A Retirement Income Roadmap is a written plan integrating withdrawal order, tax strategy, Social Security timing, health care, and legacy goals into one coordinated document for both spouses.
Why this matters two to eight years from retirement
A roadmap only works if it exists before the decisions it covers become irreversible. Once you claim Social Security, that choice is close to permanent. Once an NQDC distribution schedule triggers, it cannot be undone. A roadmap built two to eight years ahead of retirement puts every one of those choices on the table at once, modeled against each other, before any of them close off. Built after the fact, a plan can only optimize what is left. A roadmap built at 55 looks different from the same couple’s roadmap built at 62, since the number of pre-RMD conversion years left keeps shrinking the longer they wait.
What it contains
A roadmap is not a net worth summary or a risk questionnaire. At minimum, it holds three things: a written income plan showing what funds spending year by year, a multi-decade tax projection that shows the effect of every Roth conversion and withdrawal choice, and a Social Security claiming sequence coordinated across both spouses instead of decided separately. Without the tax projection, a plan cannot tell a couple whether a Roth conversion this year is a good idea, only that Roth conversions are worth considering in general.
What this looks like for one couple
A couple with $2.3M across a 401(k), a taxable brokerage account, and two Social Security records wants one number: monthly income they can count on. A roadmap gets there by modeling withdrawal sequencing and Roth conversions for the years before RMDs begin, at 73 under current IRS rules, or 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. It also sets a claiming age for each spouse based on longevity and survivor income, and it projects taxes across the full retirement instead of next year alone. A roadmap turns real account balances into a range of monthly income, built from their own numbers instead of a national average.
Related reading
If the decisions on this page are ahead of you, the two of you can work through them with Robert Boeck before any of them becomes permanent.
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