Wealth Management Near Franklin MA | Serving MetroWest Boston

Between the I-495 commute, your demanding career, and a busy MetroWest household, the days fill quickly. You have spent decades building a strong financial base, and finding the time to manage it with the rigor you bring to your career is the hardest part.

At this level, the question is whether your tax strategy, retirement income, and estate plan work as one coordinated plan or as three that never talk to each other. We at Bouchey Financial Group serve Franklin families as fee-only fiduciaries with CPAs and an IRS Enrolled Agent in-house, so the team building your investment plan is the same team running your tax strategy. Schedule a consultation at the Medfield office to see what that coordination looks like applied to your situation.

Tax-Efficient Planning in Massachusetts

For Franklin-area professionals with household incomes above $142,000, Massachusetts's tax structure creates real planning exposure. The state imposes a 5% flat income tax rate, with an additional 4% surtax on taxable income exceeding $1,107,750 in 2026, per the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. For households realizing a significant capital gain — through equity compensation, a business sale, or investment liquidation — the surtax can apply in a single year even when ordinary income is typically below the threshold.

This is where the firm's structure earns its keep. Most advisors hand a client back to an outside accountant at filing time, which leaves the investment decisions and the tax return in the hands of two teams who rarely speak. 

Bouchey's CPAs and Enrolled Agent work in-house alongside the advisors, so capital-gains timing, Roth conversion modeling, and tax-loss harvesting are run as one plan across the year and filed by the same firm. For a household managing the surtax threshold, that coordination is the practical difference between a strategy and a surprise in April.

The Massachusetts Estate Tax and MetroWest Property Values

Franklin's median property value of $567,100 means that real estate alone can push an estate meaningfully toward Massachusetts's $2 million exemption threshold. Add retirement accounts and investment assets, and many MetroWest households face state estate tax exposure even when they fall well under the federal threshold. 

Per Mass.gov's estate tax guidance, Massachusetts applies graduated rates up to 16% on estates above $2 million — a planning consideration that becomes increasingly relevant as home values and investment balances grow.

Investment Management Built for Long Time Horizons

A long retirement creates a specific investment challenge: the portfolio must remain growth-oriented enough to preserve purchasing power over decades, while stable enough to support predictable distributions without selling at market lows. Getting this balance wrong in either direction — too conservative or too aggressive — compounds over 30 years into a materially worse outcome.

Bouchey Financial Group's investment management approach uses strategic asset allocation across multiple global asset classes, with index funds making up the majority of holdings to minimize expense drag and reduce unnecessary tax turnover. Tactical adjustments are made based on valuation research rather than short-term market movements.

Sequence-of-Return Risk and Distribution Planning

Sequence-of-return risk — the danger of experiencing significant portfolio losses early in retirement while distributions are still being taken — is one of the most consequential and least-discussed retirement planning variables. A portfolio that declines sharply in year two of retirement, while withdrawals continue, may never fully recover even if long-term average returns are positive.

Managing this risk requires building cash reserves, establishing a distribution hierarchy across taxable and tax-deferred accounts, and maintaining flexibility to reduce discretionary withdrawals in poor market years. 

For individuals and families approaching or entering retirement, this kind of distribution engineering is where the planning relationship delivers the most tangible value.

Planning for a Retirement That Could Last 30 Years

A 30-year retirement requires a different investment and distribution strategy than one designed around a 15-year horizon. Maintaining sufficient growth in a portfolio to outpace inflation, while managing withdrawals that don't deplete principal prematurely, requires ongoing rebalancing, tax sequencing, and periodic re-evaluation of the plan.

Bouchey Financial Group's advisors model retirement scenarios across multiple longevity assumptions — not just average life expectancy — to build distribution strategies that hold up under the full range of outcomes. The Meet Our Team page details the credentials of each advisor working with MetroWest clients.

Retirement Contribution Strategy for MetroWest Professionals

For Franklin-area professionals still in accumulation mode, the years between 50 and retirement represent the highest-leverage opportunity to build tax-advantaged savings. The IRS sets the 2026 401(k) contribution limit at $24,500, with a $8,000 catch-up for those 50 and older. The SECURE Act 2.0 established a higher catch-up contribution for those age 60 - 63 of $11,250 rather than the noted $8,000 allowing even greater contribution opportunity for those individuals.Massachusetts taxes most retirement distributions — meaning the pre-tax contributions made today reduce taxable income now and defer the Massachusetts 5% rate until a year when total income may be lower.

Roth conversions during early retirement — before required minimum distributions begin at age 73 — allow households to shift assets into permanently tax-free growth while income is temporarily lower. This strategy is most valuable when modeled against the client's full projected income trajectory, including Social Security timing and anticipated RMD levels.

Social Security Timing as a Planning Lever

The SSA's full retirement age calculator shows that for most workers born after 1960, full retirement age is 67. Delaying benefits beyond full retirement age increases the monthly payment by approximately 8% per year up to age 70. For a couple where one partner has a significantly higher earnings record, the higher earner delaying to 70 can produce a substantially larger survivor benefit — an especially important consideration given the longevity probabilities for couples.

Estate and Legacy Planning for Franklin Families

With a homeownership rate of 78.4% and a professional workforce concentrated in high-earning industries, Franklin families often arrive at estate planning with real property, retirement accounts, and taxable investments that together create meaningful complexity. Bouchey Financial Group coordinates with clients' estate attorneys on trust structures, beneficiary designations, and gifting strategies — ensuring that the investment plan and estate plan are built to work together rather than in isolation.

The Women & Wealth dimension of this planning is particularly relevant for Franklin households. Harmony Wagner, CFP®, CPWA®, Samantha Masey, CFP®, and Catherine Buck, CFP®, lead Bouchey Financial Group's Women and Wealth initiative, supporting women navigating inherited wealth, business ownership, and long-term financial independence in the MetroWest community.

A MetroWest Planning Relationship That Grows With You

Franklin-area households building toward retirement deserve an advisory relationship that accounts for the full complexity of the plan — not just the portfolio. Bouchey Financial Group's fee-only, fiduciary structure means every recommendation is evaluated against the client's long-term interests, and the firm's in-house CPA expertise ensures tax strategy is built in from the start.

To schedule a complimentary consultation at the Medfield office, contact the team directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between wealth management and financial planning? 

Financial planning is typically a project — a written plan covering goals, cash flow, and projections. Wealth management is an ongoing relationship integrating investment management, tax strategy, retirement income planning, and estate coordination. For MetroWest households with multiple income sources and a 30-year retirement horizon, the ongoing integration is where the value lives.

What does fee-only mean in the context of wealth management? 

Fee-only means the advisor is compensated exclusively by the client — through a percentage of assets under management, a flat retainer, or hourly fees — with no commissions or product-based compensation. Because the advisor earns nothing from the products they recommend, the fee-only model eliminates the financial incentive to recommend anything other than what serves the client best.

How much do wealth managers typically charge? 

Fee-only RIAs are typically compensated through a percentage of assets under management, a flat retainer, or hourly fees. Bouchey Financial Group's $500,000 minimum reflects the depth of the integrated planning relationships the firm manages — including ongoing tax planning, retirement income modeling, and estate coordination alongside investment oversight. 

When should someone in Franklin consider hiring a wealth manager? 

The most common triggers are approaching retirement with multiple income sources to coordinate, receiving an inheritance or business liquidity event, or accumulating investable assets above $500,000. For MetroWest professionals with equity compensation, 401(k) balances, and Massachusetts real estate, the planning complexity alone often justifies the relationship well before a formal retirement transition.

What tax strategies help high-income MetroWest retirees? 

The most impactful strategies typically involve: Roth conversions during low-income years before RMDs begin; drawing taxable accounts first and tax-deferred accounts later to extend tax-deferred growth; timing capital gain realizations to stay below the Massachusetts surtax threshold; and using qualified charitable distributions from IRAs after age 70½ to satisfy charitable goals without generating taxable income.

How often should a financial plan be reviewed? 

Formally at least once per year, and whenever a meaningful life event occurs — a job change, business sale, death of a spouse, or significant market shift. The FINRA Foundation's National Financial Capability Study consistently finds that households with active advisory relationships report higher retirement confidence than those managing assets independently.

What should affluent MetroWest families invest in during retirement? 

The answer depends on time horizon, income needs, and tax position — but for households with a 25- to 30-year retirement horizon, maintaining meaningful equity exposure is generally necessary to preserve purchasing power over time. A common framework is to hold one to three years of spending in liquid reserves, allocate the balance across a diversified mix of equities and fixed income, and adjust the allocation gradually as the time horizon shortens and income needs become more predictable.