PwC Partner Benefits: Retirement Planning Opportunities

Partners at PwC often face unique financial planning considerations. In addition to firm-specific plans and benefits while working, Partners have access to retirement benefits that are best approached with careful planning and an evaluation of personal financial goals.

We drew on our experience working to solve financial planning challenges for PwC Partner clients to create this guide.

From leveraging tax-advantaged savings vehicles to understanding best practices for giving to family members and charities, the recommendations below will help you get the most out of your benefits.

Navigating PwC Partners’ Unique Programs, Systems, and Benefits: Overall Recommendations

PwC partners have access to valuable programs and benefits, but optimizing these requires careful planning and attention to specific considerations. Before diving into our more detailed strategies below, the following high-level recommendations are a great place to get started.

Focus on liquidity and tax treatment: it is crucial to plan for both current needs and eventual distributions to ensure flexibility and tax efficiency.
Be cautious with alternative investments: avoid committing to alternative investment strategies until you’ve accumulated sufficient resources to manage potential risks and compliance challenges.
Balance qualified and non-qualified assets: Maintain diversification between these asset types to provide more flexibility for tax-efficient future withdrawals.
Diversify outside PwC plans: Build a compliant portfolio outside of firm-specific programs to reduce risk while adhering to independence requirements.
Leverage your compliance team: Work closely with PwC’s ethics and compliance team to ensure all investments meet firm guidelines.
Review your insurance: evaluate your insurance coverage to ensure comprehensive coverage for all areas and pinpoint any hidden sources of risk.

Types of Financial Plans for PwC Partners

By carefully balancing the following financial plans, PwC Partners can maximize tax savings, maintain the right level of liquidity to manage life expenses (both before and after retirement), and plan to achieve personal financial goals.

Cash Management Vehicles – Tools like the firm’s cash program, high-yield savings accounts, and money market funds to enhance liquidity and optimize cash flow.

Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plans – Flexible plans that allow Partners to defer a portion of income to reduce current taxes and provide future income.

Pension – Non-guaranteed income stream in retirement, with various survivorship options for your spouse.

Life Insurance – Firm-sponsored insurance options, including term and permanent policies, to protect your family and estate.

Independence Requirements

Independence policies are designed to mitigate conflicts of interest but can create challenges when managing your personal portfolio. These rules limit investments in certain companies and may require the liquidation of previously approved assets if compliance rules change.

To navigate these restrictions, it’s critical to build a portfolio that remains compliant while balancing diversification, tax efficiency, and long-term growth. Approval systems provided by PwC can help evaluate approved investments, but the process often becomes more complex as your wealth grows and retirement approaches.

At Wealthstream Advisors, we proactively liaise with your compliance team to ensure all investments meet independence requirements while aligning with your financial goals. This approach simplifies compliance management and allows you to focus on building a robust, personalized investment strategy.

If compliance policies force the sale of previously approved investments or holdings related to the sale of a business line, charitable gifting or previous tax losses can be a valuable strategy to reduce the tax impact.

Roth Account Opportunities

Because of pensions, required minimum distributions (RMDs), and investment income, most accounting partners will remain in high tax brackets even after retirement. This context is important when planning for a retirement contribution strategy.

Roth vs. Non-Roth Contributions

Traditional 401(k) or IRA contributions are conducted with pre-tax dollars: you receive a tax deduction today, but withdrawals will be taxed as regular income in retirement. By comparison, Roth contributions are made with after-tax earnings, and future withdrawals are tax-free. This advantage may prove beneficial due to the likelihood of a relatively high retirement income. Roth accounts do not have RMDs, meaning that they can effectively accumulate tax-free for longer, even helping leave more to heirs if you have a legacy goal. Spouses can also contribute to an IRA or Roth IRA under the spousal contribution rule, even if they do not have an earned income.

In general, accounting Partners should consider designating employee elective (EE) and employer (ER) contributions to Roth 401(k) accounts

In addition to your workplace retirement plans, you are also able to complete backdoor Roth IRA contributions. Partners can make a non-deductible IRA contribution (maximum of $7,000 in 2024 and 2025 or $8,000 if over 50), then immediately convert to your Roth IRA.

To employ a Backdoor Roth strategy successfully, it is important that an individual (or spouse) does not have other pre-tax IRA assets. This is because the IRS applies the “pro-rata rule” when converting to a Roth IRA. If the individual has pre-tax assets in other IRAs, the conversion will trigger taxes on a portion of those pre-tax funds. Partners can avoid this potential tax issue by moving other IRA assets into a qualified retirement plan like a 401(k) before conducting a Backdoor Roth conversion.

Using the Mega Backdoor Roth Conversion

Mega Backdoor Roth Conversions provide for even greater tax-free growth when employed effectively. This approach involves converting after-tax contributions to a 401(k) into a Roth account.

401(k) accounts have a total contribution limit of $70,000 in 2025. After subtracting the pretax employee deferral (assuming a maximum of $23,500), employer match, and other qualified employer contributions (such as RWBP contributions), a typical Partner will have between $10,000-$15,000 available eligible to contribute via a non-deductible, non-Roth, after-tax contribution which can subsequently be converted. This is the Mega Backdoor Roth conversion because it often has higher contribution/conversion limits than that of the backdoor Roth IRA strategy.

Note that Partners over age 50 can make catch-up contributions beyond the regular $23,500 limit, and these additional contributions do not count toward the after-tax contribution amount.

Many partners will be limited to converting after-tax contributions to Roth only twice annually, so timing is an important factor to consider. For example, converting shortly after the fiscal calendar year-end distributions is ideal because any growth associated with after-tax contributions is taxable upon conversion. Fiscal year-end distributions tend to be when most partners maximize their after-tax contributions to their 401k, so timely conversions can save taxes on subsequent appreciation.

Taking Advantage of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) provide Partners with another strong opportunity for tax-free savings. HSAs are triple tax free – tax deduction for contributions, accumulated tax deferred, and distributions are tax free if used for qualified medical expenses.

We recommend maximizing potential tax savings by keeping these funds invested for the long term while continuing to spend on health-related items from annual cash flow.

This balance may be used to cover Medicare premiums, and we have seen many clients establish sufficiently large HSA balances to cover their first 5+ years of premiums. We recommend saving medical receipts, as distributions can still be tax free so long as the HSA was funded prior to the expense that had occurred, even if the distribution doesn’t occur in the same year as the expense. Annual HSA contributions are limited to $4,300 for self-only coverage and $8,550 for family coverage in 2025 (including employer contributions).

Please see our Insight here for a deeper look at the tax benefits of HSAs.

Contributions to Children

Children with earned income can contribute to a Roth IRA each year, and parents may also contribute. The total contribution from both child and parent is limited by the child’s earned annual income. For children who are no longer dependents but remain on your health insurance, a Health Savings Account may be a useful option for tax-advantaged savings. To avoid triggering additional tax expenses, be mindful of the IRS annual gift exclusion limit ($19,000 annually per recipient in 2025).

Charitable Gift Funds

A charitable gift fund (also known as a Donor-Advised Fund, DAF) is a designated investment account that allows donors to contribute assets to charitable causes, taking a deduction in the year of their donation. The key benefit of a DAF is that grants may be paid out over time, while funds will continue to grow tax-free.

For Partners, gifting appreciated securities can be an effective strategy for mitigating tax expenses from unplanned income. One common example is positions that at one point may have been pre-cleared by compliance but are no longer permissible to hold.

In one case, we worked with a client who needed to sell a long-term position at a near 100% gain within 48 hours; a donation to a charitable gift fund helped her avoid taxes while receiving a tax deduction.

We take a deeper look at using Donor Advised Funds for charitable giving in this Insight.

Planning for Year-End Distributions

Year-end distributions create a unique financial planning consideration for PwC Partners, who may need this money to supplement living expenses throughout the year or may use this as an opportunity to invest in the market.

This is a good time to review your existing portfolio allocation and strategy for the next year. Two questions to consider before investing are:

How much cash do I need for monthly expenses?
Do I have any upcoming large purchases in the next 1-2 years?

As you begin to invest these more liquid savings, consider dollar cost averaging into the market: regularly investing a set amount of money into a given security, regardless of the market price. Doing so can help mitigate the psychological stress that comes with attempting to time entry into the market with a large one-time sum.

Take advantage of the firm’s cash program for higher yields, but also be aware of the disadvantages. You should also consider that the interest is taxed as ordinary income so your after-tax return is much less than the stated yield.

Consider earmarking a portion of your distribution for alternative tax-deferred plans offered through the firm. These plans can provide attractive benefits, but it is important to stay mindful of a few key considerations:

Alternative investment plans provide limited liquidity, and it may be prudent to avoid locking up a large portion of your savings until close to retirement or separation of service.
Consider tax rates in your current state compared to the state where you will eventually retire. If you retire to a higher tax state, it may not make sense to defer income.

In general, we recommend that younger Partners avoid deferring too much income early in their careers and instead wait until 3-7 years from retirement. Building up assets outside of retirement plans will provide a large safety net of investments, freeing up additional opportunities to defer income later in their career.

Planning for Your Pension

PwC provides annual projections for pensions after retirement. Regularly reviewing these projections is the best practice for evaluating progress toward long-term savings goals. Consider reviewing cash flow projections (including both pension payments and Social Security) with an advisor to see how much additional savings are required to meet your long-term goals.

Choosing the right option for your family is another important foundational consideration:

A single-life payment plan provides a higher monthly payment, but the payment stops when the retiree passes away.
A joint and survivor payment plan provides a lower monthly payment which continues to pay out to a spouse or partner after your death.

One strategy Partners can consider is rolling their cash balance in the firm’s life insurance plan into a new paid-up policy and/or acquiring additional term insurance to help protect their single life plan. A paid-up policy requires no additional premiums and will provide a lump sum payment to your spouse or other beneficiaries when you pass away.

Additionally, utilizing PwC’s cash program’s term funds as a bond proxy can help Partners maintain a balanced and strategic portfolio. Allocating these funds can provide the portfolio needed to support greater equity exposure and boost long-term growth opportunities, while laddering maturities ensures improved liquidity for both immediate and future cash flow needs.

We take a deeper look at planning for post-retirement cash flow in our Insight here.

Protecting Your Legacy and Supporting Loved Ones

Proactive planning is essential to help PwC Partners secure their financial legacy and support their loved ones. Establishing a well-thought-out estate plan ensures your assets are distributed according to your wishes while minimizing taxes and administrative burdens. Setting up life insurance trusts can further reduce estate taxes and protect assets for future generations. Additionally, purchasing affordable term life insurance outside of PwC’s offerings may provide valuable additional security for your family.

Understanding how much financial support you can offer is another key consideration. Annual exclusion gifts are an effective way to provide support to loved ones or reduce the size of your taxable estate without triggering gift taxes. By planning thoughtfully, you can balance supporting your family today with protecting your financial legacy for the future.

Work with a Financial Advisor to Navigate Unique Retirement Planning Challenges

Partners at PwC have access to beneficial retirement benefits, and it can be difficult to find nuanced advice that applies to a retirement strategy rooted in a relatively high retirement income, large annual distributions, and potential compliance considerations for portfolio management.

We recommend working with a financial advisor to build a custom financial plan that incorporates these unique considerations in the context of your personal financial goals.

At Wealthstream Advisors, we provide PwC Partners with an expert fiduciary team who are compensated only by our clients, offering truly independent consultants for your family’s finances.
Interested in a deeper discussion of your retirement planning opportunities as a PwC Partner? Schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation with one of our financial planners today.