Most people judge their retirement plan by one number: their account balance.
If it’s going up, they assume everything else must be fine.

But some of the most dangerous retirement risks never appear on a statement.

In this episode of Retire Stronger, Bill Kearney and John Foard break down the hidden risks that quietly derail otherwise successful retirement plans—often years after the decisions were made. From tax concentration and required minimum distributions to sequence-of-return risk, income timing mistakes, healthcare blind spots, and misleading performance metrics, this conversation pulls back the curtain on what really matters once work ends and income begins.

If you’re approaching retirement—or already there—this episode will challenge how you evaluate your plan and help you understand why retirement success is about coordination, not just performance.

📞 Have questions or want to explore your own plan?
Call us at (704) 469-0200, email [email protected], or visit crownadvisorgroup.com to schedule a conversation.

Chapters

(0:00) The retirement risks you’ll never see on your statement
(1:17) Why checking only your account balance creates blind spots
(2:06) Peeling back the onion: what really threatens retirement plans
(3:20) Tax concentration risk and the “silent IRS partnership”
(5:20) Taxable vs. tax-deferred vs. tax-free: why balance matters
(7:40) Sequence-of-return risk and why accumulation math breaks in retirement
(10:00) Average returns vs. real returns: the most misunderstood metric
(13:20) Income strategy gaps: income sources ≠ income strategy
(16:40) Taxes, Social Security timing, and permanent income decisions
(19:10) Healthcare, long-term care, and protection blind spots
(21:10) Retirement success isn’t beating the market—it’s coordination
(23:20) Final takeaways and next steps