Goldstone Financial Group is a financial planning firm that approaches retirement readiness as a coordinated design. The firm builds a plan around five connected pillars, including income, investments, taxes, healthcare, and estate/legacy, treating each as part of a unified framework supporting lifetime goals. Healthcare, in particular, is highlighted as a distinct pillar rather than an afterthought in retirement readiness.
“The financial landscape people are navigating today often reflects longer lifespans, higher spending patterns, and a growing share of expenses that individuals may need to cover themselves,” Anthony Pellegrino, founder and CEO of Goldstone, says. He notes that for a healthy 65-year-old retiring in 2025, the projected lifetime healthcare expenses are significant and vary depending on the coverage path chosen.
According to Milliman’s Retiree Health Cost Index, a male retiree opting for a more comprehensive plan can expect to spend around $275,000, while a female retiree may face costs closer to $313,000, largely due to longer life expectancy. “That means the retiree should be prepared to spend a significant amount on healthcare over the course of their retirement,” Pellegrino says. “And for couples, those costs can easily exceed more than half a million dollars. It’s a reminder that thoughtful financial planning is essential for navigating the full scope of medical costs in retirement.”
Goldstone has observed that medical needs tend to become more frequent with age, and certain forms of care, particularly long-term support, can place unique demands on a household’s resources. The firm notes that when care extends over time, expenses may accumulate in ways that differ from routine medical bills, creating financial pressures that are not always anticipated. From Goldstone’s perspective, this dynamic illustrates the importance of weaving healthcare and potential long-term care considerations into the broader retirement framework.
Within that context, Goldstone’s role is to translate broad economic and demographic patterns into household-level strategies. In the firm’s view, treating healthcare planning as a pillar alongside investments and taxes can help maintain flexibility, since decisions in one area often ripple into another. Pellegrino states, “Many individuals concentrate on building wealth, yet in my experience, that emphasis sometimes overshadows the question of how those resources will be applied once healthcare becomes a regular part of life.”
Building on that perspective, Goldstone points to practical avenues that households may consider when integrating healthcare into retirement planning. The firm has highlighted tax-advantaged savings vehicles, such as Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which can function as a reserve for medical costs over time when eligibility and contribution rules align. The company has also drawn attention to the evolution of long-term care strategies, noting that newer hybrid products and riders are often designed to move beyond the older “use it or lose it” approach.
Goldstone notes that these instruments can offer features like cash value, paid-up benefits, or death-benefit components, which some clients view as a way to balance care needs with legacy goals. By situating these tools within the broader five-pillar framework, the firm suggests that households may be better able to see how healthcare planning interacts with other priorities, rather than competing with them.
Pellegrino suggests that part of the challenge lies in how households approach preparation. In his observations, younger adults often carry a sense of resilience that leads them to delay detailed planning, while many families concentrate on growing retirement savings because sustaining their lifestyle feels like the most immediate priority. He also notes that couples sometimes anticipate covering future health needs from their own resources, a perspective that can leave gaps once actual costs emerge.
These patterns, as Pellegrino frames them, are understandable but may widen the distance between expectations and reality. To help address that gap, Goldstone advisors work through a collaborative, fiduciary-centered process that adapts broad principles to individual circumstances. This tailoring involves examining income sequencing, tax implications of distributions, the role of guaranteed income vehicles, and healthcare funding strategies together so that recommendations remain consistent across the firm’s five pillars.
Overall, Goldstone Financial Group emphasizes that retirement readiness requires weaving healthcare into the same framework as income, investments, taxes, and legacy planning, ensuring that each decision supports the others rather than competing for attention. Pellegrino states, “Treat these choices as a way to protect the assets you and your family have taken a lifetime to build.”
Goldstone Financial Group, LLC (“GFG”) is a registered investment advisor with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or qualification. This material is provided for informational purposes only. Opinions expressed herein are solely those of GFG. None of the information presented in this material is intended to offer personalized investment advice and does not constitute an offer to sell or solicit any offer to buy a security or any insurance product, and is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual’s situation.
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