Helping families in Bedford, Massachusetts
Fee-only financial advisors for Bedford families
About 15 minutes east of our Concord office.
Monument Group provides fee-only fiduciary financial planning to Bedford, MA families from our Concord office, about fifteen minutes away. Bedford work often involves federal and defense-sector benefits — Thrift Savings Plan allocation, FERS annuity and survivor elections — alongside retirement income and estate planning.
Bedford’s employment base is unusual for MetroWest: Hanscom Air Force Base, MITRE, and the surrounding research and defense contractors.
That produces a benefits picture most financial advice isn’t written for.
Federal and defense-sector benefits
A career in federal service or at a federally funded research center comes with decisions that are made once and cannot be revisited: the FERS annuity election, whether to take a survivor benefit and at what level, when to start Social Security alongside a pension, and how the Thrift Savings Plan should be allocated as retirement approaches.
Each of those interacts with the others and with the taxable portfolio. Made in isolation — or by default — they routinely cost more than any investment decision made in the same year.
Defense contractors add a second layer: deferred compensation, occasional equity, and clearances that constrain some outside activity.
What comes up most in Bedford
- FERS annuity and survivor election
- Irreversible once made. The survivor election in particular should be modeled against the couple’s joint life expectancy, not chosen by rule of thumb.
- Thrift Savings Plan
- Well designed and worth understanding properly, because the allocation and the eventual rollover-or-keep decision both deserve deliberate analysis.
- Pension plus Social Security
- Claiming timing changes materially when a defined benefit is already covering baseline spending.
- Massachusetts estate tax
- Massachusetts applies its own estate tax above $2 million — far below the federal exemption — and around Boston a long-held house plus retirement accounts clears that line more often than people expect.
Services Bedford families use most
Retirement Income Planning
Using sophisticated tools, we help you determine sustainable withdrawal strategies designed to support decades of spending, and to hold up through market volatility.
Learn moreFinancial Planning
Life planning that coordinates retirement income strategies, estate planning, tax planning, risk management, and charitable giving into one cohesive blueprint.
Learn moreTax Strategy & Preparation
Proactive tax planning and in-house preparation to optimize after-tax returns and minimize lifetime tax liabilities.
Learn moreBedford, MA
Questions from Bedford families
Do you advise federal employees near Hanscom?
Yes. Thrift Savings Plan allocation, FERS annuity election, survivor benefit choices and Social Security timing all interact, and most are irreversible. We model them together as part of a retirement income plan rather than treating them as separate decisions.Should I take the FERS survivor benefit?
It depends on the couple’s joint life expectancy, other assets available to the surviving spouse, and whether life insurance is a viable alternative. Because the election cannot be revisited, it is worth modeling properly rather than defaulting either way.Should I roll my TSP into an IRA when I retire?
It is not automatic either way. The TSP is well built and worth keeping for that reason, while an IRA offers more flexibility in withdrawals, Roth conversions and estate planning. The right answer depends on how you intend to draw income and what you want to leave behind.
Bedford, Massachusetts
Fifteen minutes of conversation beats an hour of reading.
Schedule a time to discuss whether our approach is the right fit for you.