Wealth Beyond Work: A Retirement Income Guide Written for the Retirement You'll Actually Live

The Wealth Beyond Work book is the retirement income guide I wrote for the people I actually sit across from in my Winter Haven office, retirees and pre-retirees who need their savings to last through a 25- or 30-year retirement that today's economy keeps making harder to plan for.

Written by Allen Thomas, financial advisor practicing since 1991, author of Wealth Beyond Work.

Secure Your Future, Protect Your Legacy

Why I Wrote This Book

Most of the retirement guidance available to American savers was written for a different decade. The assumptions baked into it, 8% market returns averaged calmly over time, modest healthcare inflation, predictable Social Security cost-of-living adjustments, traditional pension income carrying part of the load, don't describe the retirement my clients are actually walking into.

The people I work with are retiring into a market that swings on geopolitics, a healthcare system whose costs rise faster than nearly any other line item in their budget, and a longevity curve that means the money may need to last 30 years instead of 20. Wealth Beyond Work exists because the planning books on the shelf were largely written for accumulation, the saving years, and I needed something built specifically for decumulation, the spending years.

The book is plain-spoken on purpose. Most of my clients are in their 60s and 70s, and they're tired of being talked down to with financial buzzwords. So I wrote it the way I'd explain things at my conference table, with worked examples, real client situations (anonymized), and a framework you can apply to your own numbers.

What's Inside the Book

The chapters track the planning conversations I have with new clients, in the order those conversations usually unfold.

The First Five Years: Why Sequence Matters More Than Average Return

The early years of retirement carry more risk than most people realize. A 30% market drop in year two doesn't average out the way a 30% drop in year twenty-five does, because you're already drawing income from a smaller pool. This chapter explains sequence-of-returns risk in plain language and walks through how to structure the first five years so a bad start doesn't define the rest of your retirement.

Income You Can't Outlive: When Lifetime Income Strategies Make Sense

Fixed index annuities with lifetime income riders get oversold by some advisors and dismissed entirely by others. Both takes are wrong. This chapter explains how the contracts actually work, what the income riders are structured to do, where they fit in a broader retirement plan, and the situations where I steer clients away from them.

Active Management in a Market That Won't Sit Still

A static buy-and-hold allocation made more sense when the market was less reactive to monetary policy, global supply shocks, and political events. This chapter explains how I think about active portfolio management, what economic fundamentals I weigh when adjusting positioning, and why your retirement portfolio at Charles Schwab needs different attention than your 401(k) did during your working years.

Healthcare in Retirement: Medicare Decisions That Set the Tone

The Medicare decisions you make in your 65th year shape your healthcare costs for the rest of your life. This chapter walks through Original Medicare versus Medicare Advantage, how supplements (Medigap) fit in, the gotchas that show up later when you try to switch plans, and the questions most insurance brokers won't answer because the commission structure pulls them in a different direction.

Long-Term Care Without the Lapse Problem

Standalone long-term care insurance has earned a difficult reputation, partly because premiums can rise sharply and policies can lapse after years of payments with nothing returned. This chapter explains the hybrid approach I use with most clients: long-term care benefits tied to a life insurance policy or annuity, so the asset is working even if care is never needed.

Passing It On: Estate Planning Coordinated With the Rest of Your Plan

The last chapter covers how to make sure what you've built passes to your family with as little friction as possible. Beneficiary designations, account titling, Florida-specific considerations, and how the estate plan needs to coordinate with your tax plan and your income plan rather than sit in a separate binder gathering dust.

Send us your name, mailing address, and email, and we'll ship you a copy of the book at no cost and with no obligation to schedule anything. Read it first. If the approach resonates, you can decide whether you'd like to talk. If it doesn't, you keep the book.

We also have a PDF version for anyone who'd rather read on a tablet or print specific chapters. Just let us know which you'd prefer when you reach out.

Meet Allen Thomas

About the Author

Wealth Beyond Work is written by Allen Thomas, founder of Thomas Advisory Services in Winter Haven, Florida. Allen has practiced in financial services since 1991, originally with The Prudential, and has held FINRA Series 6, 7, 24, 79, and 99 over the course of his career. He currently holds the FINRA Series 66 registration and operates as an independent fiduciary retirement advisor in Florida, with client assets held at Charles Schwab. Read Allen's full background.

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