Saving was the easy part. Drawing it down isn't.
You spent decades putting money in. Now the question is how it comes back out — in what order, at what tax rate, and whether it lasts as long as you do. That's a different problem than saving, and it needs a different plan.
Three phases. One continuous plan.
Retirement planning isn't a single event — it's the accumulation years, the transition, and the decades of drawdown that follow. We plan all three together, because decisions in one change the others.
Accumulation strategy
Which accounts to fund, in what order, and how much — coordinated with your current tax bracket rather than decided by default.
- Tax-deferred vs. tax-free contribution balance
- Employer plan and IRA coordination
- Savings rate and timeline realism
Income & distribution planning
The drawdown phase is where most plans quietly fall apart. We map the sequence so you're not forced to sell in the wrong year at the wrong tax rate.
- Withdrawal sequencing across account types
- Required minimum distribution planning
- Social Security claiming strategy and taxation
Longevity & risk planning
Retirement might last thirty years. The plan has to survive market downturns, inflation, and healthcare costs — not just the average case.
- Sequence-of-returns risk and buffer strategy
- Inflation and healthcare cost assumptions
- Guaranteed income floors where they make sense
Two identical portfolios can fund very different retirements.
Imagine two people with the same savings, the same accounts, and the same spending. One draws from their traditional IRA first. The other draws from taxable accounts and does partial Roth conversions in the low-bracket years before Social Security starts.
Thirty years later, one has paid tens of thousands more in tax — and has a larger share of their Social Security taxed along the way. Same money in. Very different money out.
That difference isn't luck or market timing. It's sequencing, decided years earlier, deliberately.
Years before retirement
Bracket management, contribution balance, and Roth conversion windows while your income still gives you room.
The transition years
Often the lowest-tax years you'll have. Frequently wasted. This is where the biggest wins are available.
Social Security begins
Your taxable income floor rises and the conversion window closes. Planning has to happen before this point, not after.
Later retirement & RMDs
Required distributions force income whether you need it or not. Healthcare and long-term care costs join the picture.
Retirement income is where tax and insurance meet.
Every withdrawal decision is a tax decision. Every longevity decision is a risk decision. And the guaranteed income that protects the plan from a bad market is often an insurance decision. Handling them separately is how a good saver ends up with a mediocre retirement.
We plan all three in one place, so the trade-offs are visible before you commit to any of them.
Retirement Planning
Where you are now — the page you're on.
Tax Strategies
Reducing what you hand over across your whole lifetime.
Insurance Strategies
Coverage that protects the plan, positioned tax-efficiently.
Find out whether your money outlasts you.
We'll map your income sources, your tax exposure, and the sequencing that gets the most out of both. The review is free.