Retirement tax questions

Any Retirement withdrawal strategy should be based on your tax bracket and whether your accounts are taxable/non-taxable (Roth) and ordinary/ investment income. For investment income/sales, whether the income comes from sales which can be long/short term should be used.

You basically have three "buckets":

The Pension and 401K/403B are in the first. These accounts will be taxed as ordinary income when you make withdrawals. Currently, you will take RMDs after 72 for 401k, 403b, and IRAs and after you retire from your pension employer you will probable receive a monthly pension after you stop working.

The second bucket are the Non-retirement mutual funds and Stocks. These are taxed at capital gains rate on the sale of the assets. Any income generated for dividends may qualify for a lower rate.

The final bucket are US Savings bonds and the Savings account. Any interest income will be taxed at the ordinary income rates.

Since the retirement accounts will have mandatory withdrawals, you will make this payments the foundation. You will add the third bucket income as a variable source of monies. Since any deposits or withdrawals will adjust any earned income received. The second bucket monies are as you go circumstances. You will only access these accounts on a need to basis. Since there is no requirement for you to sell the investments.

My suggestion is to focus on your tax bracket in determining the impact of taxes on your income strategy. If you can fill up the bracket without going to a higher bracket. I do not know your tax bracket but here is an example:

Using the above bracket amounts of $40,526 to $86,375. If your adjusted gross income is $50,000, you will not enter a higher tax bracket until you make $36,375 more to fill up the bracket. Do not forget to withdraw your standard deduction amount from your gross income to arrive at your adjusted gross income.