Retirement planning for East Bay families who cannot afford to lose the principal.
Pete Alexander helps people in their 50s, 60s and 70s turn savings into income they can count on. Every plan starts with the bills that have to be paid in any market and works outward from there.
Office on Paseo Padre Parkway in Fremont. Meet in person, by phone or by video.
Planning for the years when you stop earning and start spending.
Most financial advice is about building savings. Pete works on the part that comes after: drawing it down without running out.
Retirement income planning
A month-by-month plan that names where each dollar comes from, for both spouses, for as long as either of you lives.
Asset growth and protection
Ways to keep growing your savings without leaving the principal exposed to the next market drop, including insurance-based options.
Planning for business owners
Succession, key-person and buy-sell coverage, and a retirement that does not depend on selling the business at the right moment.
Six risks that end retirements early.
A plan should say what it does about each one. Each risk has a short guide.
Protection
If one spouse dies first, the other can lose a pension or a Social Security check while most of the bills stay the same.
Read the guideMarket
A drop in the first years of retirement does far more damage than the same drop ten years later.
Read the guideTax
Every dollar out of a traditional IRA or 401(k) is taxable, and required withdrawals start at 73 or 75.
Read the guideHealth care
Long-term care in California runs roughly $6,900 to $15,000 a month, and Medicare pays for very little of it.
Read the guideIncome depletion
Will your savings produce enough income for as long as you live? Few people have run that number.
Read the guideLongevity
A long life is the goal. It also gives every other risk more time to show up.
Read the guide
Crash Proof Wealth
“The first rule to wealth is never lose the principal. The second is never forget rule number one.”
Warren Buffett’s rule, as quoted in the book
Pete and Brett Kitchen wrote about what that rule looks like once you retire: keeping your savings safe from a crash, from taxes and from inflation.
“My family was left behind financially.” It is the reason Pete does this work.
Pete has been married for 33 years. He and his wife lead the marriage ministry at their church, he leads its grief ministry, and he once ran a youth ministry of about 500 kids. He brings the same patience to a retirement plan that he brings to those rooms.
Plain answers to the questions people ask Pete most.
What is sequence of returns risk?
Why a bad market in your first years of retirement does far more damage than the same market later.
What does long-term care cost in California and the Bay Area?
2025 costs for home care, assisted living and nursing homes, and who pays for what.
When should you claim Social Security?
62, 67 or 70: what each age does to your check, and why married couples should think about the survivor first.
What people ask before the first call.
Where is Pete’s office?
39510 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite 120, in Fremont, California. Pete works with families across the East Bay and South Bay, including Fremont, Newark, Union City, Hayward, Pleasanton, Milpitas and San Jose, and meets in person, by phone or by video.
What does the first call cost?
Nothing. It is a 30-minute conversation about where you stand and what worries you. There is no obligation to do anything afterward.
Is there a minimum amount of savings to work with Pete?
There is no set minimum. If Pete is not the right person to help with your situation, he will tell you on the first call.
What should I bring to the first call?
A rough idea of your accounts, pensions and insurance policies, and the one question you most want answered. You do not need statements or paperwork for the first call.
Find out which of the six risks your plan leaves open.
It costs nothing and you are not signing up for anything. You talk with Pete himself, by phone or video, or in person at the Fremont office.
Rather call? (510) 396-4627