Safe Withdrawal Rates for Retirement and the Trinity Study

One of the classic studies in the field of financial and retirement planning is the Trinity Study.
How Asset Location Helps Your Investments Flourish

How you invest is the largest determining factor in the level of returns you will see. But what about the “where” of investing?
Why the Dow Doesn’t Work

With Apple’s addition to the Dow (or more properly, the Dow Jones Industrial Average), now is a great opportunity to look at how to think about the Dow, and indices more broadly. Indices are great tools for understanding what is going on in the markets, but you need to understand what to do with those […]
Sequence Risk vs. Investment Risk

A lot has already been written about the sequence of returns risk confronting retirees. But the full implications of sequence risk have not been completely internalized. Retirees become more vulnerable to investment volatility, because as they withdraw from their portfolio they may find themselves locking in investment losses. It’s the opposite effect from dollar cost averaging.
Are market valuations the most important factor for retirement income strategies?

The question remains as to whether historical withdrawal rates provide sufficient insight about what can reasonably be expected to work for more recent retirees.