When it comes to retirement versus financial independence, the author of today’s article sees “both as interchangeable, because in essence, in both cases folks are having the financial flexibility to live life to their own terms, not being chained to a desk or a job they may dislike. In both situations, you have the option to leave one endeavor and…
It’s an important decision with potentially major consequences: how much do you take out of your portfolio each year when you retire. Take out too much and you risk running out of money down the line; take out too little and you are foregoing a better retirement lifestyle and experiences. In today’s article, the author runs some hypothetical numbers illustrating…
A critical part of retirement planning is figuring out how much you will need to have accumulated to fund your golden years – and one common approach to calculating this figure is to use a multiple of your ending salary. Fidelity, for example, recommends retirement savers have 10 times their ending salary saved by age 67. And while different entities…
Stress tests aren’t just for banks – they’re useful for retirement plans too! And a comprehensive stress test of your retirement plan involves more than just stress testing your portfolio: the author of today’s article advises that “you should stress test your venue, your retirement and income portfolios, and anticipated leisure pursuits.” For more on carrying out a comprehensive stress…
“Social Security is what it is — and it isn’t what it isn’t,” states the author of today’s article who argues that, while Social Security is an asset, it is not a bond – and thus investors are ill-served by considering Social Security part of their retirement portfolio’s bond allocation. What is Social Security, what isn’t Social Security – and…
“While the market has long periods of high returns, it has even more long period of low returns. Investors have seen entire decades delivering nothing but losses,” notes the author of today’s article – and this reality is critical for retirement planners to be cognizant of, given that financial advisors often use overly optimistic return assumptions when creating retirement plans…
When it comes to determining how much money you need to retire, there is no lack of opinions out there. Today’s article, however, highlights “an elegant solution to the problem” devised by one financial advisor that the author describes as a “divergent thinker”: a simple formula based on the market value of your house. For this formula – and why…
Early retirement only works if you continue to make money in retirement…right? The author of today’s article challenges this belief, arguing that “it IS absolutely possible and in fact very easy, to make a chunk of money last through your lifetime. There is no magic or unusual risk or hope involved, it’s just plain math.” So, once you’ve accumulated a…
“Save as much as possible as early as possible” is a generally accepted principle of retirement saving – and widely viewed as the most important principle. There are, however, exceptions – and today’s article details how “contributing too much to your 401(k) or similar retirement plan too early in the year may be hazardous to your retirement-savings health” and cause…
More people than ever are working side gigs – and a major reason they report doing so is in order to grow their nest eggs. Today’s article acknowledges that side gigs “can offer…more opportunities to save for retirement and even help…make up for lost time” – that is, if approached correctly. What does one retirement savings expert say should be…