You’ve worked and saved for years, most of a career. Maybe you’re looking at a traditional retirement in your 60’s, or you’re one of the fortunate few who are able to consider earlier retirement. Either way, you’ve amassed a sizable nest egg. Your assets are likely well into seven digits, unless you live very frugally,…
Our cash was running low. It had been a year and a half since I sold significant assets. Last month, when I added up our liquid reserves, they were down to about six months of living expenses. For many a young worker that would be a cushy emergency fund. But for me — an early…
A couple of months ago I published new research here. The topic was retirement withdrawal strategies. I was trying to answer a question that had long puzzled me. It’s one that I hadn’t seen addressed elsewhere: What is the best way to liquidate the asset classes in your retirement portfolio? For example, if you have…
Many retirees will use systematic withdrawals from an investment portfolio for retirement income. I’ve done new research into the best retirement withdrawal strategies. History shows that your success can vary widely using the same portfolio and the same overall withdrawal rate, without changing your investments. It all depends on how you withdraw from different asset…
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds…" —Ralph Waldo Emerson There is a fatal flaw in most simple retirement models and rules of thumb. For example, the famous "4% rule," which states that you can withdraw 4% from a diversified portfolio, adjusted for inflation every year, and expect it to last for a…
Prospective retirees want a simple formula for making the retirement decision. Financial advisors, pundits, and salesmen would love to give it to them. And charge for it. But, sadly, it doesn’t exist. Sure, there are calculations that will shed light on your retirement prospects. You can gather your income, expense, tax, and investment return projections….
Today’s post is written by Jeremy Zuke, one of my financial planning colleagues at Abundo Wealth. Jeremy achieved financial independence in 2022 and left a corporate marketing job to pursue work he is passionate about. A longtime Boglehead and hater of fees, he joined Abundo (with a nudge from me!) to further the mission of…
Today’s guest post is from David, a long time blog reader. He retired early at age 52. In the five years since, he has lived exclusively off of his investments while leading an adventurous lifestyle. David has experimented with gamifying the process of spending to help him overcome mental hurdles to drawing from his portfolio…
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! There was a lot of news on the safe withdrawal rate front this month. We’ll start by exploring the key takeaways you need to know. This month I read two outstanding books documenting different paths to financial independence. I’ll start with a brief review of each. And to…
Todays resources explore a wide variety of topics. We start with a look at how various investments have performed historically during periods of recession and why you should be careful how you utilize that information. We’ll also consider an alternative way to measure investment returns. Resources will help you improve your mental approach to investing…
My initial introduction to the unique benefits of Health Savings Accounts (HSA) came a few years ago. The Mad Fientist published an article titled “HSA – The Ultimate Retirement Account”. After reading his article I filed it away in the back of my mind. To use an HSA, you need to be covered by a…
William Bernstein is a student of financial history. He generously shares investing knowledge through his writing and speaking. Such was the case when he was recently interviewed on Morningstar’s The LongView Podcast, promoting the release of an update of his investing classic The Four Pillars of Investing. This interview packed a lot of wisdom into…
Today’s resources highlight a key advantage early retirees have over traditional retirees, and the financial and psychological factors that often lead super savers who can retire early to end up with more money than they will ever need. I’ll share troubling trends in the insurance and investment markets. Resources reinforce the importance of basic investing…
I’m going to start with a brief update on major events in my personal life and lessons I’ve learned that can help you. Then, I address a few major challenges we all do, or will, face as investors: I close out with an article about changing attitudes and actions around spending money to reflect your…
I was finishing up today’s collection of resources last Friday. News broke of a bank run on, and subsequent rapid failure of, Silicon Valley Bank, one of the twenty largest banks in the country. So I’ll start with a few resources to help explain the current headlines about bank runs as we watch how things…
This month, we start out with reminders on the importance of investing in non-financial resources: physical and mental health and relationships. Financial resources examine massive macroeconomic changes that are occurring, the importance of maintaining humility as an investor, and not living in the past. We’ll also go deep on strategies for creating retirement income. Finally,…
I’m happy to be writing for Can I Retire Yet? again after a two-year sabbatical. I’ll be holding down the first-Monday-of-the-month position this year while Chris continues to fill out the rest of the calendar. It’s good to be back in this familiar place with its thoughtful audience. In the coming months I’m looking forward…
I have an outstanding collection of resources this month. We’ll start with two always popular topics among readers of the blog, shifting from saver to spender and creating retirement income. I have a resource that gives details on new legislation that impacts retirement and education planning. We’ll also look at financial scams and how to…
A reader recently asked the following question about retirement withdrawals: I am approaching 72, and for the life of me I do not know the difference between setting a safe withdrawal rate (SWR) and how that relates to my required minimum distributions (RMD). Perhaps you can write a post someday that will explain the relationship…
What is your effective tax rate? What will your tax rate be in retirement? These are fundamental questions for financial planning. They help determine: Whether you should use tax-deferred or Roth savings accounts during your accumulation period. If you should convert from tax-deferred to Roth accounts early in retirement, and if so, how much you…
Remember the game of Telephone? Players whisper a secret message down the line from one to the next. When the message reaches the end of the line, it’s repeated aloud to the group. And, without fail, it’s been mangled beyond recognition! Retirement planning can be like that. Seemingly small differences in input can compound into…
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