You've Survived Recessions, Layoffs, and a Pandemic. Retirement shouldn't be what gets you.
Gen X, Meet Your Retirement X-Perienced Professional
WHY GEN X
The generation that has troubles.
You were the latchkey kids — raised to be self-reliant, skeptical of Security promise. institutions, and used to figuring things out without a roadmap. Now your peak earning years are colliding head-on with your peak obligations. Nearly 60% of Gen X is supporting two generations at once. The pension your parents counted on is gone. And the whole retirement playbook was written for Boomers, not for you. You don't need hand-holding —
— Terry Sawchuk, Founder & your Gen X X-Perienced Advisor
X No pensions. The retirement system was built for Boomers — you're on your own with a 401(k) and a shrinking Social Security promise.
The sandwich squeeze. Aging parents who need care and kids who came back home — often at the same time.
Peak earnings, peak obligations. The one decade you should be saving hardest is the one with the least margin for error.
Stuck in the middle. Everyone behind you got more help. Everyone ahead of you got pensions. Gen X got the bill.
Everyone behind us got more help. Everyone ahead of us got pensions. Gen X is on its own — so let's plan like it.
WELCOME TO THE "GOLDEN YEARS"
The old playbook is broken. The 60/40 portfolio and the target-date fund in your 401(k) were designed for a world
60/40
Built for money going in — not money coming out.
The classic mix was designed for the accumulation phase. The moment you start drawing income, the rules change and it stops protecting you.
−25% → +33%
The math of a loss is brutal.
Your real hurdle rate. Lose 25% and you don't need 25% back — you need 33% just to break even. Big early losses in retirement can be the difference between running out at 84 and being funded at 95.
~10%+
Your real hurdle rate.
Between withdrawals, inflation, taxes, and fees, you need roughly 10% just to tread water — and once you count a debasing dollar, closer to 12– 14%. Almost nobody talks about that last part.
→ 1.0
In a crisis, everything falls together.
In 2008, 2020, and 2022, stocks and bonds dropped at the same time. "Diversification" that only works in calm markets isn't diversification.
THE FIX • THE TWO-ENGINE ARCHITECTURE
Helping Capture the upside. Buffer the downside.
ENGINE ONE • ENGINE GROWTH
Alpha-seeking strategies
Positioned to help capture more of the upside when markets climb — so the growth engine actually works for you in the good years, not just tracks a top-heavy index.
THE BIGGEST BUILD OUT IN HISTORY
In AI, are you a participant — or a spectator?
We're living through the largest capital investment in human history — trillions poured into the infrastructure behind AI. Yet roughly 75% of Gen X investors have no targeted AI strategy at all.
And no — owning a little Nvidia isn't an AI strategy. The durable opportunity isn't guessing which model wins; it's the picks and shovels underneath: the chips, energy, fiber, and robotics that get built no matter who's on top.
THE FRONTIER INTELLIGENCE MODEL
Own the infrastructure, not the hype.
A dedicated sleeve targeting the backbone of the AI buildout — held for the long arc, sized as portion of your plan (not the whole thing).
• Semiconductors
• Energy & Power
• Fiber optics
• Robotics
• Data-center infrastructure
• Space
THE X-PERIENCED PROFESSIONAL DIFFERENCE
We Don’t Do Cookie-Cutter.
Most "financial plans" are a template with your name pasted on top. For a generation that's questioned everything since 1985, that doesn't fly. We start with your real situation — your family, your taxes, your career, the messy stuff — build a strategy that fits it, and then tell you the truth about it in plain English.
What an X-Perienced Professional actually does for you:
✕ Structures the portfolio to help survive the early years of retirement, not just average out over 30.
✕ Keeps total costs below 1% — roughly half the ~1.5% industry average — because fees compound against you too.
✕ Mines every legal tax edge: Roth conversion ladders, asset location, tax-loss harvesting.
✕ Sends a short monthly portfolio-review video, so you always know exactly where you stand.
WHAT YOUR X-PERIENCED PROFESSIONAL HANDLES
The whole picture — coordinated.
Retirement & Portfolio
Income designed to last, structured for sequence-of-returns risk with the two-engine approach.
Tax Strategy
Roth conversion ladders, asset location, and tax-loss harvesting — aiming to add 1–2% a year in "tax alpha."
Estate & Long-Term Care
The sandwich-generation playbook: asset-based long- term care, beneficiaries, POAs, and the parent conversation — before it's a crisis.
401(k) & AI Growth
Making your biggest account work harder — plus optional targeted exposure to the AI buildout.
THE KIND OF WORK WE DO
Meet Mark.
The Before
53, software engineer, $850K — and exposed.
- A 60/40 portfolio, fully exposed to a bad first decade of retirement
- Two kids in college and aging parents with no long-term care plan
- Estate documents last updated back in 2009
- Maxing his 401(k) — but never told Roth conversion strategies existed
What the X-Perienced Professional Did
One coordinated plan — not four disconnected ones.
- Restructured the portfolio (two-engine) to defuse sequence-of-returns risk
- Built a five-year Roth conversion ladder and a backdoor Roth
- Set up asset-based long-term care for his parents
- Updated beneficiaries, will, and trust — and got the whole family aligned
• Helping be more tax-efficient from year one
• Years added to how long his income lasts
• Parents' care funded without raiding retirement
• No family mess to fight over later
Hypothetical example for illustration only. Not based on an actual client and not a guarantee of future results; individual outcomes will vary.
STRAIGHT FROM THE X-PERIENCED PROFESSIONAL
X-Rated: A Gen X Guide to Not Getting Screwed Over in Retirement
The straight-talk playbook for the generation the financial industry keeps forgetting. No jargon, no fear-selling — just the real moves that help protect your retirement and your sanity.
"The industry made retirement complicated on purpose. This book makes it make sense."
Doing nothing is a choice — and the most expensive one you can make. They won't sell you fire insurance once the house is already burning.
THE NEXT 10 YEARS WILL DECIDE THE NEXT 30.
FREE • 30 MINUTES • NO OBLIGATION
The storm is here. You don't need certainty — you need a plan.
Start with a Clarity Session. No pitch, no pressure, and you couldn't buy anything from us if you tried. It's simply a chance to see where you stand — and whether we're the right fit.
✓ A personalized risk score for your current portfolio
✓ One or two specific actions you can take in the next 30 days
✓ An honest read on where you stand — and where the glaring gaps are
✓ A straight answer on whether we're a fit (we'll tell you if we're not)