Annuity Allocation

The Morningstar Gamma research cites Annuity Allocation as one of the five ways to increase retirement income.  They assume 25% allocation to a fixed annuity with a payout rate of 5.71%. What’s the catch? The most important thing to note…

Dynamic Withdrawal Strategy – the 2nd Gamma Component

As financial planners, we are often asked about how to fund retirement income needs. Traditionally income in retirement has been thought of as a three-legged stool-Social Security, pension, and withdrawals from savings. Today’s retirees still count on Social Security, some…

Benefits of Tailored Investment Advice

The value of investment advice can make a real difference over the life of your portfolio. In our previous post we noted that the research on Gamma identifies 5 financial planning strategies that add to retirement income. The first of…

29% Retirement Raise

A recent study from Morningstar suggests that implementing solid financial planning strategies can increase a retiree’s investment income by 29%, which they equate to an additional 1.82% in investment returns every year.  If we consider a $1 million nest egg…

401k Fees Coming your Way

Traditionally the costs associated with investing have been fairly difficult to ascertain.  Mutual funds charge expense ratios to pay managers and support staff while custodians and plan administrators also need to be compensated.  These costs are deducted from the funds…

‘Tis the Season to Shop for Medicare

Have you been seeing the commercial below a lot lately? What is Medicare Open Enrollment? It is open enrollment season for Medicare prescription drug (Part D) and Medicare Advantage Plans (Part C).  The enrollment period runs from October 15th through…

The Price of Safety

One of our most important jobs as financial advisors is to help our clients manage risk.  This takes on many forms, but one of the most central is investment risk.  We frequently hear the phrases, “I don’t want to lose…

JP Morgan – A Lesson in Overconfidence Bias

Behavioral Finance defines several investor biases that tend to inhibit financial success. The recent news of JP Morgan’s $2 billion loss demonstrates the danger that an overconfidence bias can be to your portfolio. Overconfidence bias is fairly self explanatory, but…

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