Many people spend decades focused on building retirement assets.

Far fewer spend enough time planning how those assets will actually be used once retirement begins.

For many Eastman employees, this becomes one of the most important financial transitions they will ever navigate.

After years of accumulation, retirement introduces a completely different challenge:

How do you generate income efficiently while managing taxes, market risk, and long-term sustainability at the same time?

This is where withdrawal strategy becomes critically important.
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Many Eastman employees entering retirement hold substantial balances in pre-tax retirement accounts through their Fidelity 401(k). Others may also have pension income, taxable investment accounts, deferred compensation, or legacy pension assets.

Without coordination, retirement distributions can unintentionally create:

• Higher lifetime taxes
• Larger Medicare premiums
• Accelerated depletion of retirement assets
• Reduced flexibility later in retirement
• Increased Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)
• Higher taxable income during widowhood years
• Unnecessary pressure during market downturns
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The challenge is that retirement income decisions are rarely isolated.

For example:

• Pension income may push retirees into higher tax brackets
• Social Security timing can affect taxation of benefits
• Large IRA balances can increase future RMD exposure
• Roth conversion opportunities may disappear once income rises
• Sequence of withdrawals may materially change portfolio longevity
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Two retirees with similar account balances can experience very different outcomes based simply on how withdrawals are structured over time.

This is why retirement planning is not just about investment returns. It is also about sequencing, timing, and coordination.

A thoughtful withdrawal strategy often evaluates:

• Which accounts should be accessed first
• Whether partial Roth conversions make sense before RMD age
• How pension income affects future tax exposure
• How to smooth taxable income over time
• How to preserve flexibility later in retirement
• When to realize gains versus defer income
• How healthcare costs and Medicare thresholds may be affected
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For Eastman employees nearing retirement, these decisions become especially important because many have accumulated significant pre-tax retirement assets over long careers.

The retirement years immediately before and after leaving Eastman can create some of the most valuable planning opportunities available.

In many cases, the years between retirement and Required Minimum Distributions may offer temporary windows for:

• Roth conversion planning
• Tax bracket management
• Strategic withdrawals
• Portfolio repositioning
• Income smoothing strategies
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Those opportunities often narrow quickly once fixed income sources and mandatory distributions begin.

Small decisions around timing and sequencing may appear minor in the moment, but over a 20- or 30-year retirement, they can materially affect:

• After-tax income
• Portfolio longevity
• Estate value
• Flexibility during market volatility
• Overall retirement confidence
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Retirement is not only about how much money was accumulated.

It is also about how efficiently and intentionally that money is distributed over time.

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TMG and Eastman Chemical Company are not affiliated, nor is TMG representing that Eastman Chemical Company has contracted, nor endorsed TMG to provide advisory services exclusively to current or former Eastman Chemical Company employees.