The Fragile Decade

5 Decisions That Make or

Break Your Retirement

Inside the guide, you'll learn:

01

The tax window most retirees waste

The years between your last paycheck and RMDs create a one-time opportunity to reposition assets. Miss it and your tax floor rises permanently.

02

Why Social Security calculators get it wrong

Break-even analysis ignores how your claiming decision cascades into taxes, portfolio withdrawals, and Medicare premiums.

03

The first five years matter more than the next twenty

Sequence-of-returns risk can permanently reduce your income, but only if you're not prepared for it before it happens.

04

How to build a paycheck from a portfolio

Which accounts to draw from, when, and why the "4% rule" is a starting point, not a strategy.

05

Why these decisions can't be made in isolation

Optimizing any one of these without coordinating the rest can make your overall plan worse. This is the gap where real money is lost.

The Years between 55 and 70 are the most consequential of your financial life. Most people make these decisions one at a time. That’s where the costly mistakes happen.

"The most common mistake isn't getting any single decision wrong. It is making each decision in isolation."