The Case for Blended (Instead of Sequential) Drawdown for Early Retirees

BiggerPockets Money Podcast

BiggerPockets

Education, Investing, Business

4.5 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2025

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Are you using the wrong retirement withdrawal strategy? Sequential drawdown—draining one account before touching the next—is the most common approach to early retirement, but it could be costing you tens of thousands in unnecessary taxes. In this episode of the BiggerPockets Money Podcast, hosts Mindy Jensen and Scott Trench sit down with Enrolled Agent Mark to break down tax-efficient withdrawal strategies that maximize your retirement savings. Discover blended drawdown strategies and cyclical drawdown methods that optimize which accounts you tap first—Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, taxable brokerage, HSA—to minimize your lifetime tax burden. This episode covers: Sequential vs. blended vs. cyclical retirement drawdown strategies How to optimize withdrawal order from retirement accounts (401k, IRA, Roth, taxable accounts) Tax-efficient retirement planning for early retirees and FIRE followers How to leverage today's historically low tax rates before they expire Healthcare costs in early retirement (ACA subsidies, Medicare planning) Asset protection and estate planning considerations Roth conversion strategies during low-income years How to avoid costly tax mistakes in the decumulation phase Whether you're planning for financial independence, already retired early, or managing multiple retirement accounts, this tax optimization masterclass will help you keep more of your money and make your nest egg last longer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Most early retirees follow sequential drawdown. Drain one account, then move on to the next.
0:05.3	It's simple, it's popular, and according to today's guests, it might be leaving serious money on the table.
0:10.6	So is there a better way? Should you be thinking about your retirement withdrawals differently?
0:15.5	And what could a smarter strategy actually save you over 30 or 40 years of retirement?
0:20.6	Let's find out.
0:22.0	As a quick disclaimer, this episode features a PowerPoint presentation.
0:25.9	You will be able to follow along on audio, but if you want to see any of the visuals,
0:29.9	head on over to our YouTube channel, which is found at YouTube.com slash bigger pockets money.
0:40.4	Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the bigger pockets money podcast.
0:43.8	My name is Mindy Jensen, and with me as always is my not yet drawing down co-hosts, Scott Chutch.
0:48.8	Thanks, Mindy.
0:49.3	It's great to be here cash flowing to and through early retirement with you here.
0:53.0	That's a reference to the great book
0:54.7	written by Cody Garrett and Sean Mullaney called Tax Planning to and through early retirement.
1:00.2	Mindy, I'm super excited to talk about this today. There's a lot of new and improving work on
1:06.3	how to invest portfolios across different asset classes in different tax advantage retirement
1:13.1	accounts.
1:14.1	There's a lot of discussion about the right order to withdraw in there, and there's a lot of
1:17.9	nuance to this subject.
1:19.7	And Mark listened to the episode with Sean and Cody that we had a few weeks ago and said,
1:25.3	hey, there's a couple of additional considerations I'd like to bring to the table here to discuss this. I'm going to Mark as an accountant and skilled in this topic. And so he put together a presentation for us and we're super excited to hear it. So Mark, thank you so much for responding and providing even more depth on this really important subject. Thanks so much, Scott and Mindy. I'm super excited to be here with you guys and to share what I've got put together. I'm hoping that the listeners find it helpful. So without further ado, let me share my screen and we can take a look at those slides. Just as a quick disclaimer while Mark is bringing up the presentation here, Mark is an enrolled agent in EA. He is a tax expert, but he is not your tax expert. Neither
2:03.1	are Mindy nor I. This episode is for entertainment purposes only and is not tax legal or financial
	...

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