"The hardest financial problem in the world is the one with no second chance: turning a finite pile into an income you cannot outlive."
Saving for retirement and spending in retirement are different disciplines. Every instinct that built the balance — maximize it, ride out volatility, never touch principal — can sink the retiree. This guide reframes the problem and builds the system that solves it: the order assets are drawn, the bracket-filling years before required distributions begin, the Social Security claim worth six figures, the Medicare surcharge that turns on a single dollar, and the survivor's tax cliff almost no one plans for. Written at the depth an advisor needs and the clarity a household can actually run.
Introductory pricing for first readers. Lists at $349 once the launch window closes.
Each free calculator answers one piece of the decumulation puzzle the guide works through end to end. Run your own numbers right now from your phone.
All four tools are live and free. No email gate. Each runs the math from a chapter of the guide on your own scenario.
The decumulation problem is the same for everyone, but where you start depends on the seat you sit in. The table below routes you to the chapters that matter most.
| You are… | Start with these chapters |
|---|---|
| Within 10 years of retiring building the plan before the paychecks stop | Ch 1 Accumulation→Decumulation · Ch 3 Safe Spending · Ch 5 Withdrawal Order · Ch 7 Roth-Conversion Window · Ch 8 Claiming Social Security |
| Newly retired turning the balance into a paycheck now | Ch 4 Floor-and-Upside · Ch 5 Withdrawal Order · Ch 6 RMDs · Ch 10 Medicare & IRMAA · Ch 16 The Income Calendar |
| Retiring before 65 bridging the gap to Medicare | Ch 18 The ACA Bridge · Ch 7 Roth-Conversion Window · Ch 9 Taxation of Benefits · Ch 17 The State Tax Map |
| A surviving or soon-to-be-single spouse | Ch 19 The Survivor's Tax Cliff · Ch 8 Claiming Social Security · Ch 10 Medicare & IRMAA · Ch 15 The Ten-Year Legacy |
| Worried the money won't last | Ch 2 The Four Risks · Ch 12 Sequence-of-Returns Risk · Ch 13 Inflation · Ch 14 Long-Term Care · Ch 11 Annuities |
| A financial advisor, CPA, or planner serving retirees | The whole system · the four worked cases (Chs 21–24) · the 10-tab workbook as a client deliverable |
| Reading for general retirement education | Part I Foundations · the opening chapter of each Part · then the chapters that grab you |
24 chapters across 7 parts, plus a glossary and a page-referenced Index of Terms. A 10-tab Excel workbook companion and four free web tools. 2026 Edition — a complete, practitioner-voiced reference.
100 pages, 24 chapters across 7 Parts — from reframing the decumulation problem, to building the tax-aware paycheck, to Social Security and Medicare, to the risks a spreadsheet average hides, to the legacy and the calendar that runs the whole thing. Every chapter ends with Key Takeaways and a "Put it to work" fill-in area — the write-on lines, checkboxes, and tables that turn the reading into a plan. The 2026 figures are presented in the chapter that discusses each topic, so the reader never flips to a back appendix. Glossary plus a page-referenced Index of Terms. Single-user license.
Ten tabs that turn the guide's methods into working models: a Start Here map, then Withdrawal Order, RMD + Roth conversion, Social Security claiming, the IRMAA cliff, Floor-and-Upside, Sequence-of-Returns stress, the Survivor Tax Cliff, LTC self-insure math, and the four Worked Cases. Enter your own numbers; the models do the arithmetic the chapters describe.
Retirement Readiness Score · Social Security Claiming Optimizer · Roth Conversion Stairstep · Roth-vs-Wait Trade-off. Each runs in the browser on your scenario, and each pairs with a chapter and a workbook tab.
A "System at a Glance" front-matter map shows the chapter / workbook / tool wiring at a glance, so the three pieces work as one system rather than three separate downloads.
Composes with the rest of the shelf — Tax Strategy Decoded (bracket management, NIIT), the IRA guide (account architecture), Estate Planning Decoded and Trust Administration (the ten-year rule and the legacy), and Insurance in Plain English (the long-term-care decision). The library is built to compose, not to upsell.
Retirement Income Decoded is sold as a single bundle — the guide, the workbook, and the free tools together. There is no à-la-carte breakdown and no upsell at checkout. The introductory price is the Institute's way of thanking the readers who buy early and leave the first reviews.
Checkout opens when the guide goes live. Email me at launch →
Four free tools run the math from the guide on your scenario. No purchase required.
Educational use only. Not investment, tax, or legal advice; not a substitute for a financial planner, CPA, or attorney who knows your situation. All 2026 figures change regularly — confirm the current year against IRS, Social Security Administration, and CMS sources before relying on any number.