About the Retirement Withdrawal Order Calculator
This retirement withdrawal order calculator compares four ways of funding the same yearly spending from a taxable brokerage account, a traditional (pre-tax) IRA or 401(k) and a Roth account. It simulates each sequence year by year, works out federal income tax and capital gains tax along the way, and shows which order leaves you with the most after-tax wealth and the lowest lifetime tax bill.
The usual rule of thumb is to spend taxable money first, then tax-deferred, then Roth. In practice, many retirees do better by drawing enough from traditional accounts each year to fill the low 10% and 12% brackets — especially in the years before Social Security and required minimum distributions push their income up. The fourth strategy does exactly that and moves any surplus into the Roth as a conversion.
The model uses the 2026 federal brackets and standard deduction for single or joint filers, a flat long-term capital gains rate on the gain portion of taxable withdrawals, and real (after-inflation) returns with brackets held constant. Remaining traditional money is valued after an assumed tax rate for you or your heirs. It ignores state tax, RMDs, Social Security taxation formulas, IRMAA and the 0% capital gains bracket, so use it to compare orders rather than to predict your exact tax.
How to use the retirement withdrawal order calculator
- 1Choose your filing status and enter balances for taxable, traditional and Roth accounts.
- 2Enter the cost basis share of your taxable account.
- 3Enter yearly spending you need from savings and any other taxable income.
- 4Set a real return, the years to simulate and your capital gains rate.
- 5Compare ending after-tax wealth and lifetime tax for each order.
Formula and method
For every year and every strategy the calculator withdraws enough to deliver the same after-tax spending. Traditional withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income on top of your other income using the 2026 brackets and standard deduction, solved exactly with a bisection search so the net amount matches the shortfall. Taxable withdrawals are split pro rata into cost basis (tax-free) and gain (taxed at the capital gains rate you enter); Roth withdrawals are tax-free.
The bracket-filling strategy first withdraws traditional money up to the top of the 12% bracket each year; any after-tax surplus beyond spending is moved into the Roth, which is equivalent to a partial Roth conversion. Remaining balances then grow at the real return. At the end, wealth is compared after tax: unrealised gains and the leftover traditional balance are reduced by their respective tax rates.
- S
- After-tax spending needed from savings each year
- T(x)
- 2026 federal income tax on income x after the standard deduction
- W
- Gross withdrawal from an account
- CG
- Long-term capital gains rate on the gain portion
Worked examples
Married couple, $1.05M across three accounts
Spending $40,000 a year on top of $30,000 of pension income, the conventional taxable-first order ends with about $762,400 after tax and $125,400 of lifetime tax. Filling the 12% bracket from the IRA early and converting the surplus to Roth ends slightly ahead at about $764,400 with less tax, while spending the Roth first trails by roughly $74,000.
Single filer with most savings in an IRA
With a large IRA, waiting to tap it means bigger, higher-taxed withdrawals later. Drawing it down to the top of the 12% bracket from the start ends about $18,500 ahead of spending the brokerage account first, and even plain traditional-first beats taxable-first by about $10,700.
Spending more than the savings can support
Withdrawing $50,000 a year after tax from $350,000 of savings at a 4% real return runs out in year 8 whichever order you use, so the order matters far less than the spending level.
Frequently asked questions
Which retirement account should I withdraw from first?+
The conventional order is taxable accounts first, then tax-deferred (traditional IRA/401(k)), then Roth. It lets tax-advantaged money keep growing. But most people with large pre-tax balances do better by also taking some traditional money each year to use up the 10% and 12% brackets.
Why not spend Roth money first?+
Roth money grows tax-free and has no required minimum distributions, so it is usually the most valuable dollar to keep. Spending it first leaves your taxable and pre-tax money to grow, which creates larger taxable income later and often a bigger lifetime tax bill.
What is bracket filling?+
Bracket filling means withdrawing or converting just enough traditional IRA money each year to reach the top of a low tax bracket, such as 12%. You pay tax at a low rate now instead of a higher rate later when RMDs, Social Security and possible heirs’ tax rates push it up.
How do capital gains affect the order?+
Only the gain part of a taxable-account sale is taxed, so accounts with a high cost basis are cheap to draw from. Long-term gains are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20%; many retirees with modest income pay 0%, which makes taxable-first even more attractive than this flat-rate model shows.
Does this include RMDs and Social Security?+
No. Required minimum distributions starting at age 73 or 75 and the formula that taxes up to 85% of Social Security are not modelled. Enter the taxable part of Social Security and pensions as other income, and remember RMDs make delaying traditional withdrawals more costly than shown.
Tax results are estimates based on published rules and simplified assumptions. They are not tax advice — check official guidance or a tax professional for your situation.