The Retirement Drawdown & Tax-Bucket Optimizer - Stackwise

You spent decades saving in three kinds of accounts. Now you have to spend them, and the order you choose can change your lifetime tax bill by tens of thousands of dollars.

The Retirement Drawdown & Tax-Bucket Optimizer

Shows you which account to spend from first, how much to take from each one every year, and when a Roth conversion pays off, with the B.U.C.K.E.T. Method: Bucket your accounts, Uncover your gap, Compare the orders, Keep your bracket full, Eye the cliffs and Take action yearly.

WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH IT

✔ Sort every account into its tax bucket: taxable, pre-tax (IRA, 401(k)) and Roth

✔ Run your real numbers through 4 withdrawal orders, year by year to the age you choose: Conventional, Proportional, Bracket-Fill and Fill + Convert

✔ See which order leaves you (or your heirs) the most after tax, with 2026 brackets, Social Security taxation, RMDs and Medicare IRMAA surcharges built in

✔ Find your safe room before the next bracket, the Medicare IRMAA lines and the ACA subsidy line

✔ Plan this year: exactly what to take from each bucket, what to convert by Dec 31 and how much tax to set aside

✔ Avoid the classic mistakes: wasted low-tax years, converting an RMD, the Social Security "tax torpedo" and $1-over-the-line Medicare surcharges

WHAT'S INCLUDED (5 files)

📘 37-page Guide (PDF): Quick-Start, 2026 key numbers on one page, the three tax buckets, your yearly gap, the four withdrawal orders, filling a bracket, Roth conversions done right, the 0% capital gains zone, IRMAA, the tax torpedo, the ACA line, survivors and heirs, a yearly routine and 8 costly mistakes

📊 13-tab Workbook (Excel + Google Sheets): Start Here, Dashboard (picks your best order), Account Map, Setup, This Year's Plan, Bracket Headroom, four year-by-year strategy engines, Annual Checklist and 2026 Tax Facts. Live formulas throughout.

🖥 Drawdown Studio (HTML): opens in any browser, works offline, same math with live charts

✍ 12 Fillable Worksheets (PDF): bucket map, yearly gap, income timeline, strategy scorecard, bracket headroom, Roth conversion checklist, cliff check, capital gains plan, this year's plan, tax set a side planner, annual review and a family money map

📄 6 Letters (Word): IRA withdrawal & withholding request, Roth conversion request, brokerage sale instruction, a memo for your tax preparer, a Medicare IRMAA appeal cover letter and a plan summary for your family

THE EXAMPLE INSIDE

Mark (62) and Denise (60) have $1,200,000 in pre-tax accounts, $350,000 in taxable accounts and $60,000 in a Roth IRA, and need $90,000 a year. Spending their taxable money first (the usual advice) wastes their low-tax years and leaves a big IRA for RMDs.

Filling the 12% bracket every year and converting the rest to Roth leaves them $112,332 more at 95, after tax and in today's dollars (counting leftover IRA money after a 24% heir tax), with $82,758 less in lifetime taxes. (Fictional example; your result depends on your numbers.)

WHO IT'S FOR:

✔ US Retirees and pre-retirees with money in more than one kind of account.

✔ People with a large 401(k) or IRA worried about RMD's.

✔ Anyone wondering whether to do Roth conversions.

✔ Early retirees protecting ACA subsidies.

✔ Married couples planning for the survivor.

GOOD TO KNOW

• Instant digital download. Works with Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice and any modern browser.

• 2026 federal rules verified November 2026 (brackets, deductions, the senior deduction, IRMAA, RMD ages). Update one Tax Facts tab for future years.

• Projections are estimates using one steady return and today's tax law.

Educational tool, not tax, legal or investment advice. Review your decisions with a CPA, enrolled agent or fee-only fiduciary planner.

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