Retirement planning checklist for dentists with ten years left

Ten years out: set the monthly number and value the practice

Write down the monthly spending target first. Include practice or personal debt payments, health costs after work, and any support you expect to give adult children. A target of about $12,000 each month is a different sale problem from one of $8,000; the portfolio exists to fund the spending you actually expect.

Ask a qualified practice valuation professional to separate goodwill, equipment, accounts receivable, and liabilities. Goodwill is the value tied to the practice's patient relationships and operations; the categories can receive different tax treatment. The valuation is an estimate, not a promise that a buyer will pay that price.

Use a rough test: add likely after-tax sale proceeds to other resources, then ask whether they can support your monthly target without assuming every investment year is favorable. Markets fall as well as rise, and a portfolio can end up worth less than the money you put in. A checklist cannot value a dental practice, predict a buyer's offer, or settle the sale's tax allocation; those tasks need current practice records and the appropriate professionals.

Following generic advice to maximize retirement contributions while postponing the valuation can leave you with more sheltered money and too little time to find a buyer. A $1 million sale-price shortfall would require about $5,000 more in monthly income draws for roughly 17 years, before growth or taxes. Start the sale process when likely after-tax proceeds plus other resources cover the monthly target without an optimistic market return or an immediate closing.

What should the practice valuation answer before age 60?

Before age 60, have the valuation professional explain how a four-chair practice's revenue, owner compensation, lease, equipment age, and practice loan affect a buyer's price. A listing broker's opinion can help frame a sale discussion, but it is not the same work as a valuation. Neither number tells you how much cash you keep after debt payoff and taxes.

Ask what records support each assumption and what changes if the buyer expects you to stay through a transition period. Annex Wealth Management treats the gap between sale price and spendable proceeds as a planning question, not a detail to fill in later.

Seven years out: map each account before raising contributions

List the owner, tax treatment, beneficiary, and access rules for every account: your 403(b), governmental 457(b), rollover IRA, and taxable cash. Start with the 403(b) row if most retirement savings sit there. The table separates what each account generally means at tax time from the paperwork you need to check.

How do catch-up contributions fit beside the sale deadline?

For tax year 2026, a 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457, or TSP accepts up to $24,500 in employee deferrals. The age 50 catch-up is $8,000, and the catch-up at ages 60 through 63 is $11,250. If your prior-year FICA wages topped $150,000, the catch-up must go in as Roth, so most practice owners lose the deduction on that slice.

Weigh the tax benefit against cash you need for practice debt, buyer search costs, and the next twelve months of spending.

• Confirm the plan's catch-up rules
• Protect the monthly cash reserve
• Write down the contribution amount

Three years out: search for a buyer and test the family plan

Start buyer conversations early enough to compare offers, transition periods, seller financing, and the date cash is expected to arrive. A high headline price can be less useful if much of it comes later or depends on terms you cannot accept. Annex Wealth Management puts the likely payment timing against the monthly spending target.

Run your spouse's income, insurance, college support, and beneficiary instructions through that same target. Tell adult children what support seems possible without promising that a future sale will fund their plans. Heirs receive what remains after debt, taxes, and income draws; a sale price alone cannot settle that question.

• Buyer price and payment schedule
• Seller financing and transition dates
• Spouse coverage and college support
• Beneficiary instructions and remaining debt

What happens if the practice sale looks larger than the retirement account?

For a dentist approaching a sale, a practice valuation and a retirement account balance answer different questions: one estimates a business price, while the other shows money already held for retirement. A $40,000 payment toward debt reduces a $520,000 invested balance to $480,000, but does not itself create more retirement income. Check the sale's net cash and the monthly target before treating either figure as spendable.

Sale year and age 65: leave room for health, markets, and rule changes

Reena, a hypothetical 38-year-old hospital-employed anesthesiologist married to a public school teacher, has two children under age 6, about $310,000 in federal loans, $520,000 across a 403(b) and 457(b), a residency-era rollover IRA, and four years left toward PSLF. She is deciding whether to remain on forgiveness or refinance and repay quickly. Her accounts and loan deadline test the checklist; she is not a dental practice owner.

The move she considered looked tidy: use $40,000 of retirement money to lower the loans. The arithmetic is immediate: $520,000 minus $40,000 leaves $480,000 invested. That payment does not create four years of qualifying PSLF credit, and the money would be difficult to replace while supporting two young children.

The fix is to keep the loan choice apart from the retirement deadline. She verifies qualifying employment and payments and protects the monthly spending amount. Extra cash goes to the loans only after both timelines are checked. Her retirement checklist puts the intended retirement date and the income draws first. A smaller loan balance does not count as retirement income.

For a dentist, Annex Wealth Management would estimate the monthly income draws the sale must fund, subtract practice debt and taxes, then test whether an extra contribution or debt payment improves the actual exit date. In the sale year, confirm the agreement, tax allocation, debt payoff, and month income draws begin. A signed offer is not cash in the account.

At age 65, review Medicare enrollment and coverage after leaving the practice. Medicare premium surcharges (IRMAA) are based on income from two years earlier; 2026 premiums are set by 2024 MAGI. A sale closed at 63 or later can therefore raise Part B and Part D premiums once you are on Medicare. Discuss the sale's timing and tax treatment with your tax professional. Keep a reserve for a delayed closing, health event, market decline, or law change; spending every sale dollar on day one leaves no room for any of them.

What can Annex Wealth Management add to a dentist's deadline list?

Annex Wealth Management can put your monthly spending target, account access, practice-sale cash, and age 65 Medicare deadline on one plan. You can then review it with your CPA, your attorney, and your practice professionals. Fees are spelled out in the written agreement, which you sign before the planning work starts.