A Book by Ross Marino and Susan Bradley

Shaping Change: How to Respond When Life Disrupts Your Retirement Plan

A life transition can change more than the plan itself. It can also change the questions to ask, the decisions that feel urgent, and the information needed to respond.

A Framework for Responding to Change

In Shaping Change: How to Respond When Life Disrupts Your Retirement Plan, Ross Marino and Susan Bradley explore how the emotional and financial parts of change can interact.

The book gives readers a framework for recognizing what has changed, considering its effects, and deciding what may need attention next. It does not promise that uncertainty will disappear.

 

Why This Book Matters

Retirement can involve expected transitions and unexpected disruptions. The book helps readers:

  • Understand how the emotional and financial parts of change can affect one another
  • Prepare for expected transitions and respond to unexpected disruptions
  • Consider financial decisions in light of current priorities
  • Use a repeatable framework to think through what comes next

The goal is not to predict every change. It is to make the next decision with a clearer view of the transition and the choices it creates.

How the Book Connects to Dovetail Financial

At Dovetail, we begin planning conversations by focusing on what is happening in a client’s life and what the decision needs to support. Then we review the financial pieces connected to that decision.

  • Start with the transition before choosing a financial response
  • Review how one decision may affect income, taxes, investments, healthcare, or family support
  • Revisit the plan when life or circumstances change

The book offers a general framework for thinking through change. Dovetail’s planning process applies that way of thinking to the facts, tradeoffs, and decisions of a particular household.

Get Your Copy

Shaping Change is for people preparing for retirement, living in retirement, or facing a major life transition that has changed the plan they expected to follow.

Order your Copy on Amazon

 

Let’s Start the Conversation

If the book raises a question about your own retirement, start by naming what changed and what now needs attention. An introductory conversation with Dovetail can help you determine whether the question calls for a deeper planning review.

Schedule a Conversation to discuss how we can apply these principles to your financial plan.