What factors should one consider when deciding between SEPP and a Roth Ladder/Pipeline for accessing tax advantaged accounts during early retirement years?
Thus far, all I have seen is that SEPP is more rigid and a Roth Ladder is more flexible but takes more effort (requiring more upfront money to be available and requiring regular movement of funds to keep the pipeline full). It also feels like a SEPP-based approach is more insulated from future changes in tax laws, though I'm not sure how much of an emphasis to place on this.
Let me follow that with a specific question: does starting to take SEPP mean that you can never perform any kind of roll-over or otherwise touch the money from the account (until you are 59.5 and 5 years has passed since starting SEPP)? Or is there still some amount of rollover available?
Finally, if you have multiple accounts (from multiple jobs) that have not been combined together, would it ever make sense to do a split approach and take SEPP from one account while using a Roth Ladder in the other account to fund the rest of your needs? This would theoretically lower the amount of withdrawable money needed to fund the first 5 years, since you would be receiving SEPP along the way...
Thoughts?