The 3-Bucket Strategy

A Thoughtful Approach to Retirement Income Planning

A structured, purpose-driven approach to retirement planning that organizes your savings into three distinct buckets — helping you feel clear about where your income comes from today, how your money grows tomorrow, and what you’ll leave behind for the future.

Income Bucket

2–5 Years of Income
Designed for stability and reliability, this bucket holds the funds you’ll use in the early years of retirement. It’s structured to help provide a steady income and reduce the need to sell stock investments during market down turns. Understanding near term income needs allows you to focus on living — not watching the markets.

Growth Bucket

5+ Years of Growth
This bucket is built for longer-term growth and balanced investing. Because your short-term income needs are already covered, this portion of your portfolio can remain invested with a longer time horizon in mind. It’s designed to replenish your income bucket over time and support the middle years of retirement.

Long-Term Care/Legacy Bucket

Family & Future Planning

This bucket is designed to support your long-term goals beyond retirement. Whether your priority is providing for family, supporting charitable causes, or simply maintaining flexibility later in life, this portion of your strategy is aligned with long-term goals and legacy planning. It connects your retirement plan to your broader estate planning and family vision.

Get A Roadmap For The Journey Ahead

Use a practical planning roadmap to organize your goals and see how the pieces fit together over time.
It’s a helpful way to compare scenarios, ask better questions, and move forward with a stronger plan.

Explore the Roadmap

Frequently Asked Questions About Our 3-Bucket Retirement Strategy

A simple framework designed to bring clarity, stability, and long-term direction to your retirement income plan.

A 3-bucket strategy organizes retirement savings by purpose rather than viewing everything as one large portfolio. Funds are separated into short-term income, long-term growth, and legacy planning so each dollar has a clearly defined role within your overall financial strategy.
The income bucket is structured to cover several years of retirement income needs. Because of this, you’re not forced to sell long-term investments during periods of market volatility. This approach helps reduce emotional decision-making and allows your long-term investments time to recover.
Traditional portfolios often focus primarily on allocation percentages. Our bucket-based approach emphasizes time horizon and purpose — aligning investments with when you’ll need the money and what each portion is intended to accomplish.
Yes. While we do not provide tax advice, withdrawal strategies are designed with tax awareness in mind. We coordinate closely with your CPA or tax professional to help reduce unnecessary surprises and support tax-efficient decision-making in retirement.
The strategy is most commonly used for clients approaching or living in retirement, but the underlying principles can apply to anyone seeking greater clarity around income planning, long-term growth, and legacy goals.

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