How Are You Different From The Average Investor?
Deciding on your asset allocation is one of the most important investing decisions that you will make. The asset classes that you decide to include in your portfolio will determine what you can get out of your portfolio, and your investment experience. As you would expect, there are a lot of people who want to give you a lot of advice about what the “right” allocation is. But almost none of it is good advice. Most people are focused on tactics, or what they think will work in the moment – not what will work in the long run.
Ratcheting Up Retirement Spending
In 2015, Michael Kitces proposed a ratcheting rule for retirement spending that shared the basic framework of constant inflation-adjusted spending while still allowing spending to increase if the portfolio performs well in retirement. As with many of these rules, the ratcheting rule could be implemented in numerous ways.
A Simple Way To Keep Your Portfolio In Line
Investing isn’t simply picking the best funds or building your perfect portfolio. Keeping your portfolio in line over the long term is just as important (if not more so).
Floor And Ceiling Retirement Spending, With A Twist
In a 2013 article, a Vanguard research team headed by Colleen Jaconetti developed an alternative form of the floor-and-ceiling spending rule that relies on percentages rather than hard dollar amounts.
A Terrible Way To Protect A Retiree From Inflation
People seem to think commodities (especially gold) are suitable guards against inflation. I want to explain why that’s not true, and tell you about some of the much better tools available.
I want to explain why that’s not true – at least over any useful time frame – and then tell you about some of the much better tools available.
A Brief History of Social Security
Recipients of Social Security benefits today are not just retirees – they’re disabled workers, spouses and young children of deceased or disabled workers, and the spouses and survivors of retirees. This was not always the case.
Annuity Pricing Sensitivity
With all of my discussions of annuities lately, it is worthwhile to also consider the sensitivity of annuity pricing to interest rates, gender and age-related mortality factors. Relationship Between Payout Rates and Interest Rates Figure 1 estimates the relationship between annuity payout rates and interest rates for 65-year old males, females, and opposite-gender couples with […]
The Value of Financial Advice
I am often asked whether it is worth the cost to hire a financial advisor. After all, they charge you money to make you money. People say they can listen to the news and know where and how to invest, so, “Wouldn’t I be better off just keeping that fee for myself?” That is an excellent question with an answer that depends on many factors.
