Rob Armstrong, RICP

Home
United States
Charlotte, NC
Rob Armstrong, RICP

Call Directions Website Contact the business

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Rob Armstrong, RICP, Financial planner, 6115 Park South Drive, Charlotte, NC.

Helping Successful Families Connect Retirement Income, Investments, Taxes & Protection Into One Coordinated Plan | RICP® | Financial Planner | Investment Adviser Representative | Life, Disability & Long-Term Care Specialist

11/02/2026

A $2 million IRA can come with a $1 million tax bill.

Meet Tom and Linda. Both 65, just retired, with $2 million saved in their 401(k)s and IRAs. They did everything right. They plan to live on Social Security and their savings, and leave the IRA alone as long as they can.

Here's what happens if they do nothing.

At 6% growth, that $2 million becomes about $3.2 million by age 73. That's when required minimum distributions start, and the IRS decides how much comes out each year, whether they need it or not.

Their first forced withdrawal: about $120,000.
By 80: about $175,000.
By 85: about $224,000.

From 73 to 92, the IRS forces out over $4 million. At a 24% federal rate, that's nearly $1 million in tax. And that income can make up to 85% of their Social Security taxable and push their Medicare premiums higher.

The worst part? The account keeps growing faster than the withdrawals for years. The bomb gets bigger while the fuse burns.

The years between retirement and RMDs are the window to shrink it. Moving money out on your terms, in lower brackets, before the IRS sets the pace. For 2026, that window closes December 31.

If you're within 10 years of retirement and most of your savings sits in a 401(k) or IRA, I'll run this same projection with your numbers. Send me a message.

Hypothetical example for illustration only. Names are fictional. Assumes 6% annual growth and a 24% federal tax rate. Actual results will vary. Not tax or legal advice. Securities and advisory services offered through Park Avenue Securities LLC, member FINRA, SIPC. Consolidated Planning is not affiliated with PAS.

10/29/2026

Two of my clients were born the same spring in 1961.

One is retiring in January. The other told me he’ll stop working “when they carry me out.”

They have about the same saved. Similar houses. Grown kids. On paper, they’re the same plan.

Carol lost her husband two years ago. She’s done waiting. She wants to be at every one of her grandkids’ soccer games while she still can.

Jim loves his work. Retirement scares him more than any market drop ever has.

If I’d built their plans around their birth year, I’d have gotten at least one of them completely wrong.

Carol’s plan is about getting out the door. Jim’s is about making sure he never has to, and that his wife is covered either way.

Two people born in the same year can have completely different priorities and attitudes toward risk.

My job is to figure out which one is sitting across from me.

10/27/2026

A mother walked back into a football stadium Friday night.

First time since her son played there.

My friend Kristin is close with her and her husband. She invited them to the Page-Grimsley game, the rivalry we all grew up on.

Their son Mike used to play on that field. Two of his old teammates were standing right there with his parents Friday night. I was one of them.

He died 35 years ago. He was 22.

The rest of us just kept going. Careers, kids, gray hair, the whole blur of it.

Mike never got any of that. In his mother's memory, he's still 22, still out there on that field.

She looked around at the group of us and said it without an ounce of bitterness.

"Y'all got old."

We laughed. Then it landed.

Thirty-five years is nothing to her. It's everything to the rest of us.

10/27/2026

A mother walked back into a football stadium Friday night.

First time since her son played there.

My friend Kristin is close with her and her husband. She invited them to the Page-Grimsley game, the rivalry we all grew up on.

Their son Mike used to play on that field. Three of his old teammates were standing right there with his parents Friday night. I was one of them.

He died 35 years ago. He was 22.

The rest of us just kept going. Careers, kids, gray hair, the whole blur of it.

Mike never got any of that. In his mother's memory, he's still 22, still out there on that field.

She looked around at the group of us and said it without an ounce of bitterness.

"Y'all got old."

We laughed. Then it landed.

Thirty-five years is nothing to her. It's everything to the rest of us.

10/22/2026

I'm Rob Armstrong, RICP®, a financial advisor with Consolidated Planning in Charlotte, NC. I help successful families connect retirement income, investments, taxes, and protection into one coordinated financial plan. My goal is simple: help people make smarter financial decisions and feel more confident about their future.

10/22/2026

Linda, 67, sold $70K of her retirement savings near the bottom of the 2022 market.

The market was down 20%. Her property taxes were due anyway.

I call that eating a chicken. 🐔

*Linda's story is hypothetical, but the retirement challenge is very real.*

Linda's a retired school nurse. 34 years of saving built an $820K portfolio. Her flock. The eggs helped pay her bills, about $3,800 a month.

Then the eggs got smaller.

The bills didn't. Property taxes. A new roof. Helping her granddaughter with tuition.

So she sold. Once, then again. Investments sold at a loss don't get to participate in the rebound.

Imagine Linda sitting across from me saying:

"I did everything right. Why does it feel like I'm losing?"

She'd saved diligently. But too much of her retirement income depended on selling investments, regardless of what the market was doing.

**So what if we changed one thing?**

We could move part of her portfolio into guaranteed lifetime income. A check every month for the rest of her life.

Now imagine her essential expenses being covered by predictable income, regardless of what the market does.

The rest of her flock has more opportunity to grow. Nobody's eyeing it for dinner.

And the next time the market dips?

Maybe Linda doesn't even look.

That's what a thoughtful retirement income plan can do.

*Disclosure: Linda is a fictional character, and this hypothetical scenario is for educational purposes only. It does not represent an actual client experience or testimonial. Guaranteed lifetime income may be provided through an annuity, subject to the issuing insurance company's claims-paying ability. Annuities have costs, limitations, and liquidity considerations and may not be suitable for everyone. Investments involve risk, including possible loss of principal, and future growth is not guaranteed.*

10/21/2026

No truer words have been spoken!

10/20/2026

I spent 20 minutes explaining a Roth IRA to my daughter.

Ava let me finish. Then she asked, “Okay, but can I still go to Portugal next summer?”

That was the only question she actually had. I’d answered everything except it.

I thought about that conversation all week at the Park Avenue Securities Wealth Summit. Jason Dorsey spoke about generational differences, and his point about younger clients stuck with me. They want to know what a plan means for their life before they care how it works.

Ava is Gen Z. But honestly, this isn’t a Gen Z thing.

My clients getting close to retirement do the same thing. They don’t open with withdrawal strategies. They ask, “Will my wife be okay if I go first?”

I’ve spent a lot of years leading with the process. The charts. The mechanics. The hour-long explanation.

People want to know that you understand what matters to them before you start telling them what they should do.

Financial planning shouldn’t feel like sitting through a presentation.

Ava taught me that before Jason Dorsey did. She just didn’t charge for it.

Address

6115 Park South Drive
Charlotte, NC
28210

Telephone

+17046191669

Website

http://www.cplanning.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Rob Armstrong, RICP posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.