Bucket Strategy Calculator

Bucket Strategy — Plan Your Retirement Withdrawals
A simple, interactive planning tool for a three-bucket retirement withdrawal strategy. Adjust every assumption with sliders and instantly see how your money might behave over time — how it grows, how withdrawals draw it down, how rebalancing tops it back up, and how taxes chip away at each move.
How the Three Buckets Work

Bucket 1 (Income) — your near-term spending money. This is what you draw your monthly withdrawal from.
Bucket 2 (Short Term) — a moderate-growth cushion that periodically tops up Bucket 1.
Bucket 3 (Long Term) — your highest-growth bucket, periodically topping up Bucket 2.

What You Can Adjust

Starting Amounts — set how much goes into each bucket at the start.
Annual Return % — set an assumed yearly growth rate for each bucket independently (e.g. a lower rate for Bucket 1, higher for Bucket 3), so you can explore different market assumptions.
Monthly Withdrawal — how much you plan to draw from Bucket 1 every month.
Rebalancing % — how much of Bucket 3 moves into Bucket 2, and how much of Bucket 2 moves into Bucket 1, each year — keeping your income bucket topped up automatically.
Tax Rate on Gains — apply a flat tax rate to realized gains on withdrawals and rebalancing transfers.
Time Horizon — plan anywhere from 1 to 30 years out.

What You'll See

A Result Summary showing your starting corpus, projected end value, total withdrawn, and total tax paid.
An interactive chart tracking each bucket's value over your full time horizon.
A year-by-year ledger showing exactly how each bucket moved — withdrawals, rebalancing transfers, and tax — for every year of your plan.

Important note: This app is a planning and education tool only. It uses assumed flat annual returns you control — not real investment data — so results are illustrative, not predictive. Real markets move up and down, not in a smooth line. This app is not financial advice; consult a qualified financial advisor for real investment decisions.