Retirement Income Flexibility
Two Philosophies for Retirement Income Planning Part Two: Safety-First School
This article is part of a series; click here to read Part 1. The safety-first school of thought was originally derived from academic models of how people allocate their resources over a lifetime to maximize lifetime satisfaction. Academics have studied these models since the 1920s to figure out how rational people make optimal decisions. In…
Read MoreTwo Philosophies for Retirement Income Planning Part One: Probability-Based
Within the world of retirement income planning, the siloed nature of financial services between investments and insurance leads to two opposing philosophies about how to build a retirement plan. There is an old saying that if the only tool you have is a hammer, then everything starts to look like a nail. This tendency is…
Read MoreThe Retirement Researcher Manifesto – Part Two
This article is part of a series; click here to read part One. Let’s continue to review the last 3 guidelines in the manifesto for my approach to retirement income planning. Approach retirement income tools with an agnostic view The financial services profession is generally divided between two camps: those focusing on investment solutions and…
Read MoreThe Retirement Researcher Manifesto – Part One
As I have attempted to summarize the key messages and themes that have underscored my writing and research, I find that the following eight guidelines serve as a manifesto for my approach to retirement income planning. It is helpful to start with these guidelines because I will ultimately talk about how to implement these guidelines…
Read MoreOverview Of Retirement Income Planning – Part Two
This article is a part of a series; click here to read Part One. With investment solutions, a more comfortable lifestyle may be maintained for those willing to invest aggressively in the hope of subsequently earning higher market returns to support a higher income rate. Should decent market returns materialize and sufficiently outpace inflation, investment…
Read MoreOverview Of Retirement Income Planning – Part One
Strong disagreements exist about how to position a retiree’s assets to best meet retirement goals. Two fundamentally different philosophies for retirement income planning—which I call probability-based and safety-first—diverge on the critical issue of where a retirement plan is best served: in the risk/reward trade-offs of a diversified and aggressive investment portfolio, or in the contractual…
Read MoreStrategies To Consider When Building An Effective Retirement Income Plan
The challenge in building an effective retirement income plan is to use available income tools and tactics in a strategic manner to meet the financial goals of retirement while also managing the risks confronting those goals. The financial goals of retirement include sustainably meeting a lifestyle spending goal for as long as one lives, providing…
Read MoreHandle with CARE: 5 Years Before Retirement
Rather than developing an exhaustive list of to do’s that may or may not be appropriate for everyone, our approach is to help the client develop a retirement framework for retirement or way of thinking about retirement. We call this the “CARE” retirement framework and it will help you build a foundation for a successful retirement.
Read MoreHow Much Income Do I Need in Retirement?
Most people are focused on saving for retirement so they’ll have the money they need to fund their income in retirement. However, ask most people how much they’re going to spend in retirement and they have no idea. To plan for retirement effectively, you need to have some sense of what your spending needs are actually going to be.
Read MoreWhat Does Your Funded Ratio Score Mean?
By providing your financial objectives and the ways you want to fund them with essential and discretionary expenses, you can create a framework. Your Funded Ratio score will tell you how close your aspirations are to your reality.
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