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Author Ethan Lohr shares how the four buckets retirement income strategy helps retirees behavior-proof their retirement. Many retirees face one similar problem that they struggle to name: the emotiona...
I’ve been trying to wrap my head around how the recent legislation could affect retirement income, especially when it comes to taxes, Medicare premiums, and withdrawals. A few things I keep coming bac...
Choosing the best way to withdraw retirement funds depends on which paycheck system aligns with your lifestyle, tax plan and shifts in spending as you age.
A conversation with Bill Bengen—the creator of the 4% rule—to discuss how retirement strategies have evolved, what high-income professionals should be thinking about now, and his current recommendatio...
The Rule of 55 allows certain workers to take penalty-free withdrawals from a 401(k) or 403(b) if they leave their job in or after the year they turn 55. Income taxes still apply, and the funds must r...
The Actuarial Approach: Employs an easy-to-understand and robust financial metric (Household Funded Status) Permits adoption of easy-to-implement guardrails that suggest future spending changes Uses b...
Roger Whitney dives into practical strategies for navigating health care before Medicare, sharing insights from retirees, survey results, and listener questions. Together they explore real-world solut...
Jeremy Keil explains 3 smart ways to help your kids with money while avoiding IRS paperwork Early in the year, I received an email from a couple asking a question I hear all the time: “What’s the maxi...
The safe withdrawal rate says you can spend about 4% of your portfolio in retirement and not run out of money. But is that actually accurate? The post Should You Use a ‘Safe’ Withdrawal Rate? appeared...
Clinging to 'safe' income and hoarding your principal isn't protecting your wealth; it's shortchanging the retirement you earned.
If you plan to punch the clock for the final time decades before "standard" retirement age, you need a financial strategy that goes beyond just saving. Joe Anderson, CFP® and Big Al Clopine, CPA spitb...
A 401(k) can offer powerful tax advantages, but understanding how contributions, growth, and withdrawals are taxed is essential. Traditional 401(k)s lower your taxable income today, while Roth 401(k)s...
Retiring at 55 is not just retiring ten years earlier. It changes the entire math of your life. From 55 to 65, expenses are often at their highest. You are covering healthcare before Medicare, traveli...
I retired June 1, 2024. My wife is still working, her planned last day is June 30, this year. Here's a few things I've noticed.... I'm maintaining our 'retirement fund' portfolio at Vanguard in the 60...
Your spouse wants to remodel your kitchen and several bathrooms in your house. You’ve received a quote for the work for about $100,000. Using a strategic withdrawal approach and a Monte Carlo modeling...
This post is a follow-up to our post of August 23, 2025 where we encouraged financial advisors and DIYers to ditch Monte Carlo modeling and its probability of success metric and adopt the Actuarial Ap...
Roger Whitney wraps up the four-part series on navigating health care before Medicare by introducing a practical decision-making framework using the OODA Loop—observe, orient, decide, act—to help you ...
Jeremy Keil explains the 5 RMD (Required Minimum Distribution) mistakes in Retirement and how to avoid them. A retiree recently called for help. It was their first year taking Required Minimum Distrib...
The final five years before retirement are not maintenance mode. They are leverage years. Small decisions made here can outweigh the previous twenty years of saving and investing. In this episode, Jam...
All that cash you have in tax-deferred accounts could launch you into a higher tax bracket when you start withdrawals. It's time to protect your income.
I'm in career for over 42 years that I don't like anymore and does cause a lot of stress. (my current job does pay very well and feels like golden handcuffs) Retiring at 65 will get me 3100 a month pl...
A $10 million retirement is often imagined as the finish line — complete freedom, unlimited spending, and no financial stress. The reality is more complex. James walks through what an eight-figure ret...
Retiring after age 65 changes the math and the priorities. You have fewer high-energy years, shorter tax planning windows, and RMDs much closer than most people realize. But you also often have higher...
Christian thought he was ready for retirement. He just didn’t realize how heavy the weight had been until he finally set it down. After more than 30 years in a high-stress, always-on role at a global ...
Recent data from Vanguard and Fidelity shows 401(k) hardship withdrawals at record highs as everyday costs rise and savings run thin. Understanding the long-term impact of pulling from your retirement...
We asked professional wealth advisers to weigh in.
I have been retired 1 year. I made about 50k managing my fidelity IRA and overall made around 10%. My plan was to take 4% a year or 20k so that tracks. I keep 6 months of bills in savings currently an...
Jeremy Keil explains the 5 steps you can take if you are planning to retire in 2026 or 2027. If you’ve been planning to retire in 2026 or 2027, it might feel like you still have plenty of time. But in...
A few weeks ago, Michael Green published a post where he argued that the poverty line for a family of four in the U.S. wasn't $32,100 in annual income (as currently claimed by the Department of Health...
Jeremy Keil explains the top 3 tax efficient strategies for charitable giving in 2025. Most people give to charity because it’s meaningful to them — not because of the tax break. And that’s the right ...
Jeremy Keil explores 7 money moves you can consider before the new year to lower your taxes and keep more of your money in retirement. Every December, people scramble to finish holiday shopping, trave...
In this episode, Roger Whitney, a retirement planner with 30 years of experience, breaks down annual gifting limits and year-end planning. He shares practical strategies for giving that make a real im...
Most retirement advice quietly assumes you have a partner: two incomes, two Social Security checks, someone to split expenses with, someone to catch the slack if something goes wrong. But for singles,...
In the Fall issue of this quarterly publication, you'll find a story that recommends capping benefits at about $2,000, one that shows why a combination of income annuities and withdrawals from savings...
Think waiting until 70 is the gold standard for Social Security? We dig into the real math behind delayed retirement credits and the hidden trade-offs that rarely make it into the headlines. Drawing o...
Experts weigh in on how the classic 4% withdrawal rule is evolving—and how retirees can tailor it to their own goals, risks, and income sources. The post The 4% rule, revisited: A more flexible approa...
? Show Notes In this Thanksgiving Eve episode, Roger Whitney encourages listeners to carry gratitude into everyday life, emphasizing the value of recognizing specific moments and taking “mental snapsh...
Retiring with a pension changes everything about your retirement math. Most people think about retirement in terms of net worth—how close they are to a million, two million, or more. But if you have a...
How do I turn my savings into a steady paycheck that lasts the rest of my life?There are a few ways to approach this challenge, but one of the most popular, and surprisingly flexible, is called the sy...
A major reason not to set your retirement plan on autopilot: sequence of returns risk. Here's how to help ensure a bad market won't sink your golden years....
I expect to retire in the next 12-24 months, and I’m looking for advice on how to handle multiple income streams. Like a lot of people, for almost 40 years, nearly all our household income has c...
Joe Anderson, CFP® and Big Al Clopine, CPA spitball withdrawal strategies, Roth conversion timing, and saving priorities for every stage of life, today on Your Money, Your Wealth® podcast numb...
Today, I'm speaking with David McKnight. David is a best-selling author, world-renowned tax strategist, and financial educator who challenges some of the most popular (and misleading) retirement gurus...
It’s not too early to start planning your spending for 2026 even though you haven’t yet determined your January 1, 2026 Funded Status. You or your spouse may be considering spending in 202...
We asked financial experts for advice....
A single misunderstanding about Social Security spousal benefits can cost couples thousands over retirement. This episode unpacks the real math behind how Social Security treats spouses, ex-spouses, a...
Those “3x by 40, 6x by 50, 10x by 67” charts feel official—until your life doesn’t match the average. In this episode, James shows why age-based savings benchmarks miss the mar...
When people think of what could haunt their retirement, they often imagine running out of money, facing unexpected expenses, or living too long. But as we discuss in this episode, there's a more insid...
You've heard it a thousand times: "Wait until 70 to file for Social Security." But if that's such obvious advice, why do most retirees file earlier? In this episode, we uncover the hidden cost of wait...
In this episode, we address Joe's question about how claiming Social Security benefits early can reduce withdrawals from retirement accounts and potentially lead to greater long-term growth. Joe share...