Can You Time Risk Premiums?
No one really likes risk. We all have to deal with it, but that doesn’t mean we want to. Yes, there are people who live to jump out of airplanes and walk on tight ropes with no net, but I’m talking about financial risk. Unfortunately, at least in investing, risk and return are tightly intertwined. […]
The Perks Of Being A Flexible Spender In Retirement
William Bengen’s 1994 article introduced the concept of the 4% rule for retirement withdrawals. He defined the sustainable spending rate as the percentage of retirement date assets which can be withdrawn, with this amount adjusted for inflation in subsequent years, such that the retirement portfolio is not depleted for at least thirty years.
Which Are You More Worried About: Running Out Of Money While You’re Alive Or Dying?
As David Blanchett says: failure is really only failure if wealth is depleted while you are still alive, not just over an arbitrarily long time period.
How Much You Should Spend In Retirement Depends On How Long You Think You’ll Live
In regards to my last column, I find it helps to visualize the data, and Exhibit 1 shows the specific spending rates for a variety of asset allocations and retirement lengths. It also shows the withdrawal rates implied by the required minimum distribution (RMD) rates set by the IRS for tax-deferred retirement accounts.
Should You Plan On Your Retirement Lasting 30 Years Or 40?
The 4% rule has a planning horizon of thirty years. But is that a long enough horizon?
Should You Keep International Stocks in Your Portfolio?
There will always be some asset class that does poorly. Over the last few years, one of those asset classes has been international stocks. They have underperformed US stocks each of the previous three years, and it’s looking like they’ll do it again this year. Given this underperformance, we’ve had some people ask why we […]
How Long Can Retirees Expect To Live Once They Hit 65?
Life expectancy is tricky. Average life expectancy at birth is 71 years, but it’s constantly changing depending on your age and myriad other factors.
Three Questions To Evaluate Longevity Risk For Retirees
Longevity risk—the risk of running out of assets before running out of time—is fundamental to retirement. We know about the distribution of longevity for the overall population, but an individual cannot know in advance precisely where he or she will fall in the distribution.
What Type Of Retirement Spender Will You Be?
In August 2015, J.P. Morgan Asset Management released a study about retirement spending by Katherine Roy and Sharon Carson. In analyzing the expenditures for their diverse consumer base, they identified four retirement spending profiles and an additional category of miscellaneous individuals.
What Is Age Banding And What Does It Mean For Retirees?
Another important contribution in the area of retirement spending patterns is Somnath Basu’s 2005 article “Age Banding: A Model for Planning Retirement Needs.” Though it provided a comprehensive retirement planning framework, I want to focus specifically on the findings that covered post-retirement spending patterns.
