Retirement Investing Across the Career Arc: From First Contribution to Withdrawal Strategy

The decisions that matter most in retirement investing are not made once — they accumulate over a career. How you respond to a job change, a market downturn, a salary increase, a gap in contributions, or the approach of retirement age determines the final outcome as much as the initial plan. This course addresses that full arc, from early career to active distribution. By the end of this course you will be able to adapt your retirement contribution strategy through career transitions, manage the sequence-of-returns risk that matters most in the decade before and after retirement, develop a withdrawal strategy that coordinates Social Security, required distributions, and portfolio drawdown, and build a coherent plan for converting accumulated savings into sustainable retirement income. What you will learn: - How to adjust contribution rates and account types through salary increases, job changes, and career gaps - How to de-risk a retirement portfolio as the target date approaches: the mechanics and timing of a glide path shift - Sequence-of-returns risk: why the order of market returns in early retirement matters more than average returns - How to build a withdrawal strategy that sequences taxable, traditional, and Roth accounts for tax efficiency - How to integrate Social Security claiming decisions with portfolio withdrawal timing - Required Minimum Distribution rules: how they affect account balance management in your 70s - Roth conversion ladders: when converting pre-tax dollars in lower-income years reduces lifetime tax burden - Building a retirement income floor: how to identify guaranteed income sources and size portfolio withdrawals around them The course follows a longitudinal case study tracking one investor from age 25 to age 72, illustrating how retirement planning decisions evolve at each stage. Case study milestones include a job change, a market downturn at 58, and a retirement transition at 65. Reflection prompts and templates for a withdrawal strategy document are included. Designed for adults at any stage who want a long-term framework for retirement investing — not just getting started, but managing the full journey. Suitable for those new to long-horizon thinking about retirement. This course is educational and does not constitute personalized financial, tax, or investment advice.