Tod Long publishes retirement income blueprint book

Tod Long, founder of The Income Standard, has released a debut book that frames retirement planning as an engineering problem and pairs case studies with free calculators. The book is now available in paperback, hardcover and Kindle on Amazon as Long pushes a framework for managing income, taxes and longevity risk in retirement.

Why it matters: - The book targets a common retirement gap: many people save for retirement, but struggle to turn those assets into steady income. - The framework is designed to help pre-retirees evaluate risks that can change retirement outcomes by six figures, including taxes, longevity and the timing of Social Security and required minimum distributions. - The release extends The Income Standard's education platform beyond podcasting and online tools into a print product built for do-it-yourself planning.

What happened: - Tod Long announced the publication of his debut book, The Income Standard: How to Engineer Retirement Income You Can't Outlive. - The book is available now in paperback, hardcover and Kindle editions on Amazon. - Long is the founder of The Income Standard and a retirement income architect with more than two decades of experience. - The publication date was Aug. 20, 2026.

The details: - The book argues that accumulation and income distribution are different disciplines, and that many tools built for savers stop working once retirement begins. - The content draws on 16 chapters adapted from two seasons of Long's podcast. - Topics include the guaranteed income floor, sequence-of-returns risk, longevity exposure and tax-timing decisions. - The tax topics include required minimum distributions, Social Security filing age and decumulation sequencing. - Long said the book is the framework he wished someone had given his clients 10 years before retirement. - The cover is designed like a technical engineering blueprint, with a cross-section diagram of the income floor concept and drafting-style title blocks on both the front and back covers. - Each chapter pairs a structural risk with a real case study. - Several chapters include a direct link to a free calculator so readers can run their own numbers. - The book is positioned as a framework for asking better questions of any advisor, rather than a pitch for a single product. - The book is published by Loadstar House. - Amazon pricing is $17.99 for paperback, $24.99 for hardcover and $9.99 for Kindle.

Between the lines: - The blueprint-style branding reinforces the book's central argument that retirement income can be designed systematically, not guessed at. - The case-study and calculator format suggests Long is trying to make the material practical for readers who want to test decisions before making them. - The message also challenges the traditional financial industry emphasis on saving accumulation first and planning income later.

What's next: - Long is likely to use the book to expand The Income Standard's reach through its podcast, free online tools and advisor-facing education. - The company's media and social channels provide a path for ongoing promotion and reader engagement, including more information, Instagram updates, Facebook posts, YouTube videos and X updates.

The bottom line: - Long is selling retirement income as a discipline with rules, risks and engineering logic — not a one-time savings target.