The textbook answer is taxable first, then Traditional, then Roth. It is usually wrong. The goal is not to preserve Roth - it is to fill every lower tax bracket you can, every year, for as long as you can. Done right, it can add a decade of runway.
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The goal is to fill your lower tax brackets every year of retirement. A retired couple can realize nearly $130K of gross income in 2026 [VERIFY] and still pay roughly 12% or less. If you hoard your Traditional IRA until RMDs kick in at 73, you force huge taxable withdrawals at 22%+ rates. Instead, take a blend: live off taxable for cash flow, pull Traditional up to a target bracket every year for bracket-filling, save Roth for late-life cushion or inheritance.
Not a CPA. This is the single most situation-specific lever. Pension, Social Security timing, state residency, healthcare subsidies all interact. Model it with a planner.
The rule most financial media teaches: spend taxable first, Traditional second, Roth last. The rationale is that Roth grows tax-free, so you should let it compound as long as possible.
That logic is not wrong - it just ignores tax brackets. Taxable dollars and Roth dollars come out at roughly 0% federal. Traditional dollars come out at your marginal rate. Stacking Traditional into your 70s can push that marginal rate way up.
RMDs (Required Minimum Distributions) kick in at age 73. The RMD is a percentage of your Traditional balance that you are forced to withdraw. At 73, it starts around 4%. By 85, it is over 7%.
If you let a $1.5M Traditional balance sit untouched until 73, your first RMD is ~$60K - and it goes up every year. Combined with Social Security and any other income, that can push you well into the 22% or 24% bracket. Meanwhile, in your 60s you might have had $0 of other income - 12% bracket territory - and you wasted it.
The damage is permanent. A bracket you did not fill is gone forever. Every year between retirement and age 73 that you leave empty space in the 12% bracket is a year you are paying future tax at 22%.
For 2026, a married couple filing jointly can have approximately $96,950 of taxable income and stay in the 12% bracket [VERIFY]. Add the standard deduction (roughly $31,000 for MFJ [VERIFY]) and gross income up to about $128,000 fits inside the 12% bracket.
That is a massive amount of headroom. Most retired couples do not spend $128K a year. The goal is to pull that much out of Traditional each year anyway - spending what you need, converting the rest to Roth. Fill the bracket. Do not leave it empty.
A couple filling the 12% bracket with Roth conversions for 10 years before RMDs can move ~$1M from Traditional to Roth at 10-12% effective tax. That same $1M withdrawn in RMDs after 73 likely gets taxed at 22-24%. Difference on $1M: roughly $120,000 of permanent tax savings.
A hybrid strategy most planners use:
Bitcoin in a taxable brokerage held more than 12 months is a long-term capital gain. For 2026, the 0% LTCG bracket runs up to approximately $48,350 for single filers and $96,700 for married filing jointly [VERIFY].
That means a retired married couple with no other income can realize up to $96,700 of long-term capital gains - including Bitcoin gains - and pay zero federal tax. This is staggering. A $96K realized Bitcoin gain in the 0% bracket vs. a 24% bracket is $23,000 of direct tax savings per year.
The technique is sometimes called "tax gain harvesting": sell appreciated Bitcoin (or stocks) up to the 0% LTCG threshold, rebuy immediately (no wash-sale issue for either gains or Bitcoin), reset your cost basis tax-free. Then you have a higher basis going forward, reducing future tax.
RMDs at 73 and Social Security (when claimed) both add to taxable income you cannot easily avoid. Once both are running, your room for low-bracket bracket-filling shrinks dramatically.
Planning rule: do your heaviest Roth conversions before Social Security starts. If you are delaying SS to 70, that gives you a big window from retirement through 69 where your income is naturally low. Use it.
A 65-year-old retired couple with $500K taxable, $1M Traditional IRA, $500K Roth IRA. They need $70K/year to live. No Social Security yet (delaying to 70). No pension.
By age 70, they have moved ~$300K from Traditional to Roth at 10% effective rate. Their remaining Traditional balance is smaller, making future RMDs much more manageable. Their Roth has grown substantially. They are on track to keep their retirement effective tax rate in single digits for life.
Reminder: not tax advice. The right sequence depends on your state, healthcare situation, pension, and heirs. Hire a CPA or fee-only planner to build the full multi-decade model.
Last updated 2026-04-14. Not legal or tax advice. For anything material, hire a CPA.