Today’s resources highlight a single virtue and a collection of investment principles that are underemphasized in our normal discourse, but each of which deserve more attention.

We’ll examine the amount of risk retirees are taking with their asset allocations. I’ll also explore a potentially serious investment risk I hadn’t previously considered.

I share a checklist to help keep your retirement plans on track. We’ll close out with a clarification of rule changes impacting RMDs, student loans, and credit cards.

Let’s dive in….

Messages That Aren’t Heard Enough

Countless books and articles extol virtues like grit, persistence, and never giving up. Each are important factors in accomplishing anything. However, Duke makes the argument that “the opposite of a great virtue is also a great virtue” in her book Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away.

This counterintuitive book is easy to read and thought provoking. I’m only about three quarters of the way through and I already find myself applying concepts with financial planning clients and in thinking about my own life. I highly recommend checking it out.

When putting these “Best of” posts together, I often worry they’re too repetitive. This is particularly true when sharing investment resources.

Robin Powell provides a powerful reminder that reinforcing investing basics is vital to drown out all of the noise that is presented elsewhere in financial media, writing The voice with nothing to sell is the hardest to hear. 

Investment Risk at Retirement

Last week, I wrote about building a portfolio for retirement with the appropriate amount of risk. In researching that blog post, I came across the following two articles that are vital reads for anyone approaching or navigating retirement.

John Rekenthaler asks Have Older Investors Become Too Aggressive?

Jon Luskin writes My Investments Were Too Agressive on the Cusp of Retirement. What Do I Do Now?

Platform Risk

I recently wrote about the many investment risks your portfolio must address.

David Stein warns to Beware of Platform Risk. This is an additional risk you should absolutely be aware of if you invest in alternative assets or you own a small business

Are You Ready?

Christine Benz provides A Retirement Readiness Checklist.

Changing the Rules

Several massive bills passed quickly during the height of COVID, without clarity about how they would be implemented. Several years later, things are still playing out.

If you have an inherited IRA, rules about your RMDs were changed as part of the Secure Act in 2019. But when will this new tax law begin being enforced?

We still don’t know for certain, but we know it won’t be this year. Courtney Fraser Regan and Megan Russell provide an Inherited IRA Update: IRS Waives 2023 Penalties and Delays to 2024.

Broad student loan forgiveness has been struck down in a recent Supreme Court decision. Student loan payments are resuming for many individuals, and the rules that govern income driven repayment plans have changed substantially. 

Ben Henry-Moreland covers this all in great detail. He writes Changes To Student Loan Planning With The New SAVE Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plan.

Legislation that could dramatically change the credit card rewards landscape is likely to be voted on this week as part of the much larger Defense Appropriation Bill. Curtis Arnold and Brooklyn Lowery report Proposed legislation could hit credit card rewards programs.

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[Chris Mamula used principles of traditional retirement planning, combined with creative lifestyle design, to retire from a career as a physical therapist at age 41. After poor experiences with the financial industry early in his professional life, he educated himself on investing and tax planning. After achieving financial independence, Chris began writing about wealth building, DIY investing, financial planning, early retirement, and lifestyle design at Can I Retire Yet? He is also the primary author of the book Choose FI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence. Chris also does financial planning with individuals and couples at Abundo Wealth, a low-cost, advice-only financial planning firm with the mission of making quality financial advice available to populations for whom it was previously inaccessible. Chris has been featured on MarketWatch, Morningstar, U.S. News & World Report, and Business Insider. He has spoken at events including the Bogleheads and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants annual conferences. Blog inquiries can be sent to chris@caniretireyet.com. Financial planning inquiries can be sent to chris@abundowealth.com]

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