Building Your Retirement Income Plan: Withdrawal Rules, Buckets, and Tax Strategy

A working retirement income plan is built from explicit rules and a yearly review. This hands-on course walks you through building both, with templates designed for your actual accounts and goals. By the end of this course you will have a written income plan covering withdrawal rules, account sequencing, tax considerations, Social Security timing, and a yearly review template that adjusts the plan based on what actually happens. What you will learn: - How to inventory income sources including Social Security, pensions, accounts, and other resources - How to choose a withdrawal rule that fits your risk tolerance and longevity expectations - How to design a bucket structure that separates short-term needs from long-term growth - How to sequence withdrawals across taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free accounts - How to plan Social Security claiming to maximize lifetime income - How to manage required minimum distributions and tax brackets through retirement - How to run an annual review that adjusts the plan to market and life changes The course is structured as a workbook. Each module covers one piece, provides templates, walks through a filled example, and guides you to complete your own version. This course is written for those within five years of retirement or already retired. By the end you will have replaced a vague sense that withdrawals will work out with an explicit plan, and the yearly review will make adjustments deliberate rather than panicked.