Should I adjust allocations in my $1.3M IRA as I near retirement?

You might think of your portfolio like building a retirement “kitchen.” A 60/40 mix of stocks and bonds is the classic recipe—it’s the meat-and-potatoes of retirement investing. But just like in cooking, the recipe needs to match your ingredients and your taste.

Over the past decade, bonds haven’t really kept pace with inflation. That means your “side dish” might be filling but not nourishing—great for stability, but not necessarily keeping you ahead of rising costs. So if you’re relying on your portfolio for both capital preservation and growth, you may need to spice things up: structured notes, dividend stocks, or fixed annuities might help round out the plate with a blend of risk and reliability.

But here’s the twist—65% of your income is already covered by Social Security, which is like having the pantry mostly stocked. That opens up more planning flexibility than most people have.

So instead of focusing only on the ingredients, this may be the time to think about your kitchen strategy:

• Will Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from that $1.3M IRA someday push you into a higher tax bracket?

• Would some early Roth conversions help you smooth out taxes over time?

• Are you hoping to leave assets behind, or just maximize your spending flexibility later in life?

With the basics covered, it might not just be about portfolio construction—it could be about tax-smart meal prep that saves you money and gives you more choices down the line.