Retirement income
You spent decades adding to these accounts. Now they have a new job: paying you, every month, for as long as you need them to. That switch deserves a plan, not a guess.
Book a 15 to 30 minute call
Saving for retirement comes with constant feedback: a paycheck arrives, some of it goes into the accounts, the balance grows. Drawing it down is the opposite experience. The paycheck stops, and every withdrawal feels like a small verdict on whether you're doing this right.
Retirement income planning replaces that month-to-month uncertainty with a system. It answers where the money comes from, in what order, how it responds when markets fall, and how to keep taxes from taking more than their share across your whole retirement. It also keeps the money you haven't spent yet earning: dollars left invested stay productive, compounding in the background while you live on what the plan pays out.
We start by lining up what's dependable before touching the portfolio: Social Security, timed well, plus any pension. Whatever your spending needs beyond that becomes the portfolio's job. Naming that gap precisely, in dollars per month, is the foundation every other decision rests on.
There's a popular default, taxable accounts first, then tax-deferred, then Roth, but it's often not the order I use. More often we draw from tax-deferred accounts up to the top of a chosen tax bracket first, then taxable, then Roth. In lower-income years we may instead run Roth conversions up to a bracket threshold, then cover spending from taxable accounts. What drives the choice is your bracket each year, the Roth conversion window between retiring and the start of required distributions, and Medicare's IRMAA income thresholds. We sequence it account by account, year by year.
Structure, set up in advance. Several years of typical spending sit in bonds, cash, and ultra-short-term bond funds, so a bad market is far less likely to force you to sell stocks at a low. Your spending itself has a floor and a ceiling, and moves within that range based on how the portfolio is actually doing.
Required minimum distributions start at 73 or 75 depending on your birth year under the SECURE 2.0 Act. I plan for them years ahead: filling low-bracket years on purpose, weighing Roth conversions while the window is open, and folding each year's distribution into the withdrawal order so it never becomes a December scramble.
Jesse Plunkett, CEPA®, CRPC®
Financial advisor in Sanford, FL, serving clients across the country virtually. Meet your advisor, or check my record on 
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A quick, useful starting point
A quick self-check. Retirees tend to assume the worst about their own situation more often than the numbers actually support. This helps you see where you actually stand.
A short, low-key call. We start with what you've saved and what you'd like life to look like, and go from there.
For most retirees it's a mix: Social Security, sometimes a pension, and withdrawals from the accounts you've built over your career. The plan's job is to arrange those pieces into a monthly amount you can count on, in an order that keeps taxes down and lets the rest keep growing.
The popular default is taxable accounts first, then tax-deferred, then Roth, but that's rarely the order I actually use. More often it's tax-deferred up to the top of a target tax bracket, then taxable, then Roth; in lower-income years, Roth conversions up to a bracket threshold can come first, followed by spending from taxable accounts. The right sequence depends on your bracket each year, your Roth conversion window, and Medicare IRMAA thresholds. A sequence tuned to your situation keeps more of your savings invested and can lower your lifetime tax bill. We map it account by account.
No single percentage is safe for everyone. Instead of a fixed rate, I set a floor and a ceiling for your spending, and where you sit inside that range depends on how the portfolio is actually doing. That approach is designed to manage the risk of a bad stretch of markets, not eliminate it.
That's the scenario your plan gets stress-tested against before you rely on it. We keep several years of typical spending in bonds, cash, and ultra-short-term bond funds, so a downturn doesn't force you to sell stocks at a low point, and the stock side of the portfolio gets time to recover. This lowers sequence-of-returns risk. It doesn't remove it.
Under the SECURE 2.0 Act, required minimum distributions start at age 73 if you were born between 1951 and 1959, and at 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. I track your start age and required amount every year, and fold the distribution into your withdrawal order so it serves the plan instead of surprising it.
Almost always. Everything is handled virtually, so where you live is rarely a barrier. The only exception is a handful of states where I'm not registered yet, and if that's you, I'll tell you on our first call.