Your retirement income,
mapped for the next 15+ years.
Powered by Advanced Time Segmentation™ (ATS™) — a Cetera-exclusive strategy designed to match your assets to your income needs, helping you see where your income is intended to come from and when.
Traditional planning wasn’t built for the distribution years.
For decades you saved, invested, and built wealth. But the strategy that got you to retirement isn’t the same strategy that gets you through it. The moment you stop earning and start withdrawing, three risks compound — and most portfolios aren’t designed to handle any of them.
Sequence of Returns
A bad market in the first years of retirement can devastate a 30-year plan — even if long-term average returns are positive.
Longevity
People are living into their 90s and beyond. Outliving your money is a real possibility without a structured distribution plan.
Inflation
A fixed income today buys progressively less tomorrow. A retirement plan without inflation adjustment slowly erodes purchasing power.
Advanced Time Segmentation™
ATS™ takes investment principles that were once reserved for the ultra-wealthy and makes them accessible to you. At its core, we seek to match your assets to your income liabilities — laying out a strategy designed to create inflation-adjusted income and manage risk by giving your long-term investments time to potentially grow untouched.
Instead of treating your entire portfolio as one pool subject to market swings, ATS™ separates your assets into distinct time segments, each with its own purpose and time horizon. The result: a retirement income roadmap designed to cover at least 15 years, so you can see where your income is intended to come from and when.
Coordinated segments. One unified plan.
At its core, ATS™ divides your assets into three time-based segments — each with its own job, time horizon, and investment approach. Two optional segments can be layered in when they fit: a Lifetime Income foundation and a supplemental Income & Growth segment for long-term wealth.
Three core segments. Two optional layers.
Every ATS™ plan is built on three core segments. Two additional segments — a foundational Lifetime Income layer and a long-term Income & Growth supplement — can be added when they fit your situation.
Immediate Income
Short-term assets matched to your short-term income needs. This segment funds your day-to-day retirement lifestyle — groceries, travel, healthcare — while the rest of your portfolio stays invested for growth.
- Conservative, income-generating investments
- Designed to be spent down over 5–7 years
- Helps address sequence-of-returns risk
- Designed to give your other segments time to grow
Future Income
Mid-term assets designed to bridge the gap between today’s income and tomorrow’s growth. As Segment 1 is spent down, this segment is intended to replenish it — aiming to provide a continuous, inflation-adjusted income stream.
- Balanced allocation for stability and growth
- Bridges immediate income and long-term growth
- Adjusts for inflation over time
- Provides flexibility if life changes
Long-Term Growth
Long-term assets designed to grow untouched over the years ahead. Because the first two segments are structured to cover your near- and mid-term income, this segment can stay fully invested — giving your money time to potentially compound and help fund later retirement, healthcare, or legacy goals.
- Growth-oriented, long-horizon investments
- Designed to grow untouched for 15+ years
- Intended to help fund later retirement or legacy goals
- Designed to weather short-term market volatility
Lifetime Income
For clients who want a guaranteed baseline of income for life — regardless of what markets do — this segment provides a floor. Typically funded through a fixed annuity, it’s designed to cover essential expenses no matter how long you live.
- Guaranteed income for life (backed by insurance carrier)
- Best for conservative investors or those with long life expectancy
- Runs alongside the three core segments as a foundation
- Guarantees subject to the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company
Income & Growth
A long-term segment with immediate flexibility — dividends and distributions can supplement your income from day one, while the principal stays invested for long-term growth. You have the option to draw income when you need it, without touching principal.
- Supplemental income available immediately (from dividends and distributions)
- Principal stays invested for long-term growth
- May include alternative investments (non-traded REITs, etc.)
- Alternative investments carry unique risks and reduced liquidity
The confidence to enjoy every year.
A well-built ATS™ plan is designed to give you the same confidence in your 80s that you have in your 60s.
Because the strategy is coordinated across every segment, you can see where each dollar is designed to come from — and when. That clarity is intended to help replace the anxiety of watching a single portfolio balance rise and fall with the markets.
The goal: a retirement spent living the life you saved for — not worrying about whether the plan is still working. That’s the point of ATS™. Not just a spreadsheet — but a framework designed to help you enjoy what you built.
Confidence, not guesswork.
Protection from bad timing
By separating short-term income from long-term investments, ATS™ helps insulate you from sequence-of-returns risk — the danger of a market downturn early in retirement derailing your entire plan.
A 15+ year roadmap
Your plan is designed to show where your income is intended to come from for at least the next 15 years — not just next month. That clarity is intended to help replace the anxiety of watching a single portfolio balance rise and fall.
Inflation-adjusted by design
Segments 2 and 3 are structured to grow, so your income can keep pace with rising costs over decades — not just meet today’s expenses.
Flexibility when life changes
An unexpected expense, a shift in goals, a windfall — because each segment has a defined purpose, your plan can adapt without upending everything else.
Built on academic research
Time segmentation draws on decades of academic work on retirement income sustainability. It’s not a trend — it’s a strategy tested against real market history.
A plan you can actually explain
Every ATS™ plan is designed to be simple enough to understand at a glance — so you feel in control of your retirement, not dependent on your advisor to interpret it.
Not every advisor can do this.
Advanced Time Segmentation™ is a strategy exclusive to Cetera Financial Group’s network of advisors. It’s not something you’ll find at your local bank branch or big-box brokerage — and it’s not the same as generic “bucket” approaches.
At Crescent Capital Planning, ATS™ is central to how we serve professionals nearing retirement or already retired. It’s not a product we sell — it’s the framework we use to help align the wealth you built with the life you want.
And because we’re a boutique, fee-based fiduciary firm, you work directly with your advisor throughout — not a call center, not a rotating cast of associates. Your ATS™ plan is built for you, adjusted with you, and reviewed by you.
See what your ATS™ roadmap looks like.
A 30-minute initial conversation, no obligation — just an honest look at where you are, what your retirement looks like, and how a time-segmented plan might change what’s possible.
Schedule a Conversation