Retirement Planning
in Wilmette, IL.
Retire when you want, not when you have to.
Retirement isn't a number, it's a feeling. It's the morning you wake up and realize you don't have to be anywhere. The Tuesday you spend with your grandkids instead of in a meeting. The trip you book without checking your balance first.
At our firm, we've helped hundreds of families across Chicago's Northern Suburbs turn that feeling into a plan. Since 1977, our family has guided yours through one of life's biggest transitions, from earning a paycheck to living on your own terms.
What this looks like in Wilmette.
Many Wilmette clients are longtime Metra Green Line commuters who built careers in Chicago's Loop and are now retiring with a mix of 401(k) savings, deferred compensation, and significant home equity. The question we most often hear is whether the home, often purchased 25-30 years ago and now worth $600,000-$900,000, should be maintained in retirement or sold to simplify the balance sheet and reduce the property tax burden that dominates Wilmette's fixed retirement expenses.
The county details.
Cook County's property tax rates, averaging 1.8-2.3% of assessed value, among the highest in the nation, are the single largest variable in most North Shore retirement budgets. A home assessed at $900,000 in Northbrook, Glenview, or Wilmette can carry an annual tax obligation of $16,000-$22,000 that persists through retirement unless the home is sold or downsized. Illinois partially offsets this with one of the most retirement-friendly income tax structures in the country: Social Security, IRA distributions, and pension income are entirely exempt from state income tax, leaving the property tax burden as the primary financial challenge to plan around.
Why Wilmette.
Many Wilmette residents are long-tenured professionals in downtown Chicago who commuted via Metra for decades. As they retire, they want to maintain their lifestyle in the community they love, which requires careful planning given Wilmette's higher cost of living.
Things Wilmette families ask.
Down the shore.
Talk to a Wilmette
advisor.
One free conversation about retirement planning, at your kitchen table, our Evanston office, or a video call.