Retirement Income Funding
4 Ways to Manage Sequence of Returns Risk in Retirement
Sequence of returns risk is a major concern for even the most well-prepared retirees, but there are steps you can take to manage it.
Read MoreBuilding A Retirement Income TIPS Ladder
A TIPS ladder can be constructed similarly to a Treasury strips ladder, learn how it’s done here.
Read MoreWhat Would A 30-Year Bond Ladder Cost A Retiree Today?
Building bond ladders for retirement income is an important but understudied topic.
Read MoreWhat’s So Great About Fiduciary Advisors?
Working with a financial advisor requires trust that goes both ways. But can you fully trust them if they’re motivated by commissions and quotas?
Read MoreUsing Target-Date Retirement Income Funds To Guard Against Interest Rate Risk In Retirement
Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) takes a more direct approach to immunizing retirement liabilities through their target-date retirement income funds. These funds provide a useful case study for understanding the role bond funds play in meeting retirement expenses.
Read MoreUsing Reverse Mortgages In A Responsible Retirement Income Plan
Though reverse mortgages have long held a bad reputation, research and public policy in recent years are shedding new light on their potential uses in retirement.
Read MoreWhat Are Annuities?
Annuities are like power tools. In the right hands, they can help you considerably, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, you could cut your fingers off.
Read MoreDo You Understand How Bonds Work?
Before we can discuss bonds in depth, it is important that we establish a common understanding of what bonds are and how they work. As a starting point, a bond is a contractual obligation to make a series of specific payments on specific dates.
Read More3 Ways To Incorporate Bonds Into Your Retirement Strategy
Bonds can be incorporated directly into a retirement strategy in three broad ways:
1. An assets-only approach to build a total returns investment portfolio,
2. Matching the duration of bond funds to the duration of the retirement liability, and
3. Holding individual bonds to maturity to generate the desired cash flows to fund expenses on an ongoing basis throughout retirement.
Dynamic Programming Methods For Retirement Income
In addition to other methods we’ve discussed, a third type of variable spending model uses dynamic programming methods. These methods rely on complex computing power and mathematical equations to integrate spending and asset allocation decisions more completely over the life cycle.
Dynamic programming provides a road map at each point in time for optimal spending and asset allocation, which have been determined by first considering optimal future behavior stemming from today’s decisions.
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