Many retirees pay more in taxes than they need to. Randy Rondberg has watched it happen for more than 25 years, and it shaped how he built Nations First Financial in Mesa, Arizona. The firm treats tax-smart retirement planning as a core part of every income strategy, not an afterthought handled by someone else.
Rondberg founded the practice in 2001 and has spent his career helping pre-retirees and retirees across Arizona plan with clarity. His clients are typically between 55 and 75, holding 401(k)s, IRAs, or other savings, and looking for a plan built around their own goals. A large part of that plan involves one question most savers never get asked. How much of your retirement income is going to taxes, and how much of that is avoidable?
Why Taxes Deserve a Seat at the Retirement Table
Retirement income does not arrive tax-free. Withdrawals from traditional retirement accounts count as ordinary income, and the timing of those withdrawals can push a retiree into a higher bracket or increase how much of their Social Security gets taxed. According to the Internal Revenue Service, the rules governing distributions, conversions, and required minimum withdrawals carry real tax consequences that vary from person to person.
Rondberg points to this as the area where retirees lose the most ground. A saver can do everything right for decades, build a solid nest egg, then hand back a chunk of it to taxes because no one mapped out a withdrawal sequence. Tax-smart retirement planning aims to fix that. It looks at which accounts to draw from first, how to spread income across years, and how to keep more money working for the client.
The Case for Roth Conversions
One tool Rondberg’s team uses is the Roth conversion. The idea is straightforward. A retiree moves money from a traditional pre-tax account into a Roth account, pays the tax on that amount now, and lets the money grow tax-free afterward. Qualified withdrawals from the Roth later come out without additional tax.
The strategy fits certain situations better than others. A conversion adds to taxable income in the year it happens, so the size and timing matter. Some retirees convert smaller amounts over several years to stay within a preferred bracket. Others convert before claiming Social Security to manage how much of their benefit becomes taxable. Roth accounts also skip required minimum distributions during the original owner’s lifetime, which gives retirees more control over their income each year. None of this is one-size-fits-all, which is exactly Rondberg’s point. The right move depends on the individual, and that requires someone who knows the client’s full picture.
Why an In-House CPA Firm Matters Here
This is where Nations First Financial does something many advisory practices cannot. The firm keeps a CPA firm in-house. Tax planning and retirement strategy happen under one roof, coordinated by the same team.
Most advisory firms build a retirement plan and then send the client elsewhere for tax work. The two plans rarely talk to each other. Rondberg’s model closes that gap. A withdrawal strategy and a tax strategy get built together, which means a Roth conversion, an annuity income plan, and a tax return are all part of the same conversation. For a retiree trying to make a fixed pool of savings last, that coordination can change the math.
Education Before Decisions
Rondberg built the firm on relationships rather than transactions, and his tax approach follows the same principle. Clients receive a full financial analysis and a personalized retirement blueprint at no cost before committing to anything. The goal is to help people understand their options, including the tax alternatives they may never have been shown.
That education-first posture extends to how the firm explains complex tools. Roth conversions, withdrawal sequencing, and annuity income planning can sound intimidating. Rondberg’s team walks clients through each one in plain terms, so decisions come from understanding rather than pressure. The firm works with carriers including Athene, F&G, SILAC, and American Life to match each client with a suitable fit.
For Arizona retirees who want to keep more of what they saved, Nations First Financial offers a tax-smart retirement planning approach built around the individual. The firm’s message stays consistent with everything Rondberg has done since 2001. Understand the person first, then build the plan around them.
