a magic age, income level, or net worth that tells you when it’s time to work with a financial planner.

What usually matters more is whether your financial life has become complex enough that you want help seeing how all the pieces fit together. At Nexa Wealth Planning , I work with people who are making bigger financial decisions than they were a few years ago and want confidence that those decisions are supporting the life they want.

Here are five signs it may be time to have that conversation.

Renee Cohen, CFP® is the founder of Nexa Wealth Planning, a fee-based financial planning firm in Los Angeles serving women and couples across California and virtually nationwide.

Connect with Renee:
Ask me anything
W o rk with Nexa Wealth
Find me on LinkedIn

How Long Will My Money Last in Retirement?

Sun, 26 Jul 2026 21:31:37 GMT

"Will my money last in retirement?" It's the question I hear more than any other.

If you're anywhere near retirement, you've probably asked yourself the same thing. It's one of the most important financial questions you'll ever face and one of the hardest to answer with a simple rule of thumb. That's because the answer isn't found in a single number or a retirement calculator. It comes from understanding the life you want to live and building a financial plan that supports it.

You've seen the headlines. You need a certain number saved, or you should follow the 4% rule, or you should have some multiple of your salary by a certain age.

Those can be useful starting points, but they don't come close to telling the whole story. Two people with the exact same savings can have completely different retirements depending on how they live, what they pay in taxes, what healthcare costs them, and how their income is actually structured.

So at Nexa Wealth Planning here in Los Angeles, I don't start with a number, I start with you. Whether you're retiring in a few years or just planning ahead, and whether you're here in California or working with me virtually from somewhere else, the way I help you answer this question is by building a retirement income plan around your life, not around generic assumptions. Here's how that conversation goes.

We start with the life you actually want

Whe n someone asks me whether their money will last, what they’re really asking is more personal than that. They’re asking whether they can live the retirement they worked so hard for.

Most people come to me leading with a number: How much do I need? Is what I have enough? But that number means very little until we understand what it needs to pay for. Before we talk about investment returns or account balances, I want to understand what retirement looks like for you.

Before we talk about investment returns, withdrawal rates, or account balances, I want to understand what retirement looks like for you.

Do you want to travel a few times a year or stay closer to home? Keep your current house or move nearer to family? Buy the place near the water you’ve been imagining? Help your children or grandchildren while you’re still here to see the impact? Continue working part-time because you enjoy the purpose and connection it gives you?

One thing I also remind clients is that retirement isn't one long season. It changes over time just like life before retirement did. Many people assume they'll automatically spend less once they stop working.

That has not been my experience with most clients. In the first 10 to 20 years of retirement, depending on when you retire, you may be more active than ever. You finally have the time to travel, visit family, take up new hobbies, work on the house, or do the things you postponed while you were working. You may no longer be commuting or contributing to retirement accounts, but those expenses are often replaced by something else. In some cases, people spend about the same as they did before retirement, or even more.

That’s why I plan for retirement in stages. We may begin with a higher spending level during your active years, then gradually reduce that assumption by roughly 5% to 10% as travel slows, routines change, and you move into a different season of retirement. It is not a prediction that life will unfold exactly that way. It is a more realistic starting point than assuming you will spend the same amount forever—or that your expenses will suddenly drop the day you retire.

These choices shape the plan far more than most people expect. The numbers matter, but only because they help answer a more meaningful question: Will your money support the life you want to live, even as that life changes over time?

Life rarely unfolds exactly as we expect, and your retirement plan shouldn't assume that it will. It should be flexible enough to adapt as your life changes.

Very few people retire on a single source of income. It usually comes from several places at once, some combination of your 401k, IRAs, a brokerage account, Social Security, maybe a pension, rental income, business income, or part-time work you actually enjoy.

The mistake I see most often is evaluating each account or income source on its own. What matters is how they work together.

Should you delay Social Security, and for how long? Which accounts should you draw from first, and which should you leave invested? Would using Roth assets earlier improve your long-term tax picture, or create fewer options later? How will required withdrawals affect your income and taxes?

Take Social Security, for example. Claiming earlier provides income sooner, but it permanently reduces your monthly benefit. Waiting can significantly increase your guaranteed income for the rest of your life. The right choice depends on far more than your age. It depends on how much income you need, what other assets you have available, your health, your tax situation, and your long-term goals.

The same is true for your retirement accounts. We look at how to efficiently use dollars from your 401k, IRA, brokerage account, or Roth accounts to create the income you need while also considering taxes.

In some situations, it may make sense to complete Roth conversions before required minimum distributions begin. In others, a different approach may better support your long-term plan.

These aren’t isolated decisions. They all influence one another, and those connections are almost impossible to see when you’re reviewing one account statement at a time. That’s why we coordinate them as part of a single retirement income strategy rather than making each choice independently.

It’s tempting to build a retirement plan around a version of the future in which everything cooperates. But that isn’t the future anyone actually gets.

Markets don’t move on schedule. Inflation doesn’t hold still. Healthcare expenses can change. Careers and family responsibilities do not always unfold according to plan. That’s why I don’t build retirement plans around the assumption that everything will go right.

Instead, we look at the harder scenarios together.

What happens if the market falls during your first few years of retirement while you’re also withdrawing money? What if inflation remains higher than expected? What if you retire earlier than planned—by choice or because circumstances force the decision? What if one spouse lives significantly longer than the other?

Walking through these possibilities ahead of time helps us identify weak spots while they are still only possibilities. We can then make adjustments before those risks become realities.

The purpose is not to predict your future. It is to build a plan that can remain useful across many different versions of it.

We account for the risks people overlook

Many people assume the stock market is the greatest threat to their retirement. In practice, some of the most damaging risks are the gradual ones that receive less attention.

1. Healthcare and long-term care

Medical expenses often increase with age, and Medicare does not cover every type of care a retiree may eventually need. Extended care, in particular, can become a significant expense for an individual, a spouse, or the entire family.

When someone tells me long-term care is not something they need to think about yet, I often ask a different question: If you needed help for an extended period, who would provide that care and what would it require from them financially, physically, and emotionally?

That question makes the issue more real. Long-term care planning is not only about protecting an account balance. It is also about protecting the people you love from having to make difficult decisions without a plan.

2. Taxes

Many people are surprised by how much they may still pay in taxes after they retire. Different accounts receive different tax treatment, and the order in which you withdraw money can affect how much you ultimately keep.

Retirement tax planning may involve deciding when to recognize income, when to use taxable or tax-deferred accounts, whether Roth conversions deserve consideration, and how Social Security and other income sources interact. The goal is not simply to reduce this year’s tax bill. It is to make thoughtful decisions across the full length of retirement.

3. Inflation

Inflation rarely feels dramatic from one year to the next. Over a retirement that may last 25 or 30 years, however, it can quietly erode what your money is able to buy.

A plan based only on today’s expenses may look comfortable while underestimating what the same lifestyle could cost in the future. Your income strategy therefore needs to support today’s spending while giving your money an opportunity to keep pace with your changing cost of living.

We create a living plan that evolves with you

By this point, we've spent time understanding the retirement you want, identifying where your income will come from, stress-testing the plan, and thinking through risks like taxes, inflation, and healthcare. Now it's time to turn all of those conversations into a retirement income plan you can actually use.

Now it's time to turn all of that into a retirement income plan you can actually use.

Instead of wondering whether you're on the right track, you'll have a clear picture of how the pieces fit together. You'll understand where your retirement income is expected to come from, when decisions like claiming Social Security fit into the plan, how withdrawals from your retirement accounts can be coordinated with taxes in mind, and how much flexibility you have if life doesn't unfold exactly as expected.

Just as importantly, you'll know why we're making those decisions. I want my clients to understand the strategy behind the plan, not simply follow a set of recommendations.

And because retirement isn't one long season, this isn't a plan that's created once and put in a drawer. Your spending may change as you move through different stages of retirement. Tax laws evolve. Markets fluctuate. Your priorities may shift. The plan should evolve with them.

That's why I view retirement planning as an ongoing relationship rather than a one-time project. We revisit the strategy, make thoughtful adjustments as your life changes, and help ensure your financial plan continues to support the retirement you want, not just the retirement we imagined years earlier.

Get a clearer answer for your retirement

So, will your money last in retirement?

The answer comes from looking at your entire financial life together: the retirement you want, the income available to you, the taxes you may owe, the risks you need to prepare for, and the decisions you can make along the way.

At Nexa Wealth Planning in Los Angeles, I help women, couples, and business owners across California and beyond turn those moving pieces into a coordinated retirement income plan. You’ll see where you stand today, what may need attention, and which next steps can give you more confidence about the years ahead.

Schedule a conversation to begin answering the question with your own numbers, goals, and life in mind.

What if I'm in my 30s or 40s? Is it too early to start planning for retirement?

Not at all. Many of the people I work with begin planning well before retirement because they want to make thoughtful decisions while those decisions still have time to make a meaningful difference.

Learn more about how we work with clients if you're wondering whether now is the right time to create a financial plan.

When retirement is still years away, the questions simply look a little different. Am I saving enough? Are my investments aligned with my goals? Should I prioritize my 401k, Roth accounts, or other investments? What kind of retirement income am I currently on track to create?

Just as importantly, financial planning at this stage isn't only about retirement. You may also be buying a home, raising children, supporting aging parents, building a business, or saving for other goals that matter to you. The objective isn't to maximize your retirement savings at the expense of everything else. It's to make intentional decisions that balance today's priorities with your long-term financial future.

The earlier you begin asking these questions, the more flexibility you typically have. Small, consistent adjustments made over many years can have a meaningful impact on where you ultimately end up.

We find every place your income will come from

You Might Also Be Wondering...

We prepare for uncertainty

Renee Cohen, CFP® is the founder of Nexa Wealth Planning, a fee-based financial planning firm in Los Angeles serving women and couples across California and virtually nationwide.

Connect with Renee:
Ask me anything
Work with Nexa Wealth
Find me on LinkedIn

2026 Midyear Market Update

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:37:37 GMT

We're halfway through 2026 and it's been an eventful year so far. The conflict in the Middle East, oil prices spiking above $100, stubborn inflation, and a daily news cycle that makes it easy to feel like everything is falling apart.

What is Happening in the 2026 Markets?

U.S. stocks have gained roughly 10% so far this year. Most people are surprised when they hear that because the news has felt relentless. But markets often move ahead of the news, not with it. This isn't a rally built on wishful thinking. Companies are actually earning more money than they were a year ago, and that's what's driving prices higher.

Is AI Just Another Dot-Com Bubble?

It's the question I'm hearing most right now.

The late 1990s dot-com boom was built on speculation. Companies raised billions, built technology infrastructure, and then waited for customers to show up. Many never did, and when the bubble burst, investors lost significant money.

Today's AI story is different in one important way: the demand is already here. Businesses are actively using AI tools, paying for them, and integrating them into their operations right now. The investment in AI infrastructure is following real, existing demand, not betting on demand that might show up someday. That doesn't mean AI stocks can't be overvalued or that there won't be volatility. But it's a fundamentally different setup than 2000.

A relatively small group of large technology companies is driving much of the market's gains right now. In fact, over half of U.S. earnings growth this year is expected to come from AI-related industries — chips, data centers, and the systems that make it all run. That's worth being aware of and it's one of the strongest arguments for owning a little of everything rather than putting too much weight in any one area.

What Does the SpaceX IPO Mean for My Portfolio?

SpaceX went public in June as the largest IPO in history, valued at over $1.7 trillion and it changed the rules for how some index funds work.

The Nasdaq changed its rules to fast-track SpaceX into its index just 15 days after the IPO, so if you hold Nasdaq-focused funds, you picked up some SpaceX exposure automatically. The S&P 500 took a different stance and held firm on its longstanding requirement that companies actually be profitable before joining. SpaceX lost over $4 billion last quarter, so that exposure won't happen until at least mid-2027.

Because your investments are spread across many different companies, you don't need to have a view on SpaceX to be well positioned. No single company, however large, determines your outcome.

What about inflation?

Inflation has been more stubborn than most people expected heading into 2026. Higher energy costs from the Middle East conflict have kept prices elevated at the gas pump and in grocery stores — the places we feel it most directly.

The good news is that this type of inflation tends to be temporary. When energy prices settle down, and historically they do, everyday prices tend to follow. We're nowhere near the levels we saw in 2022, and the conditions that drove inflation that high aren't what we're dealing with today.

Why Aren't Interest Rates Coming Down?

At the start of the year, you may have been expecting the Fed to start cutting interest rates. That hasn't happened. Inflation has been stickier than expected and rates are now likely to stay where they are through at least 2027.

That might sound frustrating, but higher rates mean the bonds in your portfolio are actually earning something meaningful right now. For years, bonds were barely keeping up with inflation. That's changed, and it's now working in your favor.

Is the Economy in Trouble?

Behind all the market noise, the actual economy has held up well. Job growth remains solid, consumers are still spending, and the unemployment rate is near historically strong levels. Growth has slowed from the pace of recent years, but slow and steady is a very different thing from falling apart.

The things worth watching in the second half of the year: whether higher energy costs push inflation up more broadly, how the Middle East situation continues to develop, and midterm elections later this year, which tend to bring their own round of market noise regardless of outcome.

What This Means for Your Financial Plan

Markets have proven more resilient this year than most investors expected. The underlying economy is holding up, earnings are growing, and a well-diversified portfolio has been doing exactly what it's designed to do by participating in the gains while cushioning the volatility.

That said, the path forward probably won't be perfectly smooth. A handful of large technology and AI stocks have been doing most of the heavy lifting this year and when gains are that concentrated, a stumble in those names can feel more dramatic than it actually is. What's more likely than a broad downturn is rotating corrections, where different parts of the market take turns pulling back rather than everything falling at once. If you're diversified across many different areas, that's exactly the environment your portfolio is built to handle.

The second half will bring new headlines: midterm elections, inflation data, Fed decisions, and whatever we can't yet anticipate. None of that changes the fundamental case for staying invested and staying the course.

As always, if anything here sparked a question about your own situation, I'm here.

— Renee

What Should I Expect in the Second Half of 2026?

A good financial plan already accounts for the fact that markets don't move in a straight line, that interest rates change, and that headlines are often louder than the underlying reality. It accounts for years like this one.

Being diversified means participating in AI's growth without being entirely dependent on it. It means rising interest rates are working in your favor on the bond side even while they create uncertainty elsewhere. It means you don't need to have a view on SpaceX, or oil prices, or who wins the midterms, to stay on track.

This post is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. The information reflects the views of Nexa Wealth Planning as of the date of publication and is subject to change without notice. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Please consult with a qualified financial professional before making any investment decisions. Reproduction without written permission is prohibited.

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2026 Midyear Market Update

What is Happening in the 2026 Markets?

Is AI Just Another Dot-Com Bubble?

What Does the SpaceX IPO Mean for My Portfolio?

What about inflation?

Why Aren't Interest Rates Coming Down?

Is the Economy in Trouble?

What This Means for Your Financial Plan

What Should I Expect in the Second Half of 2026?

Are taxes becoming part of more financial decisions?