Retirement Starts Today

4 tactics for retiring during a bear market is the main topic of today. Christine Benz at Morningstar wrote about a survey on retirement confidence - and gives us a list of ways to tackle the situation. We also have a listener who is using Benz's bucket strategy - and wonders when to refill the cash bucket? And in Retire To Something, we'll meet Jeff who works every Braves home game helping fans w...

If you're simply asking the question about what correct withdrawal rate for your retirement is - you're likely not the type of person who is going to run out of money. That's the message shared by Jordan Grumet of The Purpose Code. He says "The simple act of asking, "Should I spend 3.2%, 4%, or 5%?" reveals something telling: You've done the work. You've built the nest egg. You understand the mech...

Good news! A lot of IRA mistakes can be fixed - according to a Wall Street Journal article, which we cover in our headline segment. In our Listener Question segment, Tom is leaving his corporate job next year - when he turns 55 - and wants to use the Rule of 55 to take money out of his 401(k) without the 10% penalty. And we wrap it up with motivation in our "Retire To Something" segment.   Resourc...

A special recording from Andy Panko for his Retirement Planning Education Podcast: We discuss how the financial industry is evolving, the common struggles of "super savers" in retirement, and the importance of aligning financial decisions with life goals, not just spreadsheets.  We talk about the role of Monte Carlo simulations, the importance of flexibility in financial plans, and the evolving ro...

Employee benefits are one of the most overlooked aspects of financial planning. We often check a few boxes during open enrollment and move on—but are we truly maximizing what's available to us?  This week, we sit down with Joe Saul-Sehy, host of Stacking Benjamins, to uncover the hidden value in workplace benefits. From disability insurance pitfalls to term vs. whole life insurance, Joe walks us t...

Did you receive a windfall late in the year and then get penalized for not paying estimated taxes on it earlier? It doesn't seem fair, but the IRS might levy a penalty for that. There is a way to fix it - and similarly for RMDs you might take out in December too. That's the main focus on today's Retirement Headline - and it fits in nicely with our Listener Question as well. Resources: Article by J...

A Barron's piece from Jonathan Shenkman shares 6 reasons to think twice before you convert a Roth IRA. I agree with some of them - but strongly disagree with others because they apply to Super Savers - listeners of this show - differently. We will go through all six with my additions for a Super Saver like you. Then we answer a listener question from a 62 year old who is about to retire and wants...

Christine Benz got a text from a friend the other day. A mutual friend from college was retiring because he'd "hit his number in the stock market". Most people would read that and think, good for him. Benz says all her alarm bells went off. Not out of envy. In her experience, "I hit my number" is usually a sign that the plan behind it isn't much of a plan. Today we discuss two different ways Chris...

The term "Sandwich Generation" has been around since the 80s. You're the one in the middle - with aging parents on one side and dependent kids on the other. Dan Haylett shared an article he calls The "Open Sandwich" Generation, which is after your parents pass away. We will discuss Dan's article on what happens when the slices come off. In our Listener Question segment, I'm asked "How do you do es...

The 2025 Milliman Long-Term Care Index put a number on long-term care: $135,000, the lump-sum amount an average 65-year-old would need to set aside today to cover the expected lifetime cost of long-term care. But there are some details you need to know that make up that number. About half of those who need paid long-term care only do so for less than a year (averaging $30,000 in total cost). The o...

A Corebridge Financial's decumulation study found 70% of American retirees say it's "very important" that their nest egg doesn't shrink in retirement. Another result found 38% say they've spent less than they wanted to-  but not because the money isn't there. They spent less specifically to keep the balance from going down. We go over more results from the study and what they mean in today's episo...

A rule changed on January first that takes the tax deduction away from catch-up contributions for a lot of people who are still working. We'll run through all the 2026 numbers and talk about whether it's still worth doing. In our Listener Question segment, a fellow in Connecticut is worried that the low-income window he's been counting on for Roth conversions may never show up, because his wife is...

Chris Heye makes the case in a Journal of Financial Planning article that the two retirement risks we obsess over might not be the two most likely to derail us. There are four risks in play, and the two nobody models are the ones quietly doing the most damage: Longevity Risk Market Risk Health Risk Decision Risk I go into depth on those last two. In our Listener Question, a 69-year-old retired eng...

Inflation again? Christine Benz over at Morningstar has three questions that tell you exactly how exposed you are - and how much retirees worry about inflation. Then, a listener question from someone one year into retirement who says their pension check feels like it just shrank ten percent - and what they might do to remedy that.  And in our Retire To Something segment, Linda from Ontario, Canada...

If you've been anywhere close to a retirement podcast over the last 10-20 years, you've heard of the 4% rule. And like many people, you might have questions about it. We're going to hear about it directly from the horse's mouth as we talk to Bill Bengen, who first articulated the 4% withdrawal rate as a rule of thumb for withdrawal rates from retirement accounts. The 4% rule is not a rigid rule bu...

Fritz Gilbert says the adage that "Retirement is a marathon, not a sprint" is backwards. He cites an average age where health starts to decline is 64, so sprinting in those first few years when the average retiree is 61-63 makes sense. We will dig into that idea, then follow it up with a listener who can't get her husband to think about anything but saving money.   Resource: Article by Fritz Gilbe...

The fear of running out of money in retirement turns out to be mostly backwards. For super-savers, the data says the opposite usually happens. A piece from Danielle Labotka at Morningstar makes the case that for a lot of retirees: Being too cautious with your spending is actually the bigger risk.  In our listener question segment: Anonymous wants to give money to her kids with warm hands, not cold...

Every year, thousands of retirees pay an extra penalty to the IRS — and almost none of them see it coming. What catches them off guard isn't a penalty for owing too much. You can do everything right — claim Social Security at the right age, run picture-perfect Roth conversions, manage your withdrawals down to the dollar — and still get a letter from the IRS charging you extra. I reworked a framewo...

Americans don't feel great about the economy. Consumer Sentiment just hit the lowest reading in roughly 75 years. Ben Carlson over at A Wealth of Common Sense dug into why that might be, and what it means for those of us trying to enjoy a retirement when it always feels like the second shoe is about to drop. In our Listener Question segment, we hear from someone who is sitting on 50x their annual...

There's a decision your surviving spouse is going to make about your IRA, after you're already gone, that can either cut short or stretch out how long your kids get to keep that money growing — and most people don't even realize the choice is being made. We're going to zero in on one option in particular, one that sounds a little crazy on its face: turning down an inheritance on purpose.  In our L...

You've heard it said a hundred times: Spend the money, make the memories, don't die with regret.  However, for certain kinds of retirees, dying as the richest person in the graveyard isn't a tragedy at all. The comfort of simply having the money can be worth more than anything you'd ever buy with it.   Today, we begin with an article, The Many Utilities of Retirement, which talks about RPIG (the R...

If you want to spend more at the beginning of retirement, which withdrawal strategies actually let you do that? This week's Retirement Headline from Amy C. Arnott called "The Best Strategies for Boosting Starting Withdrawal Rates in Retirement" answers that question. For our Listener Question: A listener wrote in wondering whether sequence-of-returns risk really fades away after the first decade o...

Imagine a lifetime spent diligently saving your acorns, only to face a mental roadblock when it's time to enjoy them. Dana Anspach, CFP®, RMA®, and author of "Living Off Your Acorns," shares how this common challenge impacts retirees and introduces the critical "pre-go" phase.  This episode offers a fresh perspective on retirement planning, emphasizing conscious consumption of retirement funds. Ke...

What happens when you reach financial independence by paying off a low interest rate mortgage early? Or being renter instead of buying a home and growing equity? I'll explain why hitting that milestone earns you the right to ignore some of the most stubborn rules in personal finance.  For our Listener Question: A listener wants to know how to think about real estate as part of a retirement portfol...

According to Capital One Shopping - 89% of shoppers have made some kind of impulse buy. More than half have spent more than $100 on a whim, and the average shopper made impulse buys adding up to $282 a month. A classic rule is to wait 24 hours to help curb impulse buys, but on today's show, I'm going to flip that rule on its head and explain why my listeners might actually need the opposite advice...