Skip to the runway ← James Ustby, CFP®
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Retirement is not a date. It is a length.

Retire at sixty‑two, live to ninety‑five, and a plan is carrying thirty‑three years. Scroll through all of them and watch what the income line does while the market comes apart underneath it.

IV · Thirty-three years, at the speed of your hand.

62Age
1Year of plan
62 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 The income The market · illustrative

Every mark is one year you have to fund.

The line above the baseline is the income. It does not move, because it was never built to depend on the thing underneath it.

Somewhere in here is a year you will not forget.

The plan already knew about it. That is the entire job.

Illustrative only. The market trace is a drawing, not data, not a projection, and not a representation of any actual or hypothetical investment. Ages run 62 to 95.

V

Stewardship

Money is not the point. It is the means.

I do this work because I believe what someone builds is meant to be handed on, and that handing it on well is a responsibility rather than a preference.

That belief is why the plan gets stress tested against the bad year instead of the average one, and why the conversation starts with what the money is for rather than what it returned.

There is a version of this where you guess, and it very likely works out. I would rather you never find out. Book a call and take thirty minutes with no product and no pitch, or read the letter I write most weeks and decide later.

Whoever is faithful in very little is faithful also in much.
Luke 16:10

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Practice

  • Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina
  • CFP® certification · APMA
  • Series 7 · Series 66 · Life licensed

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© 2026 James Ustby. Set in Newsreader and Instrument Sans.

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Securities and advisory services are offered through LPL Financial (LPL), a registered investment advisor and broker-dealer (member FINRA/SIPC). Insurance products are offered through LPL or its licensed affiliates. Fidelity Bank and Fidelity Bank Wealth Management are not registered as a broker-dealer or investment advisor. Registered representatives of LPL offer products and services using Fidelity Bank Wealth Management, and may also be employees of Fidelity Bank. These products and services are being offered through LPL or its affiliates, which are separate entities from, and not affiliates of, Fidelity Bank or Fidelity Bank Wealth Management.

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The LPL Financial registered representative associated with this site may discuss and transact securities business only with residents of the states in which they are properly registered or licensed. No offer may be made or accepted from any resident of any other state.

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. Neither LPL Financial nor its representatives provide legal or tax advice; please consult your attorney or tax advisor regarding your specific situation. No strategy assures success or protects against loss. Examples are hypothetical and for illustration only.