The Income Standard Review
A probability isn't a guarantee. A withdrawal rate isn't an income floor. If your retirement income plan hasn't been measured against a real structural standard — you don't yet know what you have.
Before you schedule — answer these honestly
This review is for people ready to act on what they find. If you're still in research mode, the podcast is the right starting point — come back when you're ready to measure.
What This Is
The Income Standard Review is a structured, six-component analysis of your retirement income architecture. It measures what you have against what you need — specifically, whether your guaranteed income floor fully covers your non-negotiable monthly expenses for life.
Most retirement reviews tell you whether your portfolio is likely to survive. This one tells you whether your income structure can hold — regardless of sequence, longevity, or what the market does the year you retire.
There's no product to buy at the end. There's a measurement. If the measurement shows a structural gap, we'll talk about what closes it. If it doesn't, you'll leave knowing your floor is sound.
This Is Not
This Is
The Six Components
Each component addresses a specific structural risk in your retirement income plan. Together they produce a complete picture of whether your income architecture holds.
We map every income source — Social Security, pension, annuity income, portfolio withdrawals, part-time work — against your actual monthly expense profile. Guaranteed sources are separated from discretionary ones. The floor is identified. The gap, if any, is measured precisely.
Required minimum distributions at age 73 can push pre-retirees into higher tax brackets, trigger IRMAA Medicare surcharges, and increase Social Security taxation — all at once. We model your current pre-tax balance trajectory, project your first RMD, and show the tax impact in three scenarios.
We stress-test your income architecture to age 95 — not 82, not 85. For a married couple both aged 65, there is a 50% probability that one spouse lives past 90. Plans built to shorter timelines have a structural failure point that most projections don't show. We find it.
The years between your retirement date and age 73 are the most valuable tax planning window most pre-retirees never fully use. We map your current account structure — traditional IRA, Roth, taxable — and model the Roth conversion strategy that minimizes your lifetime tax burden without triggering unnecessary bracket exposure.
Total portfolio cost is rarely what it appears on a statement. AUM advisory fees, mutual fund expense ratios, platform or custodian fees — each layer compounds over time. We calculate your total annual fee drag across all instruments and assess whether each fee is aligned with an income outcome or an accumulation outcome.
The final component brings the analysis to a single question: does your guaranteed income floor fully cover your non-negotiable monthly expenses — for life? If it does, your portfolio is discretionary wealth. If it doesn't, the gap is measured, and the instruments that close it are identified and explained.
Who This Is For
The Income Standard Review is designed for a specific kind of person. Not someone who wants to be sold a product. Someone who wants to understand their income architecture — and hold it against a real standard.
If any of the following describe you, this review was built for your situation.
How It Works
Choose a time that works. You'll receive a short intake form asking for basic information about your income sources, account balances, and monthly expenses. No paperwork. No financial statements required upfront.
A focused 45–60 minute session — by phone or video — where each of the six components is walked through in sequence. You'll see the analysis in real time. Every number will be explained. No jargon. No vague reassurance.
At the end, one question gets answered: does your income architecture meet The Income Standard? If yes, you'll know exactly why. If there's a structural gap, you'll know what it is, how large it is, and what closes it.
Common Questions
No catch. The review is genuinely no cost. Tod is compensated only if you decide to implement an insurance product — a fixed indexed annuity, fixed annuity, or indexed universal life policy — and only if that product is the right structural solution for a specific gap the review identifies. If your floor is already closed, there's nothing to sell. If it isn't, the review will show you exactly what the gap is and what closes it. The decision is always yours.
Most financial advisors are trained in accumulation — growing a portfolio. That's a different discipline from income engineering. Your advisor may be excellent at their job and still not have provided you with a guaranteed income floor analysis, an RMD stress test, or a longevity model to age 95. This review doesn't replace your advisor. It adds a measurement that most retirement plans don't include. You can take the findings back to your advisor and ask the specific questions the review raises.
Yes, insurance products involve compensation. That's disclosed upfront — always. The relevant question isn't whether a product involves compensation — it's whether it solves a specific structural problem that nothing else solves as well. Fixed indexed annuities address longevity risk and sequence-of-returns risk simultaneously. If your income floor is already fully guaranteed by other means, an annuity may not be the right tool. The review identifies the problem first. The tool discussion comes second — and only if the problem exists.
No — in fact, earlier is almost always better. The two most valuable planning windows in retirement income architecture — the pre-RMD Roth conversion window and the sequence-of-returns buffer construction — are most powerful when addressed 5–10 years before retirement. The review is designed for people in the 55–70 range precisely because that's when the decisions that will define retirement income have the most leverage. Waiting until the year you retire means some of those windows have already closed.
Then the review will confirm that — with specifics. You'll know exactly how your floor is structured, what it covers, what the RMD picture looks like, and where any remaining exposure sits. That's not nothing. Knowing your architecture is sound — and understanding precisely why — is a different kind of confidence than hoping it's probably fine. And if it turns out there are gaps you weren't aware of, you'll have found them before they become problems.
Schedule Your Review
Most pre-retirees spend years accumulating a plan — and never once have it measured against a real standard. Not "likely to survive." Not "probably fine." A structural test with a specific answer.
The review takes 45–60 minutes. At the end, you'll know exactly what your guaranteed income floor covers, where the gaps are, and what closes them. That's it. That's the whole thing.
"The gap between 'probably fine' and 'guaranteed to hold' is exactly what this review measures."
The Income Standard
Find Your Income Gap.
Then Close It.
No cost. No pitch. For people ready to act — not research.
45–60 minutes by phone or video.
What to have ready