The rules of retirement have shifted, and many savers are still planning as if they haven’t. Randy Rondberg, founder of Nations First Financial in Mesa, Arizona, has spent more than 25 years watching that gap widen. His response has been to rethink retirement income strategies around the reality retirees actually face, not the one they grew up expecting.
The core change is simple to state and hard to plan for. People are living longer. A retiree leaving the workforce at 65 may need income for 25 or 30 years, sometimes more. That stretch of time reshapes every financial decision, from how much to withdraw each year to how much a portfolio still needs to grow. Rondberg builds plans for pre-retirees and retirees across Arizona, typically between 55 and 75, and longevity sits at the center of nearly every conversation.
The Fear That Defines Modern Retirement
The anxiety is widespread. Research from MetLife’s 2026 study found that roughly half of retirees drawing from a defined contribution plan worry about running out of money, a figure that has climbed sharply over the past decade. Rising healthcare costs and longer lifespans are driving that concern, and it now ranks among the top fears retirees carry into their later years.
Rondberg sees this fear up close. Clients arrive with solid savings but no clear picture of how long those savings will last or how to draw from them without eroding the balance too fast. The old assumption that a nest egg would comfortably cover a shorter retirement no longer holds. Retirement income strategies have to account for decades, which means the plan cannot be static. It has to adapt as the client ages and as circumstances change.
Why Withdrawal Sequencing Matters More Than Ever
One shift Rondberg emphasizes is the importance of how retirees withdraw, not just how much they saved. Pulling money from the wrong accounts in the wrong order can trigger unnecessary taxes and shorten the life of a portfolio. Drawing too heavily in a down market early in retirement can do lasting damage that a saver may never fully recover from.
This is where tax-efficient planning enters. Rondberg points to withdrawal strategies as an area where many retirees quietly lose ground. Some pay far more in taxes than they need to because no one showed them alternatives like Roth conversions or properly structured annuity income. Nations First Financial coordinates this through an in-house CPA firm, so a withdrawal plan and a tax plan are built together rather than in separate rooms. For a retiree trying to make savings last three decades, that coordination can shift the outcome.
The Role of Guaranteed Income
Longevity risk also explains why Rondberg’s firm places real weight on annuity planning. An annuity can provide a base level of income that continues regardless of how long a client lives, which addresses the exact fear that keeps retirees up at night. It is not the whole plan, but it can serve as a floor beneath it.
Nations First Financial works with carriers including Athene, F&G, SILAC, and American Life to match each client with a suitable fit. The goal is not to sell a product but to build a structure where essential expenses are covered by dependable income, leaving other assets free to grow for the long tail of retirement. Rondberg frames it as balance. A retiree needs security today and growth for the years still ahead, and the plan has to serve both at once.
Planning for the Person, Not the Average
The through-line in Rondberg’s approach is that averages do not plan retirements. A life expectancy table describes a population, not the individual sitting across the desk. Some clients will live well past any average, and their money has to be ready for that possibility.
That is why Nations First Financial starts with the person before the product. Clients receive a full financial analysis and a personalized retirement blueprint at no cost before making any decisions. Rondberg’s education-first posture means clients understand the trade-offs behind each choice, from withdrawal timing to guaranteed income. In a retirement environment defined by uncertainty, he argues, understanding is the thing that gives people confidence.
For Arizona retirees rethinking their retirement income strategies for a longer life, Nations First Financial offers a plan built around the individual. Rondberg’s message has stayed consistent since 2001. Understand the person first, then build everything else around them.