About ThreeTrees Retirement Partners
A retirement income planning practice built on a single idea: structure beats prediction.
ThreeTrees Retirement Partners was founded to solve a specific problem: most retirement plans don't actually have a structure. They have a number — a target balance, a withdrawal rate, an asset allocation — but no system that tells the client exactly where each year's income will come from, how taxes will be managed, and what happens when the market moves.
We built ThreeTrees around a structured framework — three time-segmented buckets, three layers of protection — so our clients always know how their plan works, not just what it earned last quarter.
Our clients are typically pre-retirees and retirees in the Ann Arbor area with $1 million to $3 million saved. They've done the hard work of accumulating. Our job is to help them turn what they've saved into reliable, tax-efficient income for the next 20 to 40 years — because the goal of retirement planning isn't to ration what you've built. It's to use it well.
Retire longer, not leaner.
How We Work
Every engagement starts with a written income plan. We use professional-grade modeling tools to build a customized strategy that addresses your specific income needs, tax situation, and time horizon.
The plan itself is built around the ThreeTrees framework. As the structure produces three protective shields — against market risk, against tax inefficiency, and against the behavioral pressures of a major life transition — it provides a level of resilience most retirement plans don't deliver.
Learn more about the Triple Shield→We then manage the plan year over year — recalibrating tax strategy annually, repositioning the Soon Tree as it depletes, refilling from the Later Tree at favorable market moments, and adjusting Social Security timing decisions as your situation evolves.
About the Name
Our name reflects our framework. ThreeTrees — Now, Soon, and Later — each rooted in a different time horizon, each with its own purpose. Together, they form a structure designed to grow stronger as your retirement unfolds.
Our Approach to This Work
Our Approach to This Work
We believe retirement planning is a stewardship responsibility — for our clients and for ourselves. We approach this work with care for the long-term wellbeing of every household we serve, and we measure our success by the quality of decisions our clients are able to make over decades, not by short-term portfolio performance.
Meet the Team
ThreeTrees Retirement Partners is led by Michael and Stephanie Cooley — but you’re never relying on just the two of us. As an independent practice operating under Altitude Capital Management, our Registered Investment Advisory firm, we’re backed by a team of experienced professionals who provide compliance oversight, investment research, and portfolio infrastructure.
Meet the TeamReady to Get Started?
Schedule a complimentary consultation to discuss your retirement situation.
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