Maintain the lifestyle you want in retirement.
Retirement isn't one decision. It's dozens of them, and they all need to fit together.
People approaching retirement have done the hard part. They saved consistently, made smart career choices, and built something real. What gets complicated now is turning all of that into a plan that works, one that coordinates your pension, Social Security, investments, and taxes into income that lasts as long as you need it to.
When can you retire?
People retire too early and run out of savings, or work longer than needed and lose good years waiting. The answer comes from your real numbers.
How do you make your money last?
Drawing down savings in the wrong order can cost you real money in taxes. The sequence matters as much as the amount.
Who's really looking out for you?
Commission-based advisors earn when they sell you products. A fee-based advisor earns when you succeed.
We built our practice around turning retirement's moving parts into one plan.
Bernicke Wealth Management was founded in 1985. We currently help over 900 households work through the decisions that define retirement.
A complete retirement plan covers five areas:
Coordinating Social Security, pensions, and withdrawals into income that lasts.
Aligned with your risk tolerance and how soon you’ll need the money.
Reviewed and adjusted every year, not just at tax time.
Making sure your assets go where you intend, to your spouse, children, and beyond.
Insurance and safeguards that keep the plan on track if something unexpected happens.
Ty Bernicke, CFP®, our President & CEO, has spent years researching several of these areas himself. His work on retirement planning, investment management, and tax minimization strategies has been published or cited in outlets including Forbes*, MarketWatch, The New York Times, and Futures Magazine, among others, since 2005.
We’re also fee-based and independent, which means our recommendations are built around your plan, not our revenue.
Disclosure
Ty Bernicke is a paying member of the Forbes Finance Council, which provides the opportunity to contribute articles to Forbes.
Hear from people who've been through the process.
The Google reviews above may be from current or former clients, or individuals who are not clients of Bernicke Wealth Management (“BWM”). Reviewers have not been compensated or received any material incentives for providing a review. No material conflicts of interest have been identified within these reviews. BWM’s Eau Claire office has maintained an “Excellent” 5-star rating on Google since October 16, 2021.
Reviews Disclosure
Whether you're retiring from an employer, selling a business, or transitioning wealth to the next generation, we've done this before.
If you're within five years of retirement
We work with individuals over 50 with $500,000 or more in investable assets, focused on the decisions that come right before retirement.
If you're already retired
Retirement doesn’t end the planning. We stay with you on the decisions that keep coming, from year-to-year tax planning to keeping your estate plan current.
If you have $1 million or more in investable assets
Our Private Client Group brings a dedicated team of advisors, paraplanners, and specialists across four coordinated planning areas, including retirement income.
If you're a business owner
Whether you’re selling your business or transitioning it internally to key executives or family members, we have experience with both.
Questions people ask us about retirement planning.
Your plan isn't just about investments. We coordinate your retirement income, investments, tax strategy, estate plan, and protection into one plan, built around your real numbers, not a generic template.
No. If you're a few years out from retirement and want to know what's possible, that's exactly the right time to talk with us. We also work with people who are already retired.
It starts with a call to see if we're a good fit. From there, your advisor meets with you to understand your full picture, lays out an analysis of where you stand, and brings it together in a recommendation meeting with a clear path forward, then keeps reviewing and adjusting as your life changes.
As we build your plan together, we'll ask for more specific information relevant to your situation, like account statements, but you don't need any of that gathered before you reach out.
This isn't a one-time plan. We review and adjust it as your life changes: a health change, a market shift, a decision like selling a business. That's what keeps it working for you year after year, not just on the day it's built.
Ty Bernicke, CFP®, named a 2026 Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Advisor (awarded April 7, 2026; data as of June 30, 2025). BWM did not pay for this award but paid a fee to license the logo. Award Disclosure
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