How we help retirees and pre-retirees in South Florida

Retirement in South Florida often comes with a sense of financial confidence. You've spent decades saving, making disciplined choices, and putting tomorrow ahead of today. Most people who find us in Boca Raton have spent years building towards this. The investments are there and now you have decisions to make.

Summit works with retirees and pre-retirees throughout the Boca Raton area to help them:

• Figure out how to draw income in retirement and what accounts to withdraw from first.
• Build a real tax strategy for this phase of life, not just the accumulation years.    
• Take a fresh look at how your portfolio is positioned when you're drawing income instead of adding to it.    
• Understand how market swings affect a retirement paycheck differently than when you are still working.    
• Get a plan that's designed for where they are now, not where they were ten years ago.    

Since 2000, we have put education first. It’s important to us that you understand your situation clearly so your plan actually fits the lifestyle you want.

What We Do, And Why It Matters in Retirement

Summit's work is built around three areas that function as a single system, because in retirement, a decision about income affects how your portfolio is invested, and a decision about your portfolio affects what you owe in taxes. We've walked these processes with over 1,300 families, so we know where things get complicated and how to simplify them without cutting corners. Here's how we approach each one for clients in Boca Raton.

What a 25-Year Relationship Looks Like

• Summit was founded in 2000, and our average client relationship is 15 years long. In a business where trust is everything, we think that’s the most honest measure of how things are going.
• Our founder and lead advisor, Sean McDermott, CFP, is a full time Florida resident, living and working in Boca Raton. He’s become a leader in sharing knowledge about moving to a new state and the financial implications you should be thinking about. 
• As a CFP® (Certified Financial Planner), Sean is held to a fiduciary standard, which means he's legally and ethically required to act in your best interest when providing financial planning advice. That's the standard we hold ourselves to across all of our client work.
• When you call our office, a real person picks up. And when you come in for a meeting, you're talking to someone who actually knows your situation, your goals, and your history (not someone who pulled up your file 10 minutes earlier).
• Informed clients make better decisions. That's been our model since the beginning, when Sean started teaching retirement planning workshops at corporations around the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota area. Many of our Boca Raton clients first met us at one of our Taxes in Retirement workshops. They came with a question, and then stayed because we didn't try to sell them anything.

Who You’ll Work With

Sean McDermott, CFP — Founder

Sean McDermott founded Summit Investment Advisors in 2000 after spending a decade teaching retirement planning workshops at Fortune 500 companies around the Twin Cities. He's spent his career doing one thing: helping people understand their money well enough to retire with confidence. Sean lives in Boca Raton and works closely with retirees and pre-retirees throughout South Florida, with a particular focus on income planning, tax strategy, and the estate planning coordination that ties it all together. Click here to read Sean’s full bio.

Common Questions from Our Boca Raton Clients

I'm already retired. Is it too late to do real tax planning?

Not at all, and in many cases, the years right after retirement are when tax planning matters most. Before Social Security starts and before RMDs kick in, there's often a window to do Roth conversions at lower tax rates. Once required distributions begin, that window narrows. If you've retired recently and haven't looked at this yet, it's a conversation to have.

What is an RMD, and why does it matter for my taxes?

A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the amount the IRS requires you to withdraw from pre-tax retirement accounts each year once you reach a certain age. RMDs are taxable income, so they can push a significant portion of your Social Security benefits into taxable territory as well. If you have a large IRA or 401(k), your RMDs can create a meaningful tax bill even when you're not working. We plan around this proactively, often years before RMDs begin.

I have an estate plan, but it was done ten years ago. Should I be worried?

It’s probably time to review it. The most common issues we see are beneficiary designations that haven't been updated after life changes, and assets that were never properly titled into a trust even though one was created. Oftentimes, those go unnoticed until something happens. If your financial picture has changed significantly since you last reviewed your documents, or if you've had any major life events, it makes sense to take a look. We can help assess what you have and whether it still aligns with how your assets are held today.

My spouse and I disagree on when to claim Social Security. How do you help with that?

We run a specific, modeled analysis for couples, looking at your respective ages, health considerations, income needs, and the spousal benefit structure. The timing of who claims first and when can substantially change your total lifetime benefit, and every couple's answer looks different depending on their situation. Rather than use a general rule of thumb, we'll walk you through the actual numbers.

How does Summit's fee structure work?

The best way to walk through our fee structure is in a consultation, because it depends on the scope of services you're looking for. We're happy to explain how everything works before you make any decisions. There's no cost to schedule an initial conversation, and or obligation to move forward.

How do I know my money and my financial plan are in good hands with Summit?

We point prospective clients who don’t know us well yet to a few things: 

• We have over 140 Google reviews from real clients that we encourage you to read. They reflect the trust that client families have placed in us over our 25-year history, and they'll give you a clearer picture of who we are than anything we could say about ourselves                                        
• We partner with LPL Financial, which is the largest independent broker-dealer in the United States.∗ They provide technology, clearing, and compliance support for more than 32,000 independent financial advisors like Summit nationwide. That partnership means we can bring institutional-level capabilities to every client relationship without losing the responsiveness and personal attention you'd expect from a firm that actually knows your name. 

*as reported by Financial Planning magazine, 1996-2025, based on total revenue.                                                                                   

What Comes Next

If you're retired or getting close, you deserve a clear picture of where you stand. Our team is here when you're ready. There's no pitch and no pressure. A first conversation is just a conversation.

Schedule a Consultation

Or call us at 561-330-2282
 

Boca Raton Office: 
4800 N Federal Highway, 
Suite B111
Boca Raton, FL 33431

Invest in Learning. Invest in Life. Retire with Confidence.