Episode 10: How to Build a Retirement Income Plan

A retirement account balance is not a retirement income plan. Those are two different things — and confusing them is one of the most common and costly mistakes I see. A real income plan answers a specific question: where will your money come from, every month, for the rest of your life?

In this episode, I walk through the framework I use to build retirement income plans for clients — step by step.

In this episode:

▸ The difference between a balance sheet and an income plan

▸ How to identify every income source you'll have in retirement

▸ How to calculate the gap your portfolio needs to fill

▸ How to stress-test the plan against inflation, taxes, and market risk

Having $1.5 million saved tells you what you have. It doesn't tell you what you can spend, how long it will last, or what happens to your income if markets drop in year two of retirement. A retirement income plan starts by mapping every source of guaranteed income, Social Security, pension, annuity, and then calculating what your portfolio needs to generate to cover the rest. From there, the plan gets stress-tested against the things most people ignore during the accumulation phase: inflation eroding purchasing power over 25 years, taxes stacking as RMDs and Social Security overlap, and sequence risk in the early withdrawal years. A balance sheet tells you where you stand. An income plan tells you whether it works.

Episode 10 of the Retirement Transition Series — 12 short episodes for people who are 5–10 years from retirement.

▶ Next: Episode 11 — How Do You Know If You're Ready to Retire?

▶ Watch Episode 9 → 5 Biggest Financial Mistakes People Make in Their 50s

Ready to build your retirement income plan? Schedule of Retirement Plan Fit Call