Station 01 · Income & Cash Flow
A paycheck you design.
We map where every month’s income comes from once the paychecks stop — Social Security timing, withdrawal order, the dollars and the dates. You see the whole route before you take a step.
Retirement, carefully surveyed.
“We walked this ground before you got here. Twice a year, we walk it again.”
Benchmark Financial Planning is a fee-only fiduciary retirement planning firm in Petoskey, Michigan. We build and re-check six-station retirement income plans for 110+ families nationwide — deliberately small, deliberately thorough.
No obligation · When you call, a person answers — most often Ellen · (231) 555-0162
Fig. 01 · The ground we survey
For people standing at the edge of the map.
Our families are 55 to 70, near retirement or already in it. Careful savers — usually $1 million or more — who did the hard part themselves and now want a professional to carry the plan, so they can have their time back. We know the questions that surface at 2 a.m., because we answer them in writing.
“Do we actually have enough?”
The income plan answers in dollars and dates, not vibes — what you can spend, from which account, starting when.
“If I go first, is my spouse looked after?”
A written survivor plan — income, accounts, instructions — that your spouse has already seen and understood.
“How much will taxes take over a lifetime?”
We measure the lifetime tax bill, then sequence withdrawals and conversions to shrink it — year by year, on the record.
“What will healthcare really cost?”
Medicare and long-term care are surveyed before they're urgent, with the costs written into the plan — not left off the map.
Fig. 02 · The Datum Line
Six stations. One route. Walked twice a year, every year.
The Datum Line is the level we survey from: six stations covering the whole of a retirement, built and tracked in RightCapital. Like any honest survey, it isn't done once and framed — every station is re-measured at a spring review and a fall review, every single year.
Station 02 · Investments
Built to fund the plan.
Your portfolio exists to fund the income plan, not to chase a stranger’s benchmark. Assets stay in your own name at Fidelity — we advise; we never take custody.
Spring review · Nº 1 of 2 · every year
Station 03 · Taxes
Lifetime, not just April.
We plan for what taxes take over a lifetime, not just this year’s bill. Withdrawal sequencing, Roth conversions, and required distributions are laid out years in advance.
Station 04 · Protection
Healthcare, surveyed early.
Medicare windows and long-term care costs are measured before they become emergencies. Risks you shouldn’t carry get covered; the rest get written into the plan.
Station 05 · Estate
A plan, not a puzzle.
If you go first, your spouse inherits a clear written plan — titles, beneficiaries, and instructions that all tell the same story. We re-check them at every review.
Fall review · Nº 2 of 2 · every year
Station 06 · The Years Ahead
The map stays true.
Markets shift, tax law shifts, life shifts. Twice a year we re-walk all six stations and correct the map to the ground — so the plan you retire on is never the plan you’re left with.
Fig. 03 · Legend
How to read this firm.
Every symbol on a survey sheet means one thing, exactly. So does every word below.
- Fee-only
- You pay one posted fee. No one else pays us anything — $0 commissions, no products on offer, no revenue you can't see on the page.
- Fiduciary
- We are legally obligated to act in your best interest — all the time, on every recommendation, not just when it’s convenient.
- Custody
- Your assets are held in your own name at Fidelity. We advise on the accounts; we never hold the money.
- The plan
- Built and tracked in RightCapital, reviewed with you twice a year, every year — spring and fall, like clockwork.
- Scale
- 110+ families, not 1,100. Deliberately small, so the person who surveyed your plan is the person who answers your call.
- Experience
- 19 years of walking this ground with families near and in retirement.
Ellen Marsh · Founder · CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional
“Every honest survey begins at a fixed point. I set ours at the client — each measurement we take runs from where you stand.”
After 19 years in this profession, Ellen built Benchmark Financial Planning on a surveyor’s ethic: measure carefully, mark plainly, and come back — twice a year, every year — to make sure nothing has shifted under your feet.
Petoskey, Michigan · Fee-only fiduciary
Final benchmark · The datum point
You are the fixed point. Everything here is measured from you.
Start with a conversation. No pitch, no obligation, bring nothing but your questions — and when you call, a person answers. Most often, that person is Ellen.