Optimize: Lump Sum Source
A big one-time withdrawal — a renovation, a wedding gift, a cruise — can come out of any tax type you hold, and which one you pick changes the tax hit. The Optimizer can search that choice for each event on your Strategy tab.
First read the Optimizer overview. Background: Strategy tab — One-Time Withdrawals.
What this searches
Every One-Time Withdrawal event on your Strategy tab gets its own dimension, labeled Lump Sum Source — {event label} ({event year}), grouped under a Lump Sum Events heading on the Optimizer tab. Each one searches the event’s Draw From setting — the same choice you’d make by hand on the Strategy tab, just priced across the alternatives for you.
Candidates are "My withdrawal allocation" (the default — funds the expense from your normal withdrawal mix) plus every non-medical tax type held across your accounts — typically Taxable, Traditional, and Roth. HSA and VEBA are never offered: they’re medical-only and can’t fund a general expense.
A dimension only appears when the event has a real amount set and at least one eligible account exists. If you’ve zeroed out an event’s amount or removed it from the Strategy tab, its dimension shows a warning explaining the source selection currently has no effect, rather than disappearing silently.
Why it’s worth searching
Which account funds the draw determines its tax treatment: a Traditional source adds ordinary income in that year, a Roth or Taxable source is largely tax-free at the moment of withdrawal. For a large expense, that difference can be real money — and the best source for one event isn’t necessarily the best source for another on the same plan, since each interacts with your bracket, RMDs, and the rest of your withdrawal sequence differently.
Set it up
- Add at least one One-Time Withdrawal on the Strategy tab first — the dimension has nothing to search without one.
- On the Optimizer, add the Lump Sum Source dimension for the event you want to test.
- Choose your objective — After-Tax Legacy is the default and usually the right one; Success Rate is also worth checking if the event is large relative to your portfolio.
- Run it, and compare the candidates.
If your plan has several one-time withdrawals, you can add a Lump Sum Source dimension for each and let the Optimizer search all of them together — a combination that might miss if you tuned each source by hand.
Reading the results
A clean win for one tax type over another is common here — unlike allocation percentage searches, the candidates aren’t close variations of the same plan, so a meaningful gap is more often real than noise. Still, confirm your finalist on the Compare tab before treating it as settled, especially if the event is large or the gap between top candidates is narrow.
RetireRange is for educational and planning purposes only and is not financial, tax, or investment advice. Optimizer rankings are modeled estimates based on your assumptions — not predictions or recommendations. Consult a qualified financial planner for advice specific to your situation. See Limitations.