Pages

Blogs and Insights

News

People

  • Our Services
    Individuals & Families Corporations Nonprofits
    Back

    Who We Serve

    • Individuals & Families
        • Wealth Management
          • Investment Solutions
          • Estate and Gift Planning
          • Financial Planning
          • Insurance Planning & Risk Management
          • Tax Planning & Preparation
          • Marital Financial Planning
          • Cross-Border
          • Trust Services
          • Wealth for Women
        • Business Owner Advisory
          • Business Owner Financial Planning
          • Practice Owner Financial Planning
          • CFO & Accounting Services
        • Family Office
    • Corporations
        • Workplace Solutions
          • Executive Financial Counseling
          • Beneficiary Financial Counseling
        • Retirement Plan Consulting
          • Defined Benefit Plans
          • Defined Contribution Services
        • Corporate Venture Capital
          • For Corporations
          • For Entrepreneurs & Investors
    • Nonprofits
        • Advisory for Nonprofits
        • Cerity Partners OCIO
  • About Us
    Our Team Locations Careers Awards & Accolades Join Our Partnership Contact
    Back

    About Us

    Our advisors utilize their experience and expertise and that of their colleagues to develop the best solutions for your complex personal and professional financial situations.

    • Our Team
    • Locations
        • Arizona
        • California
        • Colorado
        • Florida
        • Georgia
        • Illinois
        • Indiana
        • Kentucky
        • Maryland
        • Massachusetts
        • Michigan
        • New Jersey
        • New York
        • North Carolina
        • Ohio
        • Pennsylvania
        • Texas
        • Virginia
        • Wyoming
    • Careers
    • Awards & Accolades
    • Join Our Partnership
    • Contact
  • Insights
    Back

    Insights & Resources

    Actionable planning strategies to inform and guide your decision-making.

    • Insights
    • News
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Login
    Back

    Login

    • Addepar
    • Orion
    • Black Diamond
    • eMoney
    • Cerity Partners Cash Management
    • MoneyGuide Pro
    • ShareFile
    • Box | Login
    • Secure Email
Login
  • Addepar
  • Orion
  • Black Diamond
  • eMoney
  • Cerity Partners Cash Management
  • MoneyGuide Pro
  • ShareFile
  • Box | Login
  • Secure Email
Request an Intro
  • Login
    Back

    Login

      Howdy

    • Addepar
    • Orion
    • Black Diamond
    • eMoney
    • Cerity Partners Cash Management
    • MoneyGuide Pro
    • ShareFile
    • Box | Login
    • Secure Email
  • Legal

6 Questions if You’re Within Five Years of Retirement at ExxonMobil

Let the experts at Cerity Partners help you plan for your retirement from ExxonMobil

The countdown has begun. You’ve had a rewarding career. But you think to yourself, “After all these years, I’ve finally got enough, and I know I’ve had enough!” You find yourself fantasizing about what it will be like not to have to come to work every day. You’re within a few years from retirement! Congratulations!

But before that grin on your face gets too wide, are you really ready?

Many factors need to be aligned as you decide to retire. Concluding that it’s time can be an iterative process as you think through the various choices you’ll make. To help the transition go smoothly, consider the following six questions.

1

Have you decided what retirement will look like initially?

If retirement is only a few years away, you should have a good notion of what life will look like for you in this next chapter, at least to start. Will you stay where you live now, or do you plan on moving, downsizing, or building your dream home? How do you feel about keeping your mortgage rather than using some of your savings to pay it off if you don’t move? Will you have enough activities to stay busy and maintain a sense of purpose, or will you seek part-time or full-time alternate employment? Are you ready psychologically to go from “Who’s Who” to “Who’s He?”

These decisions could impact your finances and cause you to question your retirement timetable. And are you and your spouse aligned? My wife told me she married me for better or worse, but not for lunch. If you plan on staying home and your better half wants to spend three months a year traveling, well, friend, there’s a conversation you need to have. Good luck!

2

Do you have enough money to cover your ongoing budget in retirement?

Here’s a very rough way to estimate your number. Calculate what you anticipate to be your recurring annual expenses in retirement in today’s dollars. Offset that amount for any continuing income you’ll receive during retirement (such as an ExxonMobil pension and Social Security). Gross up that number by dividing it by (1 minus your expected tax rate). Inflate the result by 2.5% per year (our inflation assumption) until you stop drawing your paycheck. Then, to derive a lump sum value, multiply by 25.

You should be in reasonable shape if you anticipate having that sum available to support you. It builds on a rule of thumb that you can spend an inflation-adjusted 4.0% of a balanced portfolio each year and stand a good chance of not running out of money before you run out of heartbeats. If you plan significant one-time expenses throughout your retirement, add those to the sum.

You’ll note we haven’t differentiated tax-deferred assets like IRAs and 401(k) plans from after-tax assets like investment accounts. Uncle Sam has a claim on all that tax-deferred wealth once you take distribution of it. In other words, only some of that IRA will be available to you. That complexity may lead you to want to use more sophisticated planning techniques (call us if you’d like to learn more). The critical point is you don’t want to stop receiving the paycheck if you lack assets to sustain your lifestyle.

If your savings are insufficient, you might fine-tune your retirement budget, postpone your retirement by a few years, increase your savings in the ExxonMobil Savings Plan or elsewhere, or plan on part-time work in retirement.

3

Are your estate documents up-to-date?

Add up your ExxonMobil Savings Plan balance, your anticipated ExxonMobil Pension Plan benefit, any non-tax qualified or incentive plan benefits, your home, and your outside savings. You may be surprised at how much you’ll be worth at retirement.

If you still need to do so, ensure you’ve thought through how you want those assets distributed if you were out of the picture. We suggest you plan in terms of the next five to seven years.

Remember to think about your IRA. That’s where most of your EMSP and any tax-qualified pension lump sum will likely end up. IRAs pass according to beneficiary designations, typically not by will or trust document.

If you and your spouse should both die, are your kids capable of managing what might be left to them? You may be traveling more than in the past—do you have an updated health care proxy and medical directive, just in case? Get all this taken care of ahead of actually retiring. It can be complex, but that’s not a reason to delay putting your affairs in order.

4

Is your portfolio appropriately diversified?

When you go from earning a salary and saving for retirement to living off your wealth, how you’re invested becomes increasingly critical. Retirement requires you to balance the preservation of wealth and growth of assets to sustain you for a thirty- or forty-year retirement. You may have concentrated positions in stocks that have done well for you over the years. But retirement is not typically when you invest to become rich—it’s when you diversify to preserve the wealth accumulated over your career. How have you allocated your holdings to grow yet not face more risk than what you can tolerate?

5

Have you assessed your insurance needs in retirement?

If the kids are through college, you’ve paid for the house, and your retirement savings are in good shape, you may not need life insurance to compensate for lost wages if you were deceased or incapacitated. On the other hand, life insurance could be of great value if your estate is likely to incur estate taxes or you want to establish a tax-free benefit for your heirs. You may also want to consider long-term care insurance to help pay for nursing home or home health care should you become incapacitated late in life. It’s more affordable the younger you are; you’ll want to qualify while you’re healthy.

6

Isn't it about time you began interviewing financial advisors?

A disadvantage of approaching retirement is the reminder it offers of one’s mortality. We all hope for a long and healthy retirement, but leaving the workforce is also a reminder that we won’t be around forever.

We admire those financial decision-makers in the family who care enough about their spouse and heirs NOT to leave them unprepared for what might happen should they not be around. A colleague has written elsewhere about the value of working with a financial advisor.  A trusted advisor who is knowledgeable about your finances and assists you in answering these questions can help keep that smile on your face as you prepare for and enter retirement.

Financial scenarios can be unique to each ExxonMobil employee. To learn how this commentary applies to you book a no-obligation meeting with me, the in-house ExxonMobil Wealth Management expert at Cerity Partners.

Meet Doug Garrison

Doug is a Partner based in the Houston office and a member of the firm’s Wealth Management practice. He is responsible for delivering investment...Read more

Meet Doug
Doug Garrison

Cerity Partners is not contracted with, endorsed by or affiliated with Exxon Mobil Corp.

Please read important disclosures here.

Doug Garrison

Book a 30 minute, no-obligation meeting.

Schedule your complimentary 30-minute discovery call so we can understand your unique financial and life goals and match you with the advisor most well suited to help.

Request an Introduction

Your Introduction to a Trusted Financial Partner Awaits

Our Concierge Program offers a simple, personalized approach to finding your ideal financial advisor.

Schedule your complimentary 30-minute discovery call so we can understand your unique financial and life goals and match you with the advisor most well suited to help.

Dustin Ribergaard's headshot

Dustin Ribergaard

Lead Concierge

Find your ideal financial advisor with our personalized Concierge Program.

Schedule a complimentary discovery call now:

Book Time Online Now

Where are your liquid assets held?

Book your meeting

This 30-minute call with me is designed to better understand your unique financial and life goals and match you with the advisor most well suited to help.

Looking forward to
speaking with you!

Dustin Ribergaard

Lead Concierge

Dustin Ribergaard's headshot

Thank you for your interest

Thank you for your interest in our financial services. We appreciate the opportunity to connect and learn about your financial goals. A representative will be in touch to discuss your financial needs.

Thank you for booking a meeting with us!

We look forward to connecting with you soon.

Here are some valuable insights to read before your meeting

blog image background

Joe Ferreira, Sam Marshall and Jack Rabuck

Incentive Stock Options

Incentive Stock Options and the Alternative Minimum Tax Catch-22

July 8, 2025 - Here’s why AMT can be problematic: If you exercise enough incentive stock options and continue to hold the stock from the options you exercised, you…

blog image background
Economic and Market Outlooks

Video: July 2025 Economic & Market Outlook

July 1, 2025 - The financial markets seem to be sending us a message about presidential policies and the “Big, Beautiful Bill.” Jim Lebenthal explores what they might be…

blog image background

Andrejs Pilajevs

Principal

Cross-Border Planning

Portugal for U.S. Expats

July 2, 2025 - This Insight examines the key considerations for U.S. expats considering a move to Portugal, whether as full-time retirees, part-time residents, digital nomads, or investors seeking…

  • General inquiries: click here
  • Institutions and non-profits: click here
  • Corporations: click here

Learn about our Privacy Policy

By submitting the form, you acknowledge that we collect your name, email address and phone number to respond to your inquiries and provide you information about our products and services in accordance with our Privacy Policy. If you are a California resident, please see our CCPA Notice to California Residents.

Get ExxonMobil Employee Insights in your inbox.

By clicking “Submit”, you acknowledge that we collect your name, email address and phone number to respond to your inquiries and provide you information about our products and services in accordance with our Privacy Policy. If you are a California resident, please see our CCPA Notice to California Residents.

Logo

Your source for comprehensive financial advice and oversight.

  • Individuals & Families
  • Wealth Management
    • Investment Solutions
    • Estate and Gift Planning
    • Financial Planning
    • Insurance Planning & Risk Management
    • Tax Planning & Preparation
    • Marital Financial Planning
    • Cross-Border
    • Trust Services
    • Wealth for Women
  • Business Owner Advisory
    • Business Owner Financial Planning
    • Practice Owner Financial Planning
    • CFO & Accounting Services
  • Family Office
  • Corporations
  • Workplace Solutions
    • Executive Financial Counseling
    • Beneficiary Financial Counseling
  • Retirement Plan Consulting
    • Defined Benefit Plans
    • Defined Contribution Services
  • Corporate Venture Capital
    • For Corporations
    • For Entrepreneurs & Investors
  • Nonprofit Organizations
  • Advisory for Nonprofits
  • Cerity Partners OCIO
  • About Us
  • Our Team
  • Locations
  • Careers
  • Join Our Partnership
  • Awards & Accolades
  • Contact
  • Insights & Resources
  • Insights
  • Webinars
  • News
  • LOCATIONS
  • Arizona
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Kentucky
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • Ohio
  • Pennsylvania
  • Texas
  • Virginia
  • Wyoming
  • © 2025 Cerity Partners
  • Client Relationship Summary
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • CCPA Notice
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Cookie Preferences
Cerity footer logo-background

Your Introduction to a Trusted Financial Partner Awaits

Our Concierge Program offers a simple, personalized approach to finding your ideal financial advisor.

Schedule your complimentary 30-minute discovery call so we can understand your unique financial and life goals and match you with the advisor most well suited to help.

Dustin Ribergaard's headshot

Dustin Ribergaard

Lead Concierge

Find your ideal financial advisor with our personalized Concierge Program.

Schedule a complimentary discovery call now:

Book Time Online Now

Where are your liquid assets held?

Book your meeting

This 30-minute call with me is designed to better understand your unique financial and life goals and match you with the advisor most well suited to help.

Looking forward to
speaking with you!

Dustin Ribergaard

Lead Concierge

Dustin Ribergaard's headshot

Thank you for your interest

Thank you for your interest in our financial services. We appreciate the opportunity to connect and learn about your financial goals. A representative will be in touch to discuss your financial needs.

Thank you for booking a meeting with us!

We look forward to connecting with you soon.

Here are some valuable insights to read before your meeting

blog image background

Joe Ferreira, Sam Marshall and Jack Rabuck

Incentive Stock Options

Incentive Stock Options and the Alternative Minimum Tax Catch-22

July 8, 2025 - Here’s why AMT can be problematic: If you exercise enough incentive stock options and continue to hold the stock from the options you exercised, you…

blog image background
Economic and Market Outlooks

Video: July 2025 Economic & Market Outlook

July 1, 2025 - The financial markets seem to be sending us a message about presidential policies and the “Big, Beautiful Bill.” Jim Lebenthal explores what they might be…

blog image background

Andrejs Pilajevs

Principal

Cross-Border Planning

Portugal for U.S. Expats

July 2, 2025 - This Insight examines the key considerations for U.S. expats considering a move to Portugal, whether as full-time retirees, part-time residents, digital nomads, or investors seeking…

  • General inquiries: click here
  • Institutions and non-profits: click here
  • Corporations: click here

Learn about our Privacy Policy

By submitting the form, you acknowledge that we collect your name, email address and phone number to respond to your inquiries and provide you information about our products and services in accordance with our Privacy Policy. If you are a California resident, please see our CCPA Notice to California Residents.