Wrong order: portfolio lasts 25 years. Right order: 28 to 30 years. Test the strategies side by side.
The three buckets that drive every withdrawal strategy.
What you draw net of tax each year, and the real return on the remaining balance.
Still has a balance at the horizon
50 years lasted at $80,000/year spending. Lifetime tax: $787,740. Try a different order to see how the result moves.
Simplified tax model, taxable accounts charged at half the income rate to proxy capital-gains treatment; tax-free is untaxed; tax-deferred at the full income rate. Real-world drawdown adds RMDs, capital-gains bands and Roth-conversion timing. Not advice.
Worth runs the optimal drawdown sequence against your real accounts, year by year, with tax brackets and required distributions modelled. Join the waitlist.
Early retirees with low earned income often convert Traditional balances to Roth in the lower brackets, paying tax now to avoid higher brackets later. The dedicated Roth Conversion Ladder calculator handles that strategy specifically.
RMDs from Traditional IRA and 401(k) start at age 73. They force taxable income whether you want it or not. Drawing down tax-deferred balances earlier, or converting to Roth, reduces the RMD base and prevents being forced into higher brackets later.
Taxable accounts have already been taxed on the way in and pay capital-gains tax only on growth, not the whole withdrawal. Burning them first lets the tax-advantaged buckets keep compounding tax-free or tax-deferred for longer.