The numbers speak for themselves. Just over half of the 78 million baby boomers will retire in the next 10 years. As a result, the amount of retiree assets that will be converted to retirement income is expected to reach $13.7 trillion in 2015. Eighty percent of these soon-to-be retirees don't have a written retirement income plan—but 50 percent say they'll work with a financial professional to develop one.

All those figures add up to big opportunities for financial professionals—and potentially, big challenges as well. After all, there's no one-size-fits-all approach to retirement income planning. Every retiree's situation is different. And evaluating which strategy is right for each individual can be complex and time-consuming.

That's why it's important for financial professionals to carefully evaluate retirement income planning methods. A new white paper from The Principal, Income Distribution: Comparing a Bucket Strategy and a Systematic Withdrawal Strategy, evaluates two of the top strategies: