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Archive for the ‘retirement income’ Category

One Advisor’s Approach to Income Investing

Posted in Bonds, Dividends, Financial Advisors, Income Investing, Retirement, retirement income, retirement planning, Risk, Stock Investing, tagged , , , , , on January 14, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Guest post by Contributing Editor, John Graves.

Editor’s Note:  John Graves has been an independent financial advisor for 26 years. He is one of the two owners of The Renaissance Group, a Registered Investment Advisor based in Ventura, CA.  John’s book, The 7% Solution: You Can Afford  a Comfortable Retirement, was published in 2012.  When I read this book, I was impressed with John’s approach and thinking and I recommend it as a good read.  I contacted John and asked if he would consider contributing to this blog.  After we bounced around some possible topics, he sent me the following piece that describes his process for designing income plans for retirees.  (more…)

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An Alternative Approach for Drawing Income from Your Portfolio

Posted in 401(k), Asset Allocation, Commodities, Diversification, financial planning, Investors, Retirement, retirement income, retirement planning, tagged , , , , , , on November 23, 2012 | 1 Comment »

The question of how to safely generate income from a retirement portfolio is one of the most challenging in financial planning.  In the days when people had traditional pensions, their employers simply promised them a constant inflation-adjusted income for the duration of their retirements.  As we have moved away from traditional pensions and into self-directed savings plans such as 401(k)’s and IRA’s, investors and advisors must create their own customized income plans.  New research from Morningstar highlights what appears to be a better approach to creating a stable income stream from an investment portfolio. (more…)

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Sector Watch: Municipal Bonds

Posted in 401(k), Asset Allocation, Bonds, ETFs, pensions, Retirement, retirement income, retirement planning, Risk, Taxes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Municipal bonds are issued by states and municipalities and typically have tax advantages relative to other fixed income assets.  In general, income from muni bonds is tax exempt at the federal level and at the state level for investors living in the issuing state.  Municipal bonds have historically been favored by investors in high tax brackets who, of course, derive more benefit from the tax exemptions by virtue of being in the highest tax brackets. (more…)

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Saving and Investing for Retirement: Part Five

Posted in Volatility, Retirement, Wealth, Mutual Funds, Investors, Diversification, Low Cost Investing, ETFs, Portfolio Investing 101, Long-term investing, Bonds, Risk, Stock Investing, Asset Allocation, financial planning, retirement income, retirement planning, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 2, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Effective Actions in an Uncertain World: Part Five of Our Special Five Part Series

There are a number of factors that we need to predict in order to come up with saving and investing strategies for retirement.  The values that we assign to these factors will have a huge impact on whether or not we will be able to meet our goals.  First, there is the expected return that investors will make on their retirement savings.  Second, there is the common estimate that people will need about 85% of their pre-retirement income to support them once they stop working.  Finally, there is the potential impact of behavior on savings rates, investing, and spending.  (more…)

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Saving and Investing for Retirement: Part Four

Posted in Volatility, Retirement, Wealth, Investors, Diversification, Income Investing, ETFs, Long-term investing, Bonds, Risk, Stock Investing, Active Investing, Asset Allocation, financial planning, 401(k), retirement income, retirement planning, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 28, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Generating Income: Part Four of Our Special Five Part Series

During their working years, investors focus on saving and investing with a goal of building wealth.  As they enter retirement, either by ceasing paid employment entirely or by scaling back paid employment, investors shift their focus to using their portfolios to provide a reliable long-term stream of income.  This transition from building wealth to income generation is the subject of a great deal of research in retirement planning.  Once investors are at or near retirement, the most significant financial challenge is using their accumulated savings to provide substantial income for their retirement years.  (more…)

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Saving and Investing for Retirement: Part Three

Posted in Active Investing, Asset Allocation, Bonds, Diversification, ETFs, financial planning, Investors, Long-term investing, Market Timing, Mutual Funds, Retirement, retirement income, retirement planning, Stock Investing, Volatility, Wealth, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 26, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Realities of Investing: Part Three of Our Special Five Part Series

In the various calculations that project retirement portfolio accumulations through time (such as the two discussed in the previous article), there are assumptions about how investors will allocate their savings and how those investments will perform.  In the case of the Fidelity study, no specific asset allocation is provided that would achieve the assumed risk-free 5.5% annual return.  In the Ibbotson study, the authors assume that investors hold a combination of a stock index fund and a bond index fund that progressively allocates less to stocks and more to bonds as investors get older.  The Ibbotson study also assumes that the stock index (the S&P 500) will have an average annual return of 10.96% per year and that the bond index will have an average return of 4.6% per year.  The Ibbotson study ignores expenses associated with investing. (more…)

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Saving and Investing for Retirement: Part Two

Posted in 401(k), Active Investing, Asset Allocation, Behavioral Finance, financial planning, Income Investing, Long-term investing, Portfolio Investing 101, Retirement, retirement income, retirement planning, tagged , , , , , , , on September 24, 2012 | 5 Comments »

Figuring Out Whether You Are On Track: Part Two of Our Special Five Part Series

Fidelity just came out with a study that estimates that people will need about eight times their final salary level, assuming they work until age sixty seven, to be able to retire and subsequently to have 85% of their pre-retirement income provided from retirement savings plus social security.  Fidelity also helpfully provides estimates of what they believe people need to have acquired at different ages. (more…)

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The Challenge of Long-Term Income: Part II

Posted in Volatility, Retirement, Wealth, Investors, Personalization, Income Investing, Long-term investing, Risk, Stock Investing, Active Investing, Commodities, Financial Advisors, Asset Allocation, financial planning, 401(k), retirement income, retirement planning, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 17, 2012 | 9 Comments »

In Part I of this article, I explained why I have issues with the traditional idea that individuals should provide for their required level of retirement income (beyond what is provided by Social Security and any pensions) entirely with assets with zero risk of loss of principal (e.g. Treasury bonds).  In Part II, I discuss the alternative approaches.

There are two investments that have zero loss of principal: traditional Treasury bonds and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), which are Treasury bonds with embedded protection against inflation.

I agree with the notion that people need to save and invest so as to be able to provide a very reliable and consistent income stream in retirement.  Zvi Bodie has presented a compelling argument that investments in stocks do not become less risky as you hold them for longer periods, so that investors cannot rely on stocks as part of their required income stream.  I have performed detailed analysis of Bodie’s argument and I agree with his argument: the magnitude of loss that you can face with an equity-heavy portfolio increases the longer you hold the portfolio.  As I noted in Part I, William Bernstein has recently advocated for a portfolio in which all of your required income is provided by Treasuries and annuities, largely consistent with Bodie. (more…)

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401(k)s for the Self-Employed

Posted in Retirement, Investors, Income Investing, Long-term investing, Active Investing, Asset Allocation, financial planning, 401(k), retirement income, retirement planning, tagged , , , , , , , on September 14, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Guest post by Contributing Editor, Matthew Amster-Burton, Mint.com.

Every once in a while, I receive a stack of paper in the mail from Vanguard addressed to “Plan Administrator,” which gives me an undeserved sense of self-importance.

No, I didn’t select “Plan Administrator” from a drop-down list of salutations that also included “Dr.,” “Lord,” and “Marquis”; I am actually the administrator of a 401(k) plan. The plan has one participant. Guess who? (more…)

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The Challenge of Long-Term Income: Part 1

Posted in 401(k), Asset Allocation, Bonds, Financial Advisors, financial planning, Income Investing, Investors, Long-term investing, Market Timing, Personalization, Retirement, retirement income, retirement planning, Risk, Wealth, tagged , , , , , on August 29, 2012 | 9 Comments »

Portfolio Income: The Trouble With Treasury Bonds

The current economic environment is making it very hard for investors to generate reasonable levels of income through traditional means such as bond ladders.  While it is always dangerous to suggest that ‘it’s different this time,’ I believe that we are facing some unprecedented conditions that require new approaches.  Income-seeking investors with low risk tolerance—those who have traditionally favored government bonds—are in the most difficult situation.

The problem of low savings and investment rates in the U.S. is huge.  I have written about this in the past, along with many others.  Every study on retirement savings notes that Americans need to save more.  Having the ability to support yourself from a portfolio of savings is not, however, just about the amount that you save.  There is also the issue of how much income you can derive from each dollar in your portfolio.  Today, with historically low yields on government bonds, retirees and others seeking to live on the income from low-risk investments are faced with an enormous challenge that compounds the savings rate problem.  To be able to live on the income provided by very low-risk investments, the necessary savings rates increase dramatically relative to savings rates when investors are willing to bear some risk. (more…)

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