Retirement Starts Today Radio

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 to bridge the gap until he begins p...

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 Christine says people gets this wrong.

W...

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 estate planning when you don't have a...

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 other half need care for more than 5...

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 episode.

In our Listener Question s...

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 a high earner four years younger t...

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 engineer and do-it-yourself...

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, wanted a job at a cheese sho...

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 but a guideline. Its application requ...

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 Gilbert: Retirement is a Sprint, Not...

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. How much you can safely give...

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 framework from an articl...

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 spending - and they can't get their...

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...