The Income Standard

You have a portfolio.
But do you have
an income floor?

Most pre-retirees arrive at retirement with assets and no income architecture. That gap is structural — and it's costing you every month you don't close it.

Three questions. Answer honestly.

Do you know exactly how much of your monthly retirement income is contractually guaranteed — versus dependent on your portfolio not dropping?
Have you stress-tested your income against a 30% market drop in year one of retirement — with a written plan for what you'd do?
Has anyone modeled your RMD exposure at 73 and shown you the tax impact on your Social Security and Medicare premiums?

If any answer is "no" or "I'm not sure" — you have a structural gap. That's what we measure.

Find My Income Gap — Free Listen to the Podcast

The Problem Nobody Names

Your advisor said you're fine.
Why doesn't it feel that way?

"Fine" is a probability. Monte Carlo says there's a 92% chance your portfolio survives 30 years. What it doesn't say is what happens in the 8% — or what you do the year you retire and the market drops 30%.

A withdrawal strategy and an income architecture are not the same thing. One depends on your portfolio cooperating. The other is guaranteed by contract. Most people arrive at retirement with one when they need the other.

See What My Architecture Looks Like

"My advisor says I have enough. But I still feel like something could go wrong."

That feeling is not anxiety. It's your brain correctly identifying that probability is not the same as a guarantee.

"I don't know exactly what I'd spend each month in retirement."

You can't engineer an income floor without knowing what it needs to cover. This is where most plans quietly break down.

"I'm worried about a market crash right after I retire."

Sequence of returns risk is real, measurable, and has a structural solution. Most advisors never show you the model.

"I haven't really thought about what happens if I live to 95."

For a married couple both 65, there's a 50% chance one of you does. Longevity is a design problem — not a probability problem.

What The Gap Actually Costs

Three real scenarios.
Same starting balance. Different outcomes.

This is what the math looks like when sequence goes wrong and there's no income architecture to absorb it.

Scenario A — No Floor

The Withdrawal Strategy

$1.2M portfolio. $54,000/year needed. Market drops 34% in year two. Investor sells assets at the bottom to cover expenses — permanently locking in losses at the worst possible moment.

Portfolio eventually recovers — but those early forced withdrawals permanently impair it. At 85, this investor has $340K less than the one who had a floor.

Scenario B — Partial Floor

The Mixed Architecture

Same $1.2M. Social Security covers 60% of non-negotiable expenses. The remaining 40% still comes from the portfolio. Same market drop. Investor still sells — just less of it.

Better than Scenario A — but the partial dependency still creates sequence damage. The floor is not closed. The risk is reduced, not eliminated.

Scenario C — Closed Floor

The Income Architecture

Same $1.2M. Social Security plus a FIA with income rider closes the non-negotiable floor completely. Market drops 34%. Investor sells nothing — because the floor doesn't come from the portfolio.

Portfolio recovers fully because it was never touched during the downturn. At 85, this investor has $340K more — plus a guaranteed income floor that never stopped paying.

Is This For You?

The Income Standard Review is built for one kind of person.

✓
Ages 55–70 with $500K–$5M in assetsYou're in the window where income architecture decisions have the most leverage — and the most risk if you get them wrong.
✓
Within 10 years of retirementThe sequence-of-returns window opens at retirement. The RMD window closes at 73. Both require decisions before the date arrives — not after.
✓
You have a plan that hasn't been stress-testedYou've done the work. You want to know whether what you've built actually holds — not whether it's "probably fine."
✓
You're ready to act on what you findNot gathering information. Not building a research library. If the review shows a structural gap, you want to close it. That's who this is built for.
Schedule the Review — No Cost

45–60 minutes. Phone or video. No financial statements required upfront.

Not ready to act yet? The podcast is the right starting point. Every episode takes one structural risk in your retirement income plan and shows you — with real numbers — what it costs and what closes it. Start there. Come back when you're ready.

Latest Episode

Start with the problem that's costing you the most.

Each episode takes one structural risk in your retirement income plan and shows you — with real numbers — what it costs and what closes it.

Episode 01 · Season 1

The Retirement Trap Nobody Talks About

You've spent 30 years building a portfolio. The tools, the math, and the risks that apply to the next 30 years are completely different — and nobody told you when to switch. This is where most retirement income plans start failing.

Player — coming soon

6:4222:18
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Tod Long, host of The Income Standard
22
Years in practice
32
States licensed
1
Standard

About Tod Long

Twenty-two years watching what happens when the plan doesn't hold.

Most financial professionals specialize in growing money. Tod Long spent 22 years specializing in what happens after — when the portfolio stops growing and the income has to start. He's watched people arrive at retirement with real wealth and discover they had no income structure underneath it.

"The question isn't whether you have enough. The question is whether what you've built can hold — by contract — regardless of what the market does the year you retire."

Licensed across 32 states, specializing exclusively in FIA, FA, and IUL. No AUM fees. No securities products. One focus: building income that doesn't depend on probability.

Read Tod's Story

One Conversation. One Measurement.

If you answered "no" to any of those three questions — you have a gap. Let's find it.

The Income Standard Review takes 45–60 minutes. At the end, you'll know exactly whether your income architecture meets the standard — and if not, what it takes to get there.

No cost. No pitch. No product unless the review identifies a structural gap that a product specifically closes.

Schedule My Income Standard Review
This review is for pre-retirees ready to act on what they find — not gather more information. If you're still in research mode, start with the podcast. Come back when a gap in your own plan is the reason you're here.