Individuals tend to retire when the market (and their portfolio balances) are up. However, as today’s article observes, “even though people often retire after periods of strong market returns, that, somewhat counterintuitively, tends to reduce their portfolios’ sustainability rather than enhance it.” This is one of the five retirement-planning blind spots that can catch retirees off-guard that the author details.…
How can retirees best ready themselves for a possible recession? Construct a sound financial plan if you don’t already have one, according to the author of today’s article. And if you already have an appropriate financial plan in place, his advice, “in short, is to do nothing.” Why does he recommend doing nothing in the face of a possible recession?…
If you’ve been extremely diligent and managed to save $1 million for retirement, how can you best make that $1 million last for a 30-year retirement? Today’s article outlines four different strategies (two conservative approaches and two moderate approaches) to do just that, with two of the strategies involving drawing down that $1 million nest egg over 30 years and…
With the market butting up against all-time highs, those who are about to retire may be feeling particularly concerned, given sequence of returns risk and the potentially catastrophic effect of poor returns early on in retirement. For those nervous near-retirees, today’s article may provide some comfort as it outlines what a research team found when it comes to retiring at…
If you want to increase your chances of a financially secure retirement, new research indicates that one way to do so is to be dynamic…with your spending strategy. The study “measured the success rates of various strategies that adjusted withdrawal rates depending on whether your portfolio in any given year is ahead or behind of what your retirement financial plan…
You’ve heard of black swan events (events which are extremely rare and hard to predict but which can have severe consequences), but what about white swan events? As today’s article explains, these events can be just as devastating to financial plans, but, despite the fact that they are more common and foreseeable than black swan events, people spend little time…
While he acknowledges that they are “kind of boring”, when it comes to this retirement investment, the author of today’s article argues that “boring is brilliant.” The investment in question? Target-date funds. He proceeds to outline a number of reasons why investors should embrace these “boring” investment vehicles – and a simple strategy to overcome one of their few shortcomings…
“The benefits of owning a Roth IRA are nothing short of amazing,” declares the author of today’s article, pointing in particular to the fact that money in a Roth IRA grows tax-free and is withdrawn tax-free. Of course, taxes are paid on money converted from a regular IRA to a Roth IRA, but, as the author proceeds to outline, with…
A market downturn can mean very different things for those still early in their investment careers, those approaching retirement, and those in retirement. Those in the first group may be able to shrug off a downturn as there’s still lots of time for their portfolios to recover. In regards to the latter two groups, the author of today’s article notes…
Of the $25 trillion held in U.S. retirement accounts, less than 2% of that amount is invested in alternative assets – and new research suggests that this low allocation to alternatives may be a mistake on the part of those approaching or in retirement as alternatives can reduce risk and enhance returns, thus helping to ensure that retirees don’t run…