Planning Area · 1

Income Planning

Turning what you've saved into what you live on.

The foundation

What is income planning?

In retirement, income becomes the foundation everything else depends on. We design coordinated income strategies that integrate Social Security, pensions, and investment portfolio withdrawals to create a sustainable retirement paycheck built to last.

For thirty or forty years, a paycheck showed up on a predictable schedule — direct deposit, every other Friday, like clockwork. Then one day it stops. And the rest of your retirement depends on whether you've built something to take its place.

Income planning is the discipline of designing that replacement. It's the deliberate coordination of every dollar that will fund the next three decades of your life: Social Security, pensions, retirement accounts, taxable savings, real estate, annuities, business interests. Each one has its own rules, its own timing, and its own tax treatment. A real income plan organizes them into a single, coherent paycheck — one designed to last as long as you do.

Why it matters

Most retirees don't run out of money because the markets failed them. They run out because no one ever designed a plan for how the money was supposed to come out.

Without an income plan, you're left guessing. How much can I safely spend? Which account should I draw from first? What happens if the market drops in my first five years of retirement? Should I take Social Security at 62, 67, or 70? These aren't small questions — and getting any one of them wrong can cost you years of retirement.

The alternative is simple: a written, coordinated income plan that tells you — with confidence — exactly what your retirement paycheck looks like, where it comes from, and how it adapts when life changes.

Income Planning

What we coordinate

A customized Phase 2 Retirement Plan brings five moving parts into alignment — so nothing important is left to chance.

1
Social Security Strategy
When you claim Social Security is one of the most consequential decisions of your retirement — and it can only be made once. We model the impact of claiming early, at full retirement age, or delaying to 70, factor in spousal and survivor benefits, and identify the timing that maximizes lifetime household income.
2
Pension & Annuity Decisions
Lump sum or lifetime payments? Single life or joint and survivor? Should an existing annuity be kept, exchanged, or annuitized? These choices are typically irrevocable. We pressure-test each option against your full plan before you make your elections.
3
Withdrawal Sequencing
The order in which you draw from taxable, tax-deferred, and Roth accounts can swing your lifetime tax bill by hundreds of thousands of dollars. We design a withdrawal sequence that keeps your income steady, your tax bracket controlled, and your portfolio working for the long haul.
4
Inflation & Longevity Protection
A retirement that lasts thirty years is a retirement that lives through several inflation cycles. We build in cost-of-living adjustments, stress-test your plan against historical downturns, and make sure your income holds its purchasing power decades from now.
5
Spousal Continuity
When one spouse passes, household income often falls — sometimes sharply. The smaller Social Security check disappears, tax brackets compress, and pension payments may end. We plan for that transition in advance, so the surviving spouse is never left scrambling.

Your Phase 2 Retirement Plan

Inside the plan

How this fits your customized Phase 2 Retirement Plan

Income Planning is where your customized Phase 2 Retirement Plan starts — the foundation every other planning area is built on. Your investments, taxes, healthcare, and legacy strategies are all designed to support and protect the paycheck we build here.

See The Retire FWRD Process™

Next planning area

Investment Planning

Plan FWRD. Move FWRD. Live FWRD.