Buckets of Money Retirement Strategy Calculator
This calculator helps you design a retirement income plan using the popular Buckets of Money strategy, a time-segmented approach made widely known by financial advisors such as Ray Lucia, Harold Evensky, and other retirement income planners who emphasize balancing stability, income, and growth throughout retirement. The strategy divides your portfolio into three time-based segments: short-term, mid-term, and long-term, to provide predictable income while allowing long-term assets to grow. By entering your total portfolio, monthly income goal, and retirement duration, you can model how much of your assets should be allocated to each bucket. You can also simulate different market conditions such as bullish, bearish, or choppy markets, and customize your expected returns for each bucket. The calculator projects your year-by-year withdrawals, refill cycles, and portfolio sufficiency, helping you understand how the Buckets of Money framework can reduce sequence of returns risk and create a more predictable, sustainable retirement income plan.
❓ FAQ Section
What is the Buckets of Money strategy?
The Buckets of Money strategy divides your retirement savings into separate “buckets” based on time horizon and risk level — typically a short-term safe bucket, a mid-term moderate bucket, and a long-term growth bucket. Each serves a different purpose to balance income stability and market growth.
How does this calculator determine allocations?
The calculator automatically divides your total portfolio across the three buckets based on time horizon, income needs, and expected market conditions. You can adjust expected returns for each bucket to test different assumptions.
What happens when a bucket runs out?
Buckets are refilled from longer-term buckets every few years. For example, the long-term growth bucket replenishes the short-term bucket once it’s depleted, allowing your plan to continue providing steady income throughout retirement.
How does this strategy help during market downturns?
By keeping several years of income in the short-term bucket (safe assets), you can avoid selling investments from the growth bucket during market declines. This helps protect your portfolio from sequence-of-returns risk.
How can I tell if my portfolio is sufficient?
The calculator shows your annual withdrawals, total projected withdrawals, and a sufficiency indicator to help you gauge whether your assets can support your desired income throughout retirement under different market scenarios.
Can this calculator replace personalized retirement advice?
No. This calculator is designed for educational purposes only and does not provide personalized financial or investment advice. Every retirement situation is unique. You should always consult with a qualified financial advisor or fiduciary planner before making major investment or withdrawal decisions.
Disclaimer: For Educational Purposes Only
The information, tools, and calculators available on The Retirement Dilemma website are provided exclusively for educational and informational purposes. Their goal is to help you better understand how various retirement income strategies, such as withdrawal rates, investment allocations, and portfolio sustainability, may align with your long-term financial goals. This material should not be considered financial, legal, or tax advice.
All content is developed and reviewed by retirement planning professionals with decades of combined experience in wealth management, portfolio analysis, and retirement income design. However, every financial situation is unique. We strongly encourage you to consult with a qualified financial advisor, tax professional, or fiduciary planner before making any retirement-related decisions.
To ensure accuracy and reliability, our educational content references well-established, nationally recognized sources, including Morningstar, Fidelity, Vanguard, and other respected organizations specializing in retirement research.
Our mission is to provide unbiased, transparent, and practical education to empower you to make informed and confident decisions about your financial future.
