Which account do you drain first in retirement? Compare conventional, Roth-conversion-aware, and bracket-fill withdrawal sequences year-by-year — federal-tax-aware — and see the lifetime tax and ending portfolio for each.
Compare three retirement withdrawal strategies — taxable-first, Roth-conversion-aware, and 12%-bracket-fill — simulated year-by-year to age 90 with federal tax, capital gains, and Social Security. See lifetime tax and ending portfolio for each.
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It depends on your balances, spending, and tax brackets — that's why this is a simulator, not a rule of thumb. The conventional advice (taxable → Traditional → Roth) is often beaten by filling low tax brackets with Traditional withdrawals or Roth conversions early, because 85% of Social Security later stacks under everything else and eats your cheap bracket room.
Federal only. Traditional withdrawals and Roth conversions are ordinary income run through the real progressive brackets after the standard deduction. Taxable withdrawals realize long-term gains on the growth portion (basis is tracked), taxed with a 0%/15% stacking approximation. Once Social Security starts, a flat 85% of the benefit is treated as taxable. Each year the simulator withdraws enough extra to cover the tax bill itself.
No. The model holds current brackets constant, skips RMDs, state tax, IRMAA, NIIT, ACA subsidies, and the real Social Security taxation formula, and stops at age 90 — so tax deferred past the horizon looks free when it isn't. It shows the mechanics and rough magnitudes of sequencing decisions — confirm any real withdrawal plan with a tax professional.