In the waning days of 2019, Congress passed the SECURE Act, a law that delivered a mix bag of changes for retirement savers. Well, Congress has been busy, and at the tail end of 2022, a follow-up law, known as SECURE 2.0, was signed into law. The good news: There’s a whole lot included in this [...]
The planner’s tool box
It’s human nature, I think, to be impressed by things that sound sophisticated or look complex. In the world of personal finance, this certainly applies to the planning tool known as Monte Carlo analysis. That’s because its roots go back to the 1940s, when it was developed by Stanislaw Ulam, a [...]
Dogma
In 1954, Harry Markowitz was a graduate student in economics at the University of Chicago and had just finished defending his thesis. Most of the committee accepted his work. But Milton Friedman, an economist with a national reputation, and easily the most influential member of the economics [...]
Overlooked retirement questions
Personal finance pundits love to debate about “safe withdrawal rates”—the amount a retiree can safely withdraw each year from a portfolio without depleting it too quickly. I agree this is an important topic. In fact, I’ve addressed it a few times myself in recent months. In July I discussed the well [...]
The bucket system
A while back, I described the “4% rule.” This is a popular way to think about portfolio withdrawals in retirement—but it isn’t the only way. Another approach, called the “bucket” system, is also worth understanding. Below is some background on this alternative approach. What is the bucket [...]
