Retirement Income Planning
Fiduciary Wealth Management
The Question Isn't How Much. It's How Long.
The question most retirees are actually asking isn't "how much have I saved?" It's "will it last?" Not from one bad decision, but from twenty small ones made in the wrong order at the wrong time. Which account do you draw from first? When does Social Security come on? How much can you safely spend in a down market year? The portfolio that worked for thirty years of saving doesn't answer any of those questions on its own.
We design structured income plans built around two questions: what do you need to live on, and which accounts do you draw from first? The answer depends on your tax bracket, your Social Security timing, your RMD schedule, your spouse's income, and how the market behaves in your first years of retirement. We build your income strategy around our Two-Bucket approach so your monthly expenses don't ride on whatever the market did yesterday.
WHO THIS IS FOR
Built for Retirees Who Need Their Money to Last.
Clients within five years of retirement or already drawing income, with $500K to $5M across IRAs, 401(k)s, taxable accounts, and other vehicles. If you have multiple income sources (Social Security, pensions, investment withdrawals, possibly rental income) and no single document that ties them all together, this is the conversation to have.
Pillars of Your Income Strategy
A reliable retirement paycheck depends on three things: where the income comes from, in what order, and how it survives the bad years. Here's how we build yours.
The Two-Bucket Framework
The framework that makes retirement income reliable in good markets and bad. Your Protection Bucket holds conservative, stable assets and serves as the source of your monthly paycheck. Your Growth Bucket holds long-term investments and is left to grow over decades. When markets are down, your income comes from the Protection Bucket. The Growth Bucket isn't touched. This isn't a theoretical strategy. It's what keeps your day-to-day expenses from depending on what equities did yesterday.
Withdrawal Sequencing
Which account you draw from first changes your lifetime tax bill, sometimes by hundreds of thousands of dollars. The conventional advice (taxable accounts first, tax-deferred next, Roth last) is a starting point, not a strategy. Your specific sequence depends on your bracket, your Social Security timing, your Roth conversion window, your IRMAA exposure, and what you want to leave to heirs. We model it year by year, not by rule of thumb.
Sequence-of-Returns Risk
The threat most income plans ignore. A bad market in your first few years of withdrawing can do permanent damage to a portfolio even if the market recovers fully later. The math works against you: selling assets in a down market to fund living expenses locks in losses and reduces the principal that would have recovered. Our entire income strategy is built around managing this risk by structuring the portfolio so a bad first year doesn't break the plan.
Let's Build Your Income Plan
On your Chain Reaction Audit, Jonathan reviews your current accounts, identifies where your income strategy is exposed, and shows you how a coordinated income plan could be built around the Two-Bucket framework for your specific situation. No pressure. No product pitch. Just clarity.
Bucket 01
The Growth Bucket
Your long-term portfolio. Invested for growth, this bucket doesn't fund your monthly expenses. Its job is to participate in market growth over the decades you'll spend in retirement, so the assets you're not touching today are still there when you need them in twenty years.
Bucket 02
The Protection Bucket
Your income source. Conservative assets (bonds, treasuries, stable income vehicles) that fund your monthly retirement paycheck regardless of what equities are doing. When markets are down, this is where every dollar of income comes from. The Growth Bucket is left alone to recover.
Two buckets. Two jobs. One income plan that doesn't require you to sell investments at the wrong time to pay for next month's groceries.
What's Included
The Work Behind a Reliable Paycheck
- Monthly income strategy designed around your actual expenses
- Withdrawal sequencing across all account types
- Two-Bucket Strategy implementation
- Tax-aware income planning year by year
- Social Security claiming coordination
- Coordination with pension and rental income
- Sequence-of-returns risk protection
- Annual income strategy review and adjustment
The Coordination Advantage
Income Doesn't Come From One Place.
Your retirement paycheck is the output of three or four other decisions. Here's how income planning connects to the rest of your plan when one team handles all of it.
Your income comes from a portfolio. How that portfolio is structured determines how much income it can support, how resilient that income is to market downturns, and how long it lasts. Our investment management and income planning are coordinated, not sequenced.
Investment Management
For most couples, Social Security is the single largest source of guaranteed lifetime income. When you claim, how you coordinate spousal benefits, and how that decision interacts with the rest of your income strategy can change your lifetime income meaningfully. We model it all together.
Social Security Planning
Every withdrawal has a tax cost. Drawing from your traditional IRA fills up an ordinary income bracket. Drawing from your Roth doesn't. Drawing from your brokerage account at the right time can use capital gains room cheaply. Income planning without tax planning is just guessing.
Tax Planning
Why Choose Leonard Financial Solutions?
There are a lot of financial advisors available. Here's what makes this one different.
Fiduciary by Law
As a fiduciary Registered Investment Advisor, our advisory recommendations are legally required to be in your best interest. Not in the interest of a fund company or product manufacturer. That's the standard we hold ourselves to on every recommendation.
Built Year by Year
The 4% rule and other withdrawal heuristics work as starting points, not as a plan. Your specific income strategy gets modeled annually against your actual tax bracket, market conditions, and life events. Withdrawal rules don't survive contact with reality. A coordinated plan does.
Direct Access to Your Advisor
You work with Jonathan and the LFS team. Not a junior associate. Not a rotating cast of reps. When markets move, when your situation changes, when you have a question, you reach the person who built the plan.
Your Chain Reaction Audit: Three Simple Steps
A coordinated income plan starts with one conversation. Here's how it works.
Book Your Audit
Choose a time on Jonathan's calendar. Two minutes, no prep work required.
We Map Your Income Sources
Jonathan walks through everything that produces income for you (Social Security, pensions, IRAs, taxable accounts, rental property) and shows you where the gaps are between what you'll receive and what you'll need.
You Get a Clear Picture
No product pitch. Just an honest read on whether your current strategy is sustainable, where the risk is, and what a coordinated income plan would look like for your situation.
No cost. No obligation. Just the information you need to decide what to do next.
Common Questions Answered
Got a question? Here's where most people start.
Will the 4% rule work for me?
The 4% rule is a useful starting estimate, not a plan. It was originally based on a 30-year retirement, a specific stock-to-bond split, and historical market returns that may not repeat. Your actual sustainable withdrawal rate depends on your specific income sources, tax situation, sequence-of-returns risk, and how long you and your spouse expect to need the money. We model your number, not a rule of thumb.
What happens if there's a market crash in my first year of retirement?
That's sequence-of-returns risk, and it's one of the biggest threats to a retirement plan. A 30% drop in your first year of withdrawing income does substantially more damage than the same drop ten years later. Our Two-Bucket Strategy is specifically designed to address this. Your monthly expenses are funded from the Protection Bucket, not by selling growth assets at a loss. The Growth Bucket is left alone to recover so you're not locking in the downturn.
How do I know which accounts to draw from first?
The conventional rule is taxable first, tax-deferred next, Roth last. That's a reasonable default. Your actual best sequence depends on your current tax bracket, your future RMD schedule, your IRMAA exposure, your spouse's situation, and what you want to leave to heirs. We model it year by year, not as a fixed rule, so your income strategy adapts as your circumstances change.
Take the Next Step
Start Building Your Income Plan
Whether you're three years from drawing your first retirement paycheck or already five years into it, a coordinated income strategy makes the difference between a plan that lasts and a plan that strains. The Chain Reaction Audit is where we start. One session, your income picture, no obligation.
