Retirement transition
Turning what you have saved into income, with Social Security, taxes, Medicare, and timing decided together rather than one at a time.
Knox County · TN
Financial Advisor in Knoxville, TN
Most Knox County families who call us already have help. What they usually do not have is one person looking at the retirement plan, the tax return, and the investments as a single picture. That is the work, and it is usually why people call us from outside the Tri-Cities. Planning meetings run over Zoom or at the Johnson City office, about an hour and a half up the interstate.
Fit
Who this page is for
Knox County families and business owners who want retirement, taxes, and investments looked at together by one advisor instead of split across a broker, a tax preparer, and a plan nobody has updated in years.
Best-fit situations
- You have done well, and you already have people helping, but nobody seems to be looking at the whole thing. The decisions ahead feel bigger and more connected than anything you have dealt with before, and you would rather have someone in the room who does this for a living.
- Knox County households where the decisions have outgrown the pieces: people close enough to retirement that rough guesses no longer feel good enough, university and utility careers with a pension election coming, business owners and remote professionals whose tax picture has outgrown a once-a-year return, and families who would rather have one advisor who sees all of it.
Local context
David Talley grew up on the Virginia side of Bristol, graduated from Tusculum, and has spent his career working with East Tennessee families. He is a season ticket holder at Neyland Stadium and is in Knoxville most Saturdays in the fall. Planning meetings run over Zoom or at the Johnson City office, about an hour and a half up the interstate, and we make the drive when meeting in person is the right call.
If the question is mainly retirement or business ownership, use the situation-specific path below instead of treating location as the whole answer.
Why people reach out
The search is local. The reason usually is not.
Most people in Knoxville who reach out are not unhappy with their returns. They are tired of being the only one holding the whole picture: the advisor who does not see the tax return, the tax preparer who never hears about the plan, and a retirement date that keeps moving because nobody has run the actual numbers.
The questions we hear are the ones that cut across all of it. When can I retire and what does the income look like. What does the pension election really change. What do the next few years of tax look like if we convert some of this. Those answers do not come from any one of the three pieces on its own.
Familiar ground
David grew up on the Virginia side of Bristol and graduated from Tusculum, and the practice has always been an East Tennessee practice. He is also in Knoxville more than you might guess: he holds Neyland Stadium season tickets and is in town most Saturdays in the fall. We meet virtually when that saves you an afternoon and in person when the conversation deserves it.
Read public reviewsPension and benefit decisions
University, utility, and hospital careers come with elections that deserve real modeling before you choose rather than a rule of thumb.
Planning and tax in one place
The plan, the investments, and the return handled by the same person, which is usually where the missed money turns up.
Decision depth
What working together looks like
No pressure and no pitch. A conversation about where things stand, and whether it is worth going deeper.
Everything in one place
Retirement, taxes, investments, and estate details reviewed together instead of piecemeal.
Meetings that fit the drive
Most of the work runs virtually, and we make the drive when meeting face to face is the right call. The travel is on us.
Plain answers
You will hear what we would do and why, in regular English. If something does not make sense, that is on us to explain better.
What we coordinate
Use the local page to find the planning work that fits.
- Retirement planning for university, utility, and hospital careers
- State pension and optional retirement plan coordination
- Tax planning leveraging Tennessee's no-income-tax advantage
- Investment management for growing Knoxville professionals
- Business planning for Knoxville entrepreneurs and startups
- Estate planning for Knox County families
Representative situation
A University Professor Navigating Retirement Timing and Multiple Income Streams
Situation
A state university employee approaching retirement has a state pension, an Optional Retirement Program balance, a rental property generating passive income, and a spouse still working part-time. They need to coordinate pension election timing, Social Security claiming strategy, and Roth conversions across two different retirement timelines.
Approach
We might start by modeling the pension election, comparing the lifetime income under different payout options. Then we'd coordinate the spouse's Social Security claiming strategy with the primary earner's pension start date, identify Roth conversion opportunities during the gap years between retirement and age 72, and ensure the rental property income is structured tax-efficiently alongside the other retirement income sources.
This representative situation is hypothetical and for educational purposes only. It is not based on, and should not be understood as referencing, any specific client or client experience.
Local proof
Where we are
Talley Wealth is based in Johnson City and works with families across the Tri-Cities, in person and virtually.
- Office: 203 Broyles Drive, Suite 301, Johnson City, TN 37601.
- Serving Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol, and nearby communities.
- Reviews mentioned on this site are public Google reviews, not a promise of results.
Related next steps
Choose the page that fits the question.
Who we help
Start with the situation that sounds most like your life right now.
Learn morePre-retirees
For households approaching the retirement transition.
Learn moreBusiness owners
For owners whose taxes and planning need to catch up to the business.
Learn moreSevierville financial advisor
Sevier County planning, including vacation rental and tourism business taxes.
Learn moreMorristown financial advisor
Hamblen County planning, anchored by David's six Greeneville years half an hour up 11E.
Learn moreJohnson City financial advisor
The home-market page for Johnson City families, professionals, and business owners.
Learn moreCommon questions
Local questions worth asking before you choose an advisor.
Do you have an office in Knoxville?
No. Our office is in Johnson City, about an hour and a half up the interstate. Most of the work with Knox County families runs virtually, and we make the drive when meeting in person is the right call.
Can you help university employees with their retirement benefits?
Yes. We work with state university employees on pension election decisions, ORP account management, and coordinating university benefits with personal savings and Social Security. The pension election is one of the bigger decisions you will make, and it is worth seeing the options modeled before you choose.
Do you work with federal utility employees?
Yes. Federal utility careers come with benefits, including a pension, the Thrift Savings Plan, and specific retirement options, that are worth understanding together rather than one at a time. We help utility workers in Knoxville look at their benefits, personal savings, and Social Security as one plan.
What makes Talley Wealth different from Knoxville advisors?
Talley Wealth combines financial planning with tax planning and tax preparation under one roof. Most advisors do not prepare tax returns, and most CPAs do not build financial plans. We are built to coordinate both sides of the conversation.
Is Tennessee's no-income-tax really that big a deal?
For many families, yes. If you moved from a state like California, New York, or even North Carolina, the state income tax savings alone can be $5,000 to $15,000+ per year depending on your income. We help Knoxville residents, especially remote workers and retirees, maximize this advantage.
Start with the real decisions in Knoxville.
Bring the question that is on your mind. We will use the call to see whether the full Keystone process is useful.