The Safe Descent

The Income Standard
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In mountaineering, reaching the summit is only half the objective — statistically, it's the safer half. Most catastrophic accidents happen on the way down, not the climb. Retirement works the same way. Building your savings is the summit. Turning that balance into income you can't outlive — the descent — is where most plans actually break. The Safe Descent is a narrated companion series exploring the frameworks, math, and real listener questions behind The Income Standard, the retirement income education platform hosted by Tod Long, a licensed insurance professional (FIA/FA, Retirement Income Architect) licensed in 30+ states. Each episode pairs with an episode of the flagship show — two hosts unpacking the same material Tod covers in his own voice, at a slower, more exploratory pace, for listeners who'd rather hear an idea talked through than lectured. This is a companion series, not a substitute — you'll always find Tod himself, in his own voice, on The Income Standard. Learn more at theincomestandard.com.

Episodes

  1. 4h ago

    The Sequence Nobody Warned You About

    Two investors retire with the exact same $500,000, withdraw the exact same $30,000 a year, and average the exact same 7% return over twenty years. One ends up with $800,000. The other ends up with $250,000. The only difference between them is the order the returns arrived in. In this episode, Marcus and Dana unpack sequence-of-returns risk — why the timing of a market drop matters more than its size, why real retirees who lived through the dot-com crash and 2008 got permanently hurt even though the market fully recovered, and the structural fix: separating the sequence-exposed portion of a portfolio from the growth portion so a bad first few years can't do lasting damage. This is a companion series exploring ideas from The Income Standard, hosted by Tod Long. Hear Tod himself, in his own voice, on the flagship show — link below. theincomestandard.com

  2. 7h ago

    Why Your Retirement Number Is the Wrong Number

    Two people retire the same week, both with $1.2 million — identical by every traditional metric. But one has guaranteed income covering their bills for life, and the other is entirely dependent on a portfolio that moves every day. Same number. Completely different level of security. In this episode, two AI hosts unpack why "what's your number?" is the wrong question — and why "have I engineered enough guaranteed income?" is the right one. They walk through sequence-of-returns risk, the concept of income flooring, and a real case study: a couple with a $1.4 million portfolio who look completely fine on paper, but are $400 a month short of a fully guaranteed floor — and what closing that gap actually costs. This is a companion series exploring ideas from The Income Standard, hosted by Tod Long. Hear Tod himself, in his own voice, on the flagship show — link below. theincomestandard.com

  3. 14h ago

    The Retirement Trap Nobody Talks About

    In mountaineering, reaching the summit is only half the objective — statistically, it's the safer half. Most catastrophic accidents happen on the descent, not the climb. In this pilot episode, two hosts unpack the core framework from Episode 1 of The Income Standard: why accumulation and distribution are completely different financial disciplines, why the industry is built to help you climb but not to help you get down safely, and the real case study — two savers with identical $1.2M balances — that shows what happens when the market drops 32% six months into retirement, depending on whether your income is a probability or a structure. This is a companion series exploring ideas from The Income Standard, hosted by Tod Long. Hear Tod himself, in his own voice, on the flagship show — link below. theincomestandard.com

  • 3 Episodes

About

In mountaineering, reaching the summit is only half the objective — statistically, it's the safer half. Most catastrophic accidents happen on the way down, not the climb. Retirement works the same way. Building your savings is the summit. Turning that balance into income you can't outlive — the descent — is where most plans actually break. The Safe Descent is a narrated companion series exploring the frameworks, math, and real listener questions behind The Income Standard, the retirement income education platform hosted by Tod Long, a licensed insurance professional (FIA/FA, Retirement Income Architect) licensed in 30+ states. Each episode pairs with an episode of the flagship show — two hosts unpacking the same material Tod covers in his own voice, at a slower, more exploratory pace, for listeners who'd rather hear an idea talked through than lectured. This is a companion series, not a substitute — you'll always find Tod himself, in his own voice, on The Income Standard. Learn more at theincomestandard.com.

Information

  • Creator
    The Income Standard
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    3
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Income Standard