Category Archives for Retirement Income

Optimizing your Retirement Income

Income Optimization strategies

The Current Retiree Dilemma

If we plot these 2 risks on a matrix then we would say there are 4 potential outcomes: 1) High market returns with high longevity (awesome), 2) High market returns with low longevity (bummer), 3) Low market returns with low longevity (rats) and lastly, 4) Low market returns with high longevity (uh oh).

Investing for Retirement Income Part 3:

Total-Return Investing for Solid Construction As we’ve discussed in the first two parts of this three-part series, we do not recommend turning to dividend-yielding stocks or high-yield (“junk”) bonds to buttress your retirement income, even in low-yield environments. So what do we recommend? Today we’ll answer that question by describing total-return investing. Part III: Total-Return […]

Investing for Retirement Income Part 2:

High-Yield Bonds – Sticks and Stones Can Break You In Part I of our three-part series on investing for retirement income in low-rate environments, we explained why we don’t advise bulking up on dividend-yielding stocks as a reliable way to generate retirement cash flow. Like the Three Little Pigs’ straw house, dividend-yielding stocks can disappoint […]

Investing for Retirement Income Part 1:

Dividend-Yielding Stocks – A Straw Strategy If ever there were an appropriate analogy for how to invest for retirement, it would be the classic fable of The Three Little Pigs. As you may recall, those three little pigs tried three different structures to protect against the Big Bad Wolf. Similarly, there are at least three […]

Managing Risk in an Increasingly Volatile and Expensive Marketplace

With high equity and fixed income valuations and low corporate earnings expectations combined with rising interest rate forecasts; relying on financial markets to deliver historical average returns increases the risk that clients will not be able to achieve their financial goals.

Before You Buy that Annuity…

With all of the attention given to financial markets, it’s no surprise that one would want to escape the noise and settle for a “guaranteed withdrawal” or a “minimum return”.

Social Security Planning: Don’t Leave Money on the Table

Social Security is one of the most popular programs the federal government has ever put into place. In total, about 57 million Americans received retirement, disability, or survivors’ benefits during 2012 at a cost of about $786 billion. Social Security retirement benefits were received by nine of 10 people age 65 or older during 2012 […]

Retirement Income and the Maginot Line

As you transition from saving for retirement to taking retirement income most people recognize they need to modify their balance sheet (see Winchester Mystery House) and their investment strategy. Today’s retiree faces a more challenging task of meeting longer time horizons, increasing health care costs, and less predictable retirement income. With a blitzkrieg of new challenges, addressing risk through a tolerance questionnaire and by simply adjusting your equity weighting accordingly could become your Maginot Line.