Retirement Starts Today Radio

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 Listener Question segment...

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 Richest Person In the Grav...

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 of retirement, and if so — whe...

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.

Key Takeaways:

• Identify and...

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 portfolio — should they own a r...

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. 

After that, I'll answer a l...

Imagine having 10 overstuffed boxes of grandma's collections in your living room.

That's the story that leads our show from a couple in Florida who received these items as hand-me-downs from a boomer parent trying to clear them out.

The article features estate specialist Julie Hall, who says Millennials don't want painted china or antique furniture — they want Pottery Barn and IKEA. When Hall asked her own daughter what she'd...

There is roughly a ten-year window centered around your retirement date, five to ten years before, and five to ten years after called "The Retirement Risk Zone". This is when you're most vulnerable to sequence-of-returns impacting the longevity of your withdrawal strategy.

We cover this idea brought up by Wade Pfau in an episode of "The Long View", a show hosted by Christine Benz, Amy C. Arnott, and Ben Johnson - specifically:

...

Why is it so hard to spend the money you spent a lifetime saving?

This is a question from Janet Bodnar in a Kiplinger article. She admits that one of her guilty pleasures in retirement is treating herself to a casual lunch while she's out running errands. Why does she feel so guilty?

Christine Benz from Morningstar is quoted in the article, which we discuss at length in this episode.

Then a listener asks a question I think a lot of...

Your beneficiary designations are probably outdated. Not because you made bad decisions, but because you made them once and never looked again. We're going to walk through five areas where these forms commonly go wrong, and what you can do about it. 

For our Listener Questions segment: "What's the best way to position any assets I have for when my wife and I pass — to most easily and efficiently pass on to our kids?"

And...

How do higher oil prices impact stock market returns? Ben Carlson at A Wealth of Common Sense challenges the assumption most people have, but with some genuinely surprising and con historical data.

For those who retired right around 2022, our Listener Questions segment might interest you. A listener is comparing bonds to guaranteed products like MYGAs and annuities with income riders. They're seeing five and a half to six percent g...

What if you paid all your taxes - and still got hit with a penalty from the IRS? 

Our retirement headline this week comes from Laura Saunders in the Wall Street Journal. Estimated tax penalties are skyrocketing, and retirees and investors are some of the most likely to get caught in the trap.

We will cover that, then hop into our Listen Question: "What happens when you lose faith in fixed income as the foundation for your reti...

Some desirable investment income - like interest and dividends - might actually hurt high-net-worth investors' bottom line. This comes from an article by Larry Swedroe in Financial Advisor Magazine.

He outlines four hidden costs that can quietly erode over 1% of after-tax returns each year:

• Cash Drag
• Tax Deferral
• Step-up and Charitable Giving Advantage
• Financial Planning Flexibility

For our Listener Question: "Are broker...

You might have received a Social Security cost-of-living increase this year — but did your net check actually go up? 

A recent Wall Street Journal article highlights how rising Medicare premiums and IRMAA surcharges are offsetting those increases for millions of retirees - and "takes a bigger bite out of Social Security checks".

Then, a listener writes in "How to convince my husband's parents to spend their money. We don...

Sheryl Rowling positions income tax returns as diagnostic tools — not merely a compliance document — and outlines four common red flags that suggest a client failed to take advantage of proactive tax strategies.

Here are "4 Tax Return Red Flags That Signal Poor Tax Planning":

1. Very Low or Zero Taxable Income
2. Charitable Giving After Age 70½ Without Using QCDs
3. Donating Cash Instead of Appreciated Securities
4. Holding Mu...

Retirees obsess over the exact safe withdrawal rate they think they'll need while simultaneously building layer after layer of backup plans. Dividends, buckets, multiple years of cash, constant Monte Carlo recalculations are all done in the name of safety.

Jordan Grumet's argument to this problem is simple and provocative: If you believe in the safe withdrawal rate, then act like it. Stop stacking contingencies on top of contingenc...

Sheryl Rowling from Morningstar argues that the greatest danger in retirement isn't the stock market — it's the constant fear of running out of money.

We will walk through her eight "anchors" from the article posted on Morningstar.

Anchor 1: Confirm Your Sustainable Spending Level
Anchor 2: Embrace Flexibility in Down Markets
Anchor 3: Recognize That Spending Often Declines With Age
Anchor 4: Create a Recession Bu...

What does research say about retirement withdrawal strategies that are specifically designed to leave more money behind? We'll walk through what the research says works best, the trade-offs involved, and why the "right" strategy depends on what you're really trying to optimize in retirement. 

Quote: "Smaller gifts sooner can be more impactful than larger gifts later." - Benjamin Brandt

We've also got a great listener question ...

Is there an ideal level of wealth? Our Retirement Headline comes from Nick Maggiulli, who starts by rejecting the usual vague answers—"it depends," "on your own terms," or "whatever makes you happy." Instead, he tries to give a practical, math-based answer that works for most people, even if it's not perfect for everyone. 

Then our listener question is "How should we think about future income sources—like Social Se...