The Retirement Sustainability Index™ (RSI™) is a structured evaluation process designed to assess whether your financial resources can realistically support your lifestyle over time.

After organizing your financial position and exploring potential scenarios, this stage focuses on one central question:

Will what you have actually last—and perform the way you expect it to?

RSI™ evaluates your financial position in practical, real-world terms.

This includes:

• The resources you have accumulated
• Your investment portfolio
• Your income sources (such as Social Security or pensions)
• And how those resources will be used to support your lifestyle

At its core, retirement sustainability is governed by one fundamental relationship:

 Portfolio earning capacity versus withdrawal demand

If your portfolio can support your withdrawals over time, sustainability may be maintained.

If withdrawals consistently exceed what your portfolio can reasonably produce—especially during periods of volatility—pressure builds, and long-term outcomes may be affected

Rather than relying on averages or assumptions, RSI™ evaluates how your financial structure may perform under different real-world conditions.

This includes:

• Flat or low-return environments
• Growth periods
• Market declines and volatility
• Different withdrawal strategies over time

For example, a portfolio withdrawing 5% annually may appear sustainable on average—but if early market declines occur, that same withdrawal strategy can significantly reduce how long those resources last.

This is known as sequence-of-returns risk, and it plays a major role in retirement outcomes.

Retirement is not a short-term event.

It may last 25, 30, or even 35 years.

Over longer time horizons:

• The effects of volatility compound
• Inflation reduces purchasing power
• Withdrawal pressure increases
• Small assumptions can create large differences in outcomes

RSI™ evaluates sustainability across decades—not just short-term expectations.

At this stage, financial planning moves beyond theory.

RSI™ helps answer practical questions such as:

• How long are your resources expected to last?
• How sensitive is your plan to market changes?
• Is your withdrawal strategy sustainable?
• Are your income sources sufficient to support your needs?

 This is where assumptions are replaced with informed expectations.

A strategy may appear mathematically sound.

However, if it does not align with your comfort level during periods of market stress, real-world decisions can undermine long-term results.

 A sustainable strategy must be both:

• Structurally sound
• Behaviorally manageable

Many financial strategies appear reasonable on paper.

However, when evaluated under real-world conditions, the outcome may look very different.

RSI™ helps identify:

• Whether your structure is sustainable
• Where potential weaknesses may exist
• What adjustments may improve long-term outcomes

Once your financial structure has been evaluated through RSI™, the next step is to validate its strength and resilience using a defined framework.

Continue to the 4 Retirement Tests™

Every situation is different. Sometimes a simple conversation can help bring clarity to the next step.

The Retirement Sustainability Index™ (RSI™) is a proprietary analytical framework developed by Ametrine Wealth Strategies, LLC.

All projections, return assumptions, and modeling outputs referenced in connection with RSI™ are hypothetical in nature and do not reflect actual investment results or guarantees of future performance.

Investment strategies involve risk, including possible loss of principal.

Financial planning strategies should be developed and finalized in coordination with a qualified financial professional who understands your specific financial situation.

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