Updated December 2025 to reflect the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) I’ve written previously about withdrawing from my Traditional IRA to help fund our retirement. I’ve also described how I began making Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) in early 2023 after turning 70½ In a recent article, I explained how I might optimize my income … Read more
There are many retirement financial milestones to pay attention to: your penalty-free early distribution age from an IRA (59/12), eligibility for Social Security (early filer at 62 and full retirement age at 66–67), Medicare eligibility (age 65, for most), and your RMD age (currently 73; 75 beginning in 2033). I’ve already hit all those milestones … Read more
This article is part of the Retirement Financial Life Equation (RFLE) series, which focuses on the critical levers that affect your retirement income and financial sustainability. When I was preparing to claim Social Security benefits, I thought I understood how the taxation worked. After all, I’d written about it before on this blog. But when … Read more
Many financial planners, advisors, and especially retirees are wary of annuities. They cite cost, complexity, loss of liquidity, under-performance, and other factors as their primary concerns. In many cases, their concerns are warranted. Yet many retirement planning professionals, academics, actuaries, and economists—i.e., a bunch of really smart people—regularly encourage consumers to consider a particular type … Read more
A sustainable withdrawal rate is integral to a wise retiree’s financial stewardship plan. Your withdrawal rate determines how much money you’ll take from your retirement savings to add to other sources of income to meet your spending needs. I became aware of a video of one of Dave’s recent shows in which he discussed retiree … Read more
In a previous article, I touched on the risk that rising interest rates present to retirees. There are risks—the negative impacts of rising rates—but there are also benefits, especially for savers and retirees. But to the extent that higher rates are usually associated with inflation, the scale tips toward the negatives and less toward the … Read more
This article is part of the Retirement Financial Life Equation (RFLE) Series. It was initially published on July 26, 2023, and updated in March 2026. In the last article, we examined the first of two main types of systematic withdrawal strategies for sustainable retirement income: fixed withdrawals. In this article, we look at variable strategies. … Read more
This article is part of the Retirement Financial Life Equation (RFLE) series. It was initially published in July 2023 and updated in December 2025. In a recent article, I discussed retirement spending and whether our costs go down as we age. In this article and the next, we’ll look at the other side of the … Read more
This article is part of the Retirement Financial Life Equation (RFLE) series. It was originally published June 21, 2023 | Updated December 2025. The 2025 Social Security Fund Trustees’ Report was released in June 2025, and here’s the latest on Trust Fund solvency: The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund, which pays retirement and … Read more
