Turn Your Retirement Savings Into a Paycheck You Can Count On

Your Savings Are an Asset. A Distribution Plan Is the Strategy.

Retirement savings don't automatically become retirement income. Without a deliberate withdrawal strategy, most retirees make decisions account by account, year by year — and those decisions add up to real costs over time. We build distribution plans that look across every account you hold, coordinate the timing and sequencing of withdrawals, and produce a monthly income stream that's designed to last as long as you need it to.

Every plan we build accounts for your specific account mix — IRAs, Roth IRAs, taxable brokerage accounts, 401(k)s, pension income, and Social Security — and determines how to draw from each in an order that supports your income goals while keeping your tax exposure as low as possible.

RMDs Explained — and Managed So You Never Miss One

Required minimum distributions are one of the most misunderstood pieces of retirement planning, and one of the most searched. Under the SECURE 2.0 Act, most retirees must begin taking RMDs from traditional IRAs and employer retirement accounts at age 73. Miss a deadline, and the IRS assesses a penalty of 25% of the amount that should have been withdrawn.

We handle RMD calculations, timing, and coordination for every client subject to them. That means knowing which accounts are affected, calculating the correct distribution amount each year based on IRS life expectancy tables, and making sure withdrawals are taken before the deadline. You shouldn't have to track this yourself — and with Dominion managing it, you won't need to.

• RMDs apply to traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and most employer-sponsored plans
• Roth IRAs are not subject to RMDs during the original owner's lifetime
• The SECURE 2.0 Act pushed the RMD starting age from 72 to 73 (and to 75 for those born after 1960)
• The penalty for a missed RMD is 25%, reduced to 10% if corrected within two years
• Inherited IRAs have their own RMD rules that differ from your own accounts

Why the Account You Draw From Matters as Much as How Much You Draw

This is the insight that surprises most new clients: withdrawal sequencing — the order in which you draw from taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free accounts — can reduce your lifetime tax burden by thousands of dollars. Drawing from the wrong account at the wrong time can push you into a higher tax bracket, trigger Medicare surcharges, or increase the portion of your Social Security income that's subject to federal tax.

We model withdrawal sequencing as part of every distribution plan. Because we work in close coordination with TPSA, our affiliated CPA firm, your investment drawdown strategy and your tax picture are built together rather than reconciled after the fact. The result is a plan that's optimized for both income and tax efficiency — not one or the other.

Income Sources We Coordinate in Your Distribution Plan

Retirement income rarely comes from a single source, and a distribution plan that treats each source in isolation misses most of the optimization opportunity. We look at the full picture and build a coordinated strategy around every income stream available to you.

• Social Security: Timing your claim — and coordinating it with your spouse's benefit if applicable — can meaningfully increase your lifetime benefit. We model different claiming scenarios before you file.
• IRA and 401(k) withdrawals: Tax-deferred accounts are powerful, but withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income. Sequencing and Roth conversion strategies can reduce what you owe over time.
• Roth IRA distributions: Tax-free withdrawals from Roth accounts are a valuable tool for managing bracket exposure in high-income retirement years.
• Taxable investment accounts: Dividends, interest, and capital gains from taxable accounts each carry different tax treatment. We account for that in the sequencing model.
• Annuity income: For clients who want a guaranteed income floor, annuities can serve as one component of a broader strategy — alongside other sources, not as a replacement for them.
• Pension income and other guaranteed sources: If you have a pension, rental income, or other recurring income, it factors into how we structure withdrawals from invested assets.

Social Security Coordination Is Part of the Plan

Social Security claiming decisions are permanent. Claim too early and you lock in a reduced benefit for life. Claim too late without modeling the breakeven point and you may leave years of income on the table. For married couples, the coordination between two benefit records adds another layer of complexity.

We incorporate Social Security optimization into every retirement income plan we build. That means running the numbers on different claiming ages, modeling spousal and survivor benefits, and identifying the strategy that produces the highest lifetime income given your health, other income sources, and tax situation. This is not a separate service — it's built into how we approach distribution planning from the start.