How to Build a Social Security Bridge to Help Manage Sequence Risk
Social Security is a particularly valuable source of reliable retirement income. It functions much like a lifetime inflation-adjusted annuity backed by the federal government, providing income for as long as you live and adjusting benefits over time through cost-of-living increases. For married couples, the claiming decision can also affect the survivor benefit available after the first spouse dies. Unlike […]
The Wrong Way to Decide Whether an Annuity Is Expensive
One of the hardest problems in retirement is not knowing how long your money needs to last, and that uncertainty shapes almost every decision about how much you can safely spend. If you knew with certainty that retirement would last exactly 20 years, the planning would be considerably easier because you could establish a spending […]
What Happens If Congress Does Nothing About Social Security?
If Social Security is part of your retirement plan, the headlines can be unsettling. The program’s trust funds are running down, Congress has not agreed on a solution, and future benefits may eventually be lower than the amounts shown on today’s Social Security statements. That uncertainty can make it tempting to leave Social Security out […]
The Safest Investment May Not Create the Safest Retirement
Most of the decisions we make in retirement planning become easier once you understand why you are making them, but that does not mean they always feel intuitive. Investing is a good example. You spend your working years accumulating savings, often with the understanding that accepting some market risk is necessary to grow your money. […]
The Tradeoffs of Protecting Your Purchasing Power
Every generation has stories about how inexpensive things used to be. A gallon of milk, a tank of gas, a movie ticket, or the first home someone bought decades ago all seem impossibly cheap by today’s standards. A dollar simply does not buy what it used to. That may seem like little more than an […]
Your Age Is an Imperfect Guide to Investment Risk
A restaurant can be packed every night and still struggle financially. Knowing how much revenue comes through the door tells you something, but not nearly enough. You also need to know what it costs to operate and what obligations must be paid. Retirement portfolios deserve the same treatment. An account balance, or the age of […]
What Investors Should Know About IPOs
A successful restaurant rarely opens its doors on the first day with every table filled and every reservation booked for the next six months. Even the best restaurants spend years refining their menu, building a reputation, and proving they deserve a loyal customer base. Investors, however, often expect newly public companies to justify valuations that […]
The Real Cost of a Roth Conversion
Few retirement planning topics generate more debate than Roth conversions. Some view them as one of the most powerful tax planning opportunities available. Others argue they’re frequently oversold, causing retirees to pay taxes years before they need to. Both perspectives have merit, but the problem is that they often focus on the wrong question. Many conversations begin by […]
Should Your Retirement Spending Rise and Fall with the Market?
Most retirement income strategies assume spending will remain relatively stable over time. You retire, determine a sustainable withdrawal amount, and then spend roughly that amount for the rest of your life, perhaps adjusting for inflation along the way. That assumption is so common that it often goes unquestioned. Yet there are retirement income strategies built on a very different idea. Rather than trying […]
The Biggest Inflation Mistake Retirees Make
Stocks are often described as one of the best long-term hedges against inflation. While that statement is generally correct, it can contribute to more retirement planning mistakes than most people realize. The issue is not that stocks fail to outpace inflation over long periods, but that many retirement plans often assume inflation has been addressed simply […]
