Linda Marsh

I spent most of my working life as a public school teacher in Ohio, and like a lot of people I paid into retirement plans for thirty years without ever really understanding them. When I started thinking seriously about retiring, in my late fifties, I had a 403(b) from teaching, a couple of old 401(k)s from jobs I had before that, a Roth IRA I had opened and half forgotten, and a Social Security benefit I could not picture. I had no idea how they fitted together or whether they added up to enough.

Working it out was harder than it should have been. The official information was accurate but dry, and most of what came up online was either trying to sell me an annuity or written for people who already spoke the language of RMDs, IRMAA, and Roth conversions. What I wanted was someone a step ahead of me explaining, in plain English, what the choices actually were and what they felt like to make.

So I built Retirement Planning Guide, the resource I wish I’d had. I write from my own experience of rolling over old 401(k)s, reading my Social Security statement, deciding when to claim, and signing up for Medicare. Every article is reviewed by a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER, Daniel Brookfield, so the numbers and rules stay accurate. I’m not a financial advisor; I’m someone who has been through it and wants the next person to feel less lost and better prepared.