Withdrawal Order Optimizer

The orders. Taxable first defers ordinary income the longest. Pre-tax first drains the accounts that RMDs will later force open. Proportional takes from every account by its share of the total. Bracket fill takes pre-tax money up to the top of a bracket, then turns to the taxable account, and only returns to pre-tax when nothing else is left. Roth goes last in every order but proportional.

What ranks them. Orders that leave spending unmet rank below those that meet it. Among the rest, the order that leaves the most after-tax wealth wins: Roth and taxable balances at full value, since heirs get a stepped-up basis, and pre-tax balances less the heirs' tax rate you enter.

Why the heirs' rate matters. At a 0% heirs' rate the cheapest plan is the one that pays the least tax during your life, which means leaving pre-tax money untouched. Most heirs must empty an inherited IRA within ten years, often in their peak earning years, so a rate near their bracket is the honest input.

Each year. The same loop as the Roth Conversion Planner: RMD, any conversion, then spending, with taxes and withdrawals solved together to the cent. 2026 federal brackets, the senior deduction through 2028, Social Security taxed per IRS Pub. 915, capital gains at 0%, 15% and 20%, the net investment income tax and IRMAA on a two-year lookback.

What it leaves out. An order that changes from year to year, returns that vary, and tax-loss harvesting. The Retirement Income Planner runs any one of these orders across a thousand markets.