FRS retirement planning for Florida's public employees.
Independent, fee-only retirement planning for Florida Retirement System members — teachers, firefighters, law enforcement officers, and state & county employees. Clear guidance on Pension vs. Investment Plan, DROP timing, the Health Insurance Subsidy, and turning your FRS pension into reliable retirement income.
FRS retirement planning built for the people who keep Florida running.
Most of our clients have spent a career inside the Florida Retirement System. We speak that language fluently — Pension vs. Investment Plan, Special Risk vs. Regular Class, DROP timelines, the Health Insurance Subsidy, deferred comp. You shouldn't have to translate your own pension just to get good advice.
Teachers
Florida educators & district staff weighing DROP, Pension vs. Investment Plan, and 403(b)/457(b) coordination.
Learn moreFirst Responders
Fire, EMS, and paramedics in the FRS Special Risk class — earlier eligibility, different math.
Learn moreLaw Enforcement
Officers and deputies planning around Special Risk multipliers, DROP, and shift work.
Learn moreState & County
Regular Class members balancing the FRS pension, deferred comp, and Social Security.
Learn moreRetirees
Already retired or close to it — turning your FRS benefit into reliable monthly income.
Learn morePre-Retirees
Five years out and want a real FRS plan, not a back-of-napkin estimate.
Learn moreEducation-first guidance on every major FRS retirement decision.
No product to push. No quotas. Just a careful walk through what each FRS decision actually means for the rest of your life — and how the pieces fit together.
FRS Retirement Planning
A full review of your years of service, projected benefit, vesting status, and where the rest of your savings fit alongside the pension.
Read 02DROP Planning
Decisions before, during, and after DROP — entry timing, the 8-year window, accumulation choices, and how to coordinate with everything else.
Read 03Pension vs. Investment Plan
Honest, no-pressure review of which FRS plan fits your situation, and the second-election decision if you're considering switching.
Read 04Social Security Coordination
When to file, how it interacts with your FRS benefit, spousal options, and the impact of WEP/GPO changes.
Read 05Medicare Education
Plain-English explanation of Parts A, B, C, D — what the Health Insurance Subsidy covers, what it doesn't, and what to evaluate around age 65.
Read 06Retirement Income Planning
Turning a pension, savings, and Social Security into a steady monthly paycheck you can actually live on.
ReadYour FRS pension is a foundation.
The rest is what you build on it.
A Florida pension is rare and valuable. But it isn't the whole picture. Healthcare changes at 65. Social Security has timing decisions. Inflation doesn't pause when you retire. The 403(b), 457(b), IRA, and Roth accounts you've been quietly filling for decades deserve a real plan around them — coordinated with the pension, not separate from it.
Derrick Johnson built this firm for the public employees who built Florida.
Derrick started Benowitz Wealth Management because Florida's public employees deserve a different kind of advisor — one who knows the FRS system inside and out, who answers questions in plain English, and who never tries to sell a product to solve a planning problem.
The work is education-first by design. Most first conversations are spent listening, reading your FRS benefit statement together, and laying out the choices that are actually on the table.
Common FRS retirement planning questions.
These won't replace a real planning conversation, but they're a good place to start. None of this is individualized advice — every FRS situation has its own moving parts.
It depends on your years of service, your class, your other savings, your health, your spouse, and what you want the next chapter to look like. We walk through the math and the trade-offs together — and we're comfortable saying when one option clearly fits better than the other.
Entry timing affects your final benefit, your DROP accumulation, and how long you keep working. We model a few scenarios side-by-side so you can see what each timing choice actually looks like in dollars and years.
Most of our clients have spent years quietly funding these accounts without a real plan for them. We help you coordinate them with the FRS pension, choose an allocation that fits your timeline, and decide what to do with them at retirement.
It's rarely as simple as 62, full retirement age, or 70. We look at your pension start date, your spouse's benefit, your health, and your tax picture before suggesting a filing strategy that fits the rest of the plan.
We don't sell insurance — but we do help you understand the moving parts so you can choose well. HIS helps, but it doesn't cover everything. We walk through what to evaluate as you approach 65.
No. Many first conversations happen with your existing accounts right where they are. If it later makes sense to consolidate, we'll explain why — but it isn't a requirement and it isn't the point.
Four conversations. No pressure. No surprises.
We're deliberately slow at the start. Most relationships begin with a conversation about what you already have and what you actually want — not a presentation about us.
Introduction
A short conversation to see whether we're a fit and what you're hoping to figure out.
30 min · No costDiscovery
We look at your FRS benefit statement, your accounts, and your real questions — together.
60–75 minReview
A clear written summary of what you have, what your options look like, and what we'd suggest exploring next.
Within ~2 weeksOngoing
If we work together, we revisit the plan as your career, family, and the FRS rules evolve.
Quarterly check-insRequest your free FRS retirement review.
This isn't an application or a commitment. It's the easiest way to start a careful, no-pressure conversation about your Florida Retirement System benefit and the rest of your retirement.
Let's build the retirement you earned.
A conversation costs nothing and commits to nothing. If we're a fit, you'll know. If we're not, we'll point you somewhere that is.