Retirement Decision Lab
Bring your decision.
Not just your account balance.
Which decision are you facing?
Start with what the money needs to do. Explore the tradeoffs before deciding which account or investment should do the work.
Turn savings into a retirement paycheck.
A trip, home improvement or recurring paycheck may call for different funding choices. Compare using reserves, selling investments or drawing from retirement accounts—alongside taxes and your next spending need.
What changes the answer? Your other income, available reserves, investment gains and timing.
Explore the spending-dollar illustration →Give tomorrow’s money room to work.
Near-term reserves can help reduce pressure to sell investments during a downturn. Longer-term investments serve a different purpose: supporting future spending and purchasing power. Neither growth nor protection is guaranteed.
What changes the answer? When you need the money, spending flexibility, dependable income and your ability to tolerate losses.
Explore account choices and compounding →Whose retirement is this money really funding?
If some assets are deliberately reserved for children or grandchildren, their purpose may differ from the assets paying your bills. First establish what you need for your own retirement—including unexpected costs.
Then compare three paths: leave the account pretax, consider gradual Roth conversions, or evaluate a larger conversion. Include the tax cost today, how it would be paid, investment risk and the beneficiaries’ circumstances. A Roth is a tax treatment—not a guarantee of investment success.
What changes the answer? Your own future needs, the family’s time horizon, current and future taxes, and inheritance rules. An inherited account does not automatically provide an unlimited tax-free horizon.
This is a decision map, not a personalized calculation or conversion recommendation.
Compare paths—not just products.
For any decision, consider acting now, making a smaller change over time, or keeping your current approach. The right comparison includes the costs and tradeoffs of each—not just the most attractive outcome.
- Purpose: Who is this money for, and when will it be needed?
- Flexibility: What reserves and other income could support the plan if circumstances change?
- Tax cost: What would you pay now, and what future obligations might remain?
- Downside: What happens if returns disappoint, costs rise or the money is needed sooner?
Bring the questions—not perfect answers. You do not need to choose a strategy before a discovery conversation.
What would you like to feel more confident about?
Bring that question to a complimentary discovery conversation. Specific recommendations require reviewing your circumstances.
Explore a conversation with Rich →