Someone reminded me earlier today that this was my 100th post since the first one was published on this site on March 16th, 2011. Thank you to our loyal followers.

While it’s just been half a decade, a lot has changed in the external environment, but more so in my current thinking.

Here are a few observations:

  • Retirement calculators continue to fail average investors.
  • Despite hard evidence of increased medical and long-term care costs late in retirement, financial writers and advisors still tend to ignore these issues.
  • The excitement about robo-advisors doesn’t truly support the more specialized planning needed for Boomers starting retirement
  • The DOL rules (or at least their intent) are long overdue in aligning the interests of investor, advisor and provider.
  • The politicians fail to consider practical, workable solutions to shore up the U.S. retirement system.

Let’s see what happens over the next 100 posts!

As for this week’s What Jerry’s Reading…

What I’m finding is that most retirement planning has not caught up with the complexities and real risks individuals have. They still appear to me to be designed by and for pension consultants’ managed pooled funds.

A warning about your ‘magic number’ for retirement

I like the idea of “warning” people about the magic savings number they’ll need to accumulate for a sound retirement. However, warning about faulty assumptions, longer life expectancies, and late-in-retirement expenses may not be strong enough.

We need to wean investors away from relying upon this number and instead translate it into a statement of the future retirement income their savings could purchase.

It’s real and not based on assumptions. The goal is to build that number over time to meet your retirement income needs.

IRA planning for long-term care and longevity

I found this to be an interesting article about smart planning combining two separate issues: your IRA Account and your long-term care needs.

It even introduces a third idea as a means of creating a more viable retirement income plan. It recommends using a QLAC to adjust the disbursement of your wealth so that you can pay the cost of living longer than the average lifespan, which is, by the definition of life expectancy, what half the population does these days.

What this all suggests to me is that planning your retirement requires more than stock and bond funds and withdrawal schemes. Your plan needs to reflect taxes, long-term care and medical costs, as well as longevity risk management.