White Coat Investor posted up an interesting case study today about a hypothetical couple who wanted to retire early:

He was an internist who worked hard his entire career, and she stayed at home and raised the kids. They're both 62, and they want to retire today. They have a $2.5 million portfolio and a paid-off home, and the kids have gone through college and are on their own.

https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/deploying-assets-retirement

The case study delves into their fixed and variable expense budget, their investment asset allocation, and how the couple deployed their assets, shifting from a traditional stocks/bonds portfolio, to a bond ladder, to laddered SPIAs.

They used the Trinity Study to evaluate their planned safe withdrawal rate at various ages along the way and used that data to recalibrate their withdrawals based on the percentage success rate. They ended up with $1.6m left which went to their kids.

As I read through this I found myself wondering how their retirement plan might have changed had they used IL with its risk-based spending guardrails. I thought an A/B comparison based on a case example like this with the rich level of detail it included might make for an interesting way to highlight the (presumably) better total spending and reduced risk outcomes IL delivers.

For those of you using Social Security workshops as a way of getting prospects to your office, I’m curious how you’re handling the next step.

I’m a brand-new Income Lab user. My current process is to run Social Security educational workshops, then invite prospects in my office for a complimentary review (using another software program) to identify their optimal filing strategy…their “Social Security sweet spot.” That part works well.

Where I’m looking for ideas is what happens after that. Once you’ve helped someone optimize their Social Security, how are you using Income Lab to transition into a broader retirement income distribution planning conversation? Specifically, how are you presenting Income Lab so it naturally opens the door to deeper planning work?

Would love to hear how others are structuring that handoff. Thank you!!

Anyone else have some of their Tracked & Monitored plans experience pretty dramatic shifts in their guardrails after the April update? We had some upper guardrails drop considerably and at least one lower guardrail bounce up a lot.

I'm guessing it's partly related to market volatility in the last quarter? but I admit I don't fully understand how the guardrails are calculated.

We booked a training session to try to get some clarity but just curious if anyone else has seen similar shifts in their client plans.

We'd love to hear your feedback about Penny! Please post any comments, ideas, or issues in the thread below.

I'm excited to see the "Insights" tab making its debut in our plan scenarios! I know it's still in Beta but I hope you add a "print to PDF" option for this screen. It's a great snapshot to include in reports.

Feel free to sign up here to join us.

Webinar Description

Optimizing Retirement Income: Modeling Tax-Efficient Decumulation and Social Security Strategies with Income Lab

Featuring Justin Fitzpatrick, PhD, CFA, CFP®, and Financial Planner Kevin Lum, CFP®

As clients enter retirement, the sequence in which they draw income from qualified, nonqualified, and tax-advantaged accounts can significantly affect their long-term financial security. This advanced session demonstrates how to use Income Lab to design and evaluate some of the most tax-efficient decumulation strategies available to financial advisors today.

Dr. Justin Fitzpatrick, Co-Founder and CIO of Income Lab, will show how advisors can model optimal withdrawal sequences across IRAs, Roth accounts, taxable portfolios, annuities, and other retirement vehicles. Using scenario-based planning, Justin will illustrate how advisors can reduce lifetime tax drag, minimize IRMAA surcharges, align withdrawals with effective marginal tax rates, and extend retirement sustainability through more intelligent distribution strategies.

Joining Justin is Financial Planner Kevin Lum, CFP®, who will demonstrate how Income Lab can be used to evaluate Social Security claiming strategies, quantify the long-term opportunity costs of claiming early versus delaying, and integrate Social Security decisions into a coordinated withdrawal plan. Kevin will walk through real-world examples to show how timing decisions, survivor benefits, and taxation of Social Security interact with broader decumulation strategies.

Participants will learn how to:

• Model tax-efficient withdrawal sequences from qualified, nonqualified, and tax-advantaged accounts

• Assess the interplay between RMDs, Roth conversions, and taxable income management

• Identify strategies for reducing lifetime taxes, smoothing income, and mitigating IRMAA exposure

• Integrate Social Security claiming analysis into a unified retirement income plan

• Quantify opportunity costs associated with claiming early—and demonstrate them clearly to clients

• Use Income Lab to communicate dynamic retirement income strategies and help clients adapt to changing conditions

Whether you are supporting clients approaching retirement or refining income plans for those already retired, this session provides actionable insights and practical modeling techniques to create more resilient, tax-efficient decumulation plans.

We're looking for feedback on this design of a new dashboard for the app. This dashboard is focused on stats and metrics that anyone might want to know at any time, and so is especially helpful for those who are years or decades away from retirement (and so find the income dashboard less-than-useful).

Please let us know your thoughts, metrics you think belong here, and anything else that comes to mind. If you were designing your "Dream One-Page Plan", what metrics would you want to see??

Hi Income Lab Community! Have you had a chance to try out the new AI tools? We'd love to hear your feedback. If you're willing, please share your experience on social media and tag Income Lab. We need your help spreading the word, and as you know, advisors want to hear from other advisors.

Here's a great video showcasing the new tools by Derek T Tharp - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/derektharp_excited-about-the-launch-of-our-new-ai-features-activity-7384579141779742721-coxL?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAABPZWAsB_DRoQJcytbTsIwtBP5kh_9lgczY