Retiring

Investing in retirement takes a different approach than investing to build wealth. In retirement, investing for income becomes much more important.

There are many milestones on the way to – and through – retirement.  Starting at age 50 with the opportunity to make additional catch-up contributions to IRAs and

If the 4% withdrawal rule was created with a 65 year old in mind, what happens when you want to retire earlier?  How much would an early retiree have to reduce their withdrawal rate to accommodate a longer retirement?  Research has been done that suggests that you don’t have to reduce the 4% withdrawal rate too dramatically, even for very young retirees.

A convenient truth of a 4% withdrawal rate in this market is that dividends and bond income will come pretty close to covering it. However, once you start withdrawing more than the income the portfolio can predictably produce,  you are relying on growth to fund your spending.

When people speculate about what spending will look like in retirement, they usually come up with some version of the go-go,  slow-go and no-go phases.  They assume spending will stay the same or increase for several years while catching up on the fun missed while working (go-go), that they’ll slow down after that (slow-go), and at some point will reach “no-go”, wher

Clients who want to retire before they are eligible for Medicare (age 65) are often concerned about how they’ll handle health insurance costs.  Dental practice owners are probably used to paying this expense out of pocket already and have a better idea than most how much their coverage will cost, but the reality of paying the premium on their retirement income and realizing that

Clients, around the age of 60, start thinking about whether or not they should continue with their disability insurance.  There is a diminishing return on investment when you consider that a disability policy only pays to a certain age, usually 65.   While each year’s premium buys fewer years of benefits, it's also at a time when disability might be more likely.  

There is ongoing academic research regarding how much money it takes to be happy, or at least satisfied, with one’s financial life.  While the numbers vary, at a certain point, studies show that increases in annual income no longer seem to bring greater happiness.

There are a few factors that should go into answering the question “which account do I withdraw from?”.

As advisors, we’ll think about several factors: 

A common question I hear is “when can I stop working?”  Not that the client necessarily wants to stop working, they just want to know that they can stop.  That