You worked hard and saved diligently. At 65, retirement feels like living the dream. But without a real distribution strategy, it’s possible to look up at 85 and find the money simply isn’t there anymore — not because of one bad decision, but because of small, compounding gaps in planning. Here’s how to build a strategy that helps your savings last as long as you do.
1. Plan around the three phases of retirement
Spending habits change substantially over the course of retirement, and a flat annual withdrawal number rarely reflects that. Most retirees move through three broad phases:
- Early retirement — travel, hobbies, and adventure, often the highest-spending years
- Middle retirement — socializing and activity at a somewhat steadier pace
- Later retirement — more time at home, with spending shifting toward health care and support services
Building a distribution plan around these phases — rather than one flat number for 25-plus years — helps you budget realistically for the active, expensive early years without shortchanging the health and care costs that tend to rise later on.
2. Settle your Social Security timing
Optimizing Social Security and any pension income is one of the highest-leverage decisions in retirement, since guaranteed income reduces how much you need to withdraw from savings. Broadly, you have two approaches: claim as early as age 62 to reduce how much you draw from savings in the early years, or delay past your full retirement age — up to age 70 — to lock in a permanently higher monthly benefit, roughly 8% more for each year you wait. Which is right for you depends on your health, other income sources, and how long you realistically expect to need the income.
3. Decide when to be taxed
Tax treatment differs by account type. Withdrawals from traditional IRAs, traditional 401(k)s, and taxable brokerage accounts are generally taxable when you take them. Roth IRA and Roth 401(k) withdrawals are typically tax-free once the account has been open at least five years and you’ve reached 59½.
If you hold both traditional and Roth money, your options include:
- Traditional first, Roth last — lets tax-free Roth money continue growing untouched the longest.
- Roth first, traditional last — useful if you expect to spend more in early retirement and want to avoid pushing yourself into a higher tax bracket during high-spending years.
- A blended approach — drawing from both each year to diversify your tax exposure and stay within a target tax bracket.
A CPA or tax-aware financial advisor can help model which sequencing minimizes your lifetime tax bill given your specific mix of accounts.
4. Plan ahead for required minimum distributions
A required minimum distribution (RMD) is the minimum amount the IRS requires you to withdraw annually from tax-deferred accounts like traditional IRAs and 401(k)s once you reach a certain age. Under current rules, that age is 73 for anyone born between 1951 and 1959, rising to 75 for those born in 1960 or later. Your first RMD can be delayed until April 1 of the year after you reach that age, but doing so means taking two RMDs — and two taxable distributions — in the same calendar year, which can push you into a higher bracket.
Roth IRAs carry no RMDs during the original owner’s lifetime, and Roth 401(k)s and 403(b)s were freed from lifetime RMDs as well starting in 2024 — one more reason Roth accounts are often saved for last in a withdrawal sequence. Missing an RMD deadline triggers a steep penalty: up to 25% of the amount that should have been withdrawn, though it can be reduced to 10% if corrected within two years. Your account custodian can typically calculate the exact amount, but the responsibility for withdrawing it on time is yours.
These are complex, interconnected decisions, and this is just the starting point. A tax professional working alongside your financial advisor can help build a withdrawal sequence that makes sense for your specific accounts and tax situation.
PMV Consulting, LLC 
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