A family friend recently asked me to look at her retirement investment portfolio. It’s advisor-managed and has an allocation one-third S&P 500-indexed annuity, one-third stock and bond ETFs, and one-third cash (government money market). Our friend is a recent retiree with a long planning horizon, so at first glance, I wondered why her portfolio had … Read more
If you read much about stewardship and retirement planning, you’ll hear many thoughts expressed in the context of ”life stages” and our lifestyle choices in each of them. Here’s a graphic I used recently in a stewardship seminar for the young single adults in my church: This is a logical way to think about financial … Read more
The older I get, the more critical simplification becomes to my wife and me, especially with our finances. You don’t need me to tell you that we live in a highly complex world. Every decision we make, especially those related to our finances and retirement planning, seems pretty complex (or we tend to overcomplicate them). … Read more
In the previous article, I alluded to my “safe withdrawal rate” (SWR) portfolio strategy, which I described as “strategic growth and income.” I also discussed the impact of inflation on it and two different types of annuities—a nominal (non-inflation-adjusted) annuity and a nominal annuity with a 3% annual cost-of-living increase (COLA) but not indexed to … 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
As we discussed in the first article, AI technologies are rapidly becoming part of normal life. They are also revolutionizing industries and reshaping how we work, live, and even plan for and live in retirement. You could consider this a part of God’s common grace, and I think it is. The problem is that humans … Read more
In case you haven’t noticed, a technological revolution is unfolding before our very eyes. It may feel like it snuck up on us, but it’s been around for a while. I’m talking about the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), which could become one of the most transformative and disruptive technologies of all time, perhaps even … Read more
Many people focus solely on their own retirement benefits when considering Social Security benefits. However, it’s crucial to understand the significant role Social Security spousal and survivor benefits can play in retirement planning. We don’t usually like to think about our mortality and how our passing will affect those we leave behind financially. Nonetheless, it’s … Read more
We’re now in Holy Week. It’s the season on the church calendar when the profound significance of Easter and what it means to us as Christians are at the forefront of our thinking and are in our hearts: the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus—the forgiveness of sin and triumph of life over death, light … Read more
