This article is part of the Retirement Financial Life Equation (RFLE) series. It was initially published on May 6, 2017, and updated in December 2025. I know quite a few people who have taken an early “traditional” retirement. By that I mean they were between the ages of 62 and their Full Retirement Age (FRA). … Read more
This article is part of the Retirement Financial Life Equation (RFLE) series. It was initially published on July 24, 2019, and updated in January 2026 In my last article, I looked at immediate fixed-income annuities and discussed whether I might want to include them as a part of my overall retirement income plan. Guaranteed payments … Read more
As a financial coach, I often work with folks who are in the accumulation/growth phase of planning for retirement (i.e., 5 to 10 years or more away). Sometimes I come across someone who has either: 1) received a recommendation from their stock broker or insurance salesperson to purchase a fixed-rate, indexed, or variable annuity product … Read more
This article is part of the Retirement Financial Life Equation (RFLE) series. It is a near-total rewrite of a similar article initially published in 2015. In a brief conversation with a friend after church, the topic of retirement came up. He and I are about the same age. He made a statement that stuck with … Read more
