Free Tool · Multi-Bucket Drawdown Math

The Retirement Withdrawal Sequencer
Where Should You Pull From, and When?

You have three buckets: Brokerage, Traditional IRA, and Roth. Each is taxed differently. The order you pull from over your remaining lifetime can swing total family wealth by hundreds of thousands of dollars. This tool runs three real strategies side-by-side and shows which one comes out ahead for your actual numbers.

Pure publicly-available IRS bracket, RMD, SS, and LTCG math. Not financial advice.

We serve anyone working through Social Security and retirement income decisions, including those without a financial advisor. Free, educational, no products sold.

Step 1
Free · one page · no cost, ever

Get the free Social Security guide.

You’re reading “The Retirement Withdrawal Sequencer: Where Should You Pull From, and When?”. We’ll email you our plain-English guide to Social Security (the taxable-benefit thresholds, the survivor-benefit trap and the claiming-age math), plus an invite to the next free class. Free public education from a 501(c)(3); there is nothing to buy.

The Retirement Literacy Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 41-5062266). This is free public education. We don’t sell financial products and we don’t give individualized advice. We’ll email it to you. Unsubscribe any time.

You and your household

Your age, your spouse, your state, your longevity. These set the simulation horizon and tax environment.

Only used if MFJ. Each spouse has their own RMD age.
Age at which the second spouse dies. Sim runs from today through this age.
If MFJ: age of the YOUNGER spouse when the first spouse dies. Survivor files Single after this (widow's penalty). 0 = both die simultaneously at plan-to age.
Age of the kid inheriting. Drives the 10-year drain bracket math.
Their job income. Inherited Trad stacks on top of this in their bracket.
Step 2

Your three buckets

Each bucket has different tax treatment. Traditional = ordinary income on withdrawal (RMDs forced at 73/75). Roth = tax-free, never RMD'd by you. Brokerage = capital gains on appreciation, stepped up at death.

Each spouse's IRA RMDs separately on THEIR age & balance.
What you paid. Gains above this are LTCG when sold. Stepped up tax-free at death.
Step 3

Your income & spending

What you bring in (SS + pension) vs what you need to spend. The gap is what the buckets pay for, and it is where the strategy choice matters.

Total household need before tax. Grown by general inflation each year.
What you'd collect today. Grows 3%/yr COLA.
Defaults to your current age (already collecting). Bump up if you'll wait.
For brackets, standard deduction, pensions, spending. IRMAA tiers stay at 2026 levels. SS uses an assumed 3% COLA (the 2026 COLA was 2.8%, per SSA).

Want this walked through with you?

We will email you a copy of your results. No products sold.

Join a Free Workshop
Hans Goldstein

Hans Goldstein

Founder & Executive Director · Retirement Literacy Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit

Want more information on this? Put your name below and I’ll send it over in plain English, at no cost. If your situation has a wrinkle, reply to the email and tell me what it is; I read them.

You’re reading: The Retirement Withdrawal Sequencer: Where Should You Pull From, and When?

Free education. The Foundation sells nothing. By submitting you agree to receive free educational emails. We never sell or share your information and you can unsubscribe from any email.

Get the free guide Free class