Understanding the Funded Ratio
Everyone wants to know where they stand with their finances – Will I be able to have the retirement I want? Do I have enough? Roughly how far do I have to go? Am I overfunded (believe me, it happens)?
The Essentials Of Bond Laddering For Retirement
Those seeking a do-it-yourself approach to duration matching with bond funds may underestimate the difficulty of the task. Duration-matching is not straightforward when shares of the bond fund must be sold to meet ongoing retirement expenses.
What’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?
Using 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.
Using 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.
What 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.
What Every Retiree Should Know About I Bonds
Any discussion of TIPS requires an additional mention of Series I Savings Bonds. This article will cover the basics of I Bonds.
Which Is Better For Retirement Portfolios: TIPS Or Traditional Treasuries?
Traditional bonds are priced around the objective of getting a return that exceeds expected inflation. If inflation is unexpectedly high, then the real return on nominal bonds is less.
What Do TIPS Tell Us About Future Inflation Rates?
Today, I want to talk about what TIPS can tell us about inflation. Exhibit 1 shows the TIPS yield curve for January 3, 2017. Yields are negative for TIPS maturing prior to 2022, and positive beyond that, although the longest ones do not even reach 1%. The Treasury stopped issuing thirty-year TIPS in the early 2000s and, more recently, eliminated twenty-year TIPS. That is why you see gaps in the yield curve—represented by dashed lines in the exhibit—with no TIPS maturity in 2030-31 and 2033-39.
How Far Should You Trust Market Models?
We use models all the time. We are constantly making decisions based on them – everything from simple heuristics (nachos taste good), all the way up to (and including) quantum mechanics. They’re great tools for helping us understand and make sense of the world. But it’s important to understand their limitations and the dangers of […]
