Retirement Planning
Retirement income planning: turning savings into a paycheck
For forty years, money flowed in and you didn't have to think about where income came from. In retirement, that responsibility transfers to you. Income comes from decisions now, and the order of those decisions matters more than most people realize.
What is a retirement income plan?
A retirement income plan converts savings into a reliable monthly paycheck. It sets which accounts you draw from and in what order (taxable, tax-deferred, Roth), coordinates withdrawals with Social Security and any pension, and manages sequence-of-returns risk so an early market drop doesn't wreck a 30-year plan.
Not all dollars are equal
Two retirees can hold the same $800,000 and live completely different retirements. One has it all in a traditional IRA, where every withdrawal is taxed as ordinary income. The other has it spread across taxable, tax-deferred, and Roth accounts, with flexibility about which bucket to tap each year. Same number on paper, entirely different tax realities. The withdrawal order is where a plan earns its money.
The sequence is the strategy
Retirement decisions interact. A Roth conversion done before Social Security starts looks very different from the same conversion done after. A retirement date picked without a healthcare bridge to 65 creates expenses nobody budgeted. The most valuable part of planning often isn't finding the right move; it's finding what has to happen first. We map the sequence before we argue about products.
Traditional IRA account owners have considerations to make before performing a Roth IRA conversion. These primarily include income tax consequences on the converted amount in the year of conversion, withdrawal limitations from a Roth IRA, and income limitations for future contributions to a Roth IRA. In addition, if you are required to take a required minimum distribution (RMD) in the year you convert, you must do so before converting to a Roth IRA.
About that 4% rule
The 4% rule came from early-1990s research assuming a 30-year retirement and a specific 50/50 portfolio. It's a fine conversation starter and a poor plan. Retire at 60 and the math changes. Hold a conservative portfolio and it changes again. Expect to spend more at 65 than at 80, with a healthcare spike later? A flat rate never fit you. We wrote up the details in our take on the 4% rule, and we build withdrawal strategies around your accounts, not a 30-year-old average.
What you walk away with
A written income plan: your paycheck amount, which accounts fund it in which order, when Social Security turns on, what happens in a bad market year, and the year-by-year tax picture. Reviewed on a schedule, adjusted as life changes.
Written by Colin Meeks, CFP® · Maryland Financial Advocates · Last updated August 6, 2026
Questions people actually ask
It depends on your mix of guaranteed income, your portfolio, your age, and what your spending actually looks like, which is why honest answers beat round numbers. The 4% rule is a decent sanity check. Your plan should come from your numbers, stress-tested against bad early markets, not from a rule of thumb built for someone else.
Start with a 15-minute call. It's complimentary.
Tell us what's on your plate. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and you'll know exactly what working together costs before you commit to anything.
Prefer the phone? Call 410-663-0700 and ask for Colin.