West Chester & Chester County, PA
Fee-Only, Flat-Fee Retirement Planning in Chester County, PA
Sound familiar? You’ve saved diligently for decades. Now retirement is close, and the decisions ahead feel more complicated than anything you’ve managed before. When do you retire? Which accounts do you draw from first? What happens to taxes? What about healthcare before Medicare kicks in?
I’m Ryan Langan, CFP®. I’m based right here in West Chester, PA, and I work exclusively with people who are 2 to 5 years from retirement, or who have recently retired. I’m a fee-only retirement specialist, not a generalist. Your Path Fi is a fee-only firm, no commissions, no product sales. The only fee you pay is one flat annual fee, rather than a percentage of everything you’ve saved.
Free intro call. No sales pitch.
One plan, not a menu
Your Retirement Plan Covers All of It
Retirement planning is not a set of separate services you pick from a list. Tax planning, Social Security, healthcare, and estate basics are all facets of the same retirement puzzle. Getting one wrong affects the others. Here is how each piece fits inside a single coordinated retirement plan.
Tax strategy: Roth conversions and RMD timing
The window between your retirement date and age 73, when required minimum distributions begin, is often the best chance you will ever have to convert pre-tax savings to a Roth at a lower tax rate. A deliberate Roth conversion strategy, timed with your other income sources, can reduce what you pay in taxes over the rest of your life. Without a plan, RMDs can push you into a higher bracket and increase your Medicare premiums all at once.
Social Security claiming strategy
Claiming Social Security at the wrong time is one of the most permanent financial mistakes a retiree can make. The right age to claim depends on your health, your other income sources, and your spouse’s benefit situation, not just a rule of thumb you read somewhere. Getting this decision right is a core part of the retirement plan.
Healthcare before Medicare at 65
If you retire before 65, you face a gap in health coverage that can cost far more than most people expect. Options include COBRA, marketplace plans through the ACA, and other arrangements, each with very different cost structures and income considerations. Bridging that gap without derailing your budget is something a retirement specialist plans for from the start.
Estate basics inside the plan
You do not need a complex trust structure to get the basics right. Beneficiary designations, titling of accounts, and a simple review of your documents are part of every retirement plan. The goal is to make sure your assets end up where you intend, without unnecessary delay or cost.
These areas map directly to the framework Ryan uses with every client. For a deeper look at how they connect, read The Six Pillars of Retirement Planning, which walks through each pillar in plain language.
Where we work together
Chester County neighbors and clients from coast to coast
The firm is based in West Chester, PA, the Chester County seat, and regularly works with people from across the county, including Exton, Downingtown, Malvern, Kennett Square, Paoli, and Phoenixville. Whether you are a few miles away or across the state, the planning process is fully virtual, so geography is never a barrier.
Your Path Fi also serves clients throughout Pennsylvania and nationwide. If retirement is on your horizon and you want a fiduciary working specifically on the decisions ahead of you, it does not matter where you live.
What you pay
One flat annual fee. No percentage of your savings.
Most financial advisors charge a percentage of your investment portfolio, often 1% or more each year. On $1 million, that is $10,000 a year, every year, whether the markets go up or down and whether the advice changes.
At Your Path Fi, the fee is $12,000 per year, flat. No AUM percentage. No commissions. No compensation from any product or investment. Your Path Fi is a fee-only firm, which means the only person paying Ryan is you, there is nothing to sell you and no product relationship that could color the advice. You pay one straightforward flat fee, and that covers everything: the full retirement plan, ongoing tax strategy, investment management, and all the planning that happens in between.
You can see exactly what is included and how the fee compares to the traditional percentage model on the flat-fee pricing page.
Common questions
Questions people ask about fee-only, flat-fee retirement planning in Chester County
Is there a fee-only, flat-fee retirement planner near West Chester, PA?
Yes. Ryan Langan, CFP®, is a fee-only, flat-fee retirement planning specialist based in West Chester, PA (Chester County). Your Path Fi is a fee-only firm, no commissions, no compensation from product sales. The fee is a single flat annual fee of $12,000, with no percentage of your assets. If you are 2 to 5 years from retirement, or you have already retired, this is exactly the work the firm focuses on.
Do you meet with clients in person in Chester County?
The firm offers virtual meetings and serves clients from across Chester County and the surrounding area, as well as nationwide. You do not need to come into an office, but if you are local and prefer to meet in person, reach out and we can make that work.
What towns in Chester County do you serve?
The firm works with clients in West Chester, Exton, Downingtown, Malvern, Kennett Square, Paoli, Phoenixville, and the broader Chester County area. Because planning is done virtually, you can also work together from anywhere in the country.
Why work with a retirement specialist instead of a generalist advisor?
A generalist advisor helps people at many stages of life. A retirement specialist focuses specifically on the years just before and after you stop working, which is when the most consequential and largely irreversible decisions happen. Roth conversions, Social Security timing, healthcare before Medicare, and income sequencing all require depth that a generalist may not have. Specialization means the firm is built around your stage of life, not all stages at once.
How is a flat annual fee different from paying a percentage of assets?
Most advisors charge 1% or more of your investment portfolio each year. On $1 million, that is $10,000 a year, and it goes up as your portfolio grows. A flat fee of $12,000 per year means you know exactly what you pay, and the advisor has no financial incentive tied to how much you invest or which products you buy.
What does a retirement plan actually cover?
A retirement plan from Your Path Fi covers your full financial picture: income planning and withdrawal sequencing, tax strategy including Roth conversions and RMD timing, Social Security claiming, healthcare coverage before Medicare at 65, investment management, and the estate basics you need before you stop working. It is one plan, not a menu of separate services.
You deserve a real plan, not a sales pitch, not a template.
A free Strategy Session is a no-cost, no-pressure conversation about your retirement situation. You will leave with more clarity than you came in with, regardless of whether we work together.
Free intro call. Based in West Chester, PA, serving clients nationwide.