Where your paycheck comes from
Last updated September 20, 2026
Retirement years only, showing every source of a year's money stacked together — Social Security, pensions, other income, and each account withdrawn from — with the tax you paid drawn over the top.
Read a single bar as one year's answer to where the money came from. We keep the order the same every year, so a bucket growing or vanishing across the chart is the thing worth noticing.
The tax line is what you paid that year, not a rate. It usually climbs when required distributions start, because those force money out of traditional accounts whether you needed it or not.
A bar can be taller than what you spent. A required distribution can withdraw more than the plan needs, and we reinvest the surplus rather than spending it — so this chart's total and your spending are different numbers.