Two fundamentally different philosophies for retirement income planning, which I call probability-based and safety-first, diverge on the critical issue of where a retirement plan is best served: in the risk/reward trade-offs of a diversified and aggressive investment portfolio that relies primarily on the stock market, or in the contractual protections of insurance products that integrate the power of risk pooling and actuarial science alongside investments. The probability-based approach is generally better understood by the public. It advocates using an aggressive investment portfolio with a large allocation to stocks to meet retirement goals. My earlier book How Much Can I Spend in Retirement? A Guide to Investment-Based Retirement Strategies provides an extensive investigation of probability-based approaches. But this investments-only attitude is not the optimal way to build a retirement income plan. There are pitfalls in retirement that we are less familiar with during the accumulation years. The nature of risk changes. Longevity risk is the possibility of living longer than planned, which could mean not having resources to maintain the retiree’s standard of living. And once retirement distributions begin, market downturns in the early years can disproportionately harm retirement sustainability. This is sequence-of-returns risk, and it acts to amplify the impacts of market volatility in retirement. Traditional wealth management is not equipped to handle these new risks in a fulfilling way. More assets are required to cover spending goals over a possibly costly retirement triggered by a long life and poor market returns. And yet, there is no assurance that assets will be sufficient. For retirees who are worried about outliving their wealth, probability-based strategies can become excessively conservative and stressful.This book focuses on the other option: safety-first retirement planning. Safety-first advocates support a more bifurcated approach to building retirement income plans that integrates insurance with investments, providing lifetime income protections to cover spending. With risk pooling through insurance, retirees effectively pay an insurance premium that will provide a benefit to support spending in otherwise costly retirements that could deplete an unprotected investment portfolio. Insurance companies can pool sequence and longevity risks across a large base of retirees, much like a traditional defined-benefit company pension plan or Social Security, allowing for retirement spending that is more closely aligned with averages. When bonds are replaced with insurance-based risk pooling assets, retirees can improve the odds of meeting their spending goals while also supporting more legacy at the end of life, especially in the event of a longer-than-average retirement. We walk through this thought process and logic in steps, investigating three basic ways to fund a retirement spending goal: with bonds, with a diversified investment portfolio, and with risk pooling through annuities and life insurance. We consider the potential role for different types of annuities including simple income annuities, variable annuities, and fixed index annuities. I explain how different annuities work and how readers can evaluate them. We also examine the potential for whole life insurance to contribute to a retirement income plan. When we properly consider the range of risks introduced after retirement, I conclude that the integrated strategies preferred by safety-first advocates support more efficient retirement outcomes. Safety-first retirement planning helps to meet financial goals with less worry. This book explains how to evaluate different insurance options and implement these solutions into an integrated retirement plan.

Safety-First Retirement Planning: An Integrated Approach for a Worry-Free Retirement (The Retirement Researcher Guide Series)

Business & Money

Pfau, Wade Donald

Finance

Retirement Researcher Media

Product Description 
The Retirement Planning Guidebook helps you navigate through the important decisions to prepare for your best retirement. You will have the detailed knowledge and understanding to make smart retirement decisions: 
- Understand your personal retirement income style, which can then help you navigate through the conflicting opinions about retirement strategies to choose your right path. 
- Learn about investment and insurance tools that may best resonate with your personal style. 
- Determine if you are financially prepared for retirement by quantifying your financial goals (annual spending, legacy, and reserves for the unexpected) and comparing them to your available assets. 
- Make smart decisions for when to start Social Security benefits, which could potentially support an additional $100,000 or more of lifetime income from Social Security. 
- Develop a plan for making the best initial and ongoing choices from the alphabet soup of Medicare options, as well as how to find health coverage if you retire before Medicare eligibility. 
- Assess where you wish to live in retirement and whether there are helpful ways to incorporate housing wealth into your retirement strategy. 
- Decide how to manage your long-term care risk between self-funding, Medicaid, or private insurance, and take steps to support living at home for as long as possible. 
- Understand how to manage your taxes to pay less, to avoid common pitfalls, and to have more for your lifetime and your legacy. You will be able to apply tax diversification, asset location, tax bracket management, and Roth conversions to enhance the sustainability of your retirement assets. 
- Get your finances organized and understand how to get your estate and incapacity planning documents in order, including your will, account titling, beneficiary designations, financial power of attorney, and advance health care directives. 
- Identify whether there is a role for trusts in your estate plan for reasons related to avoiding probate, controlling how and when assets are disbursed, obtaining creditor protections, or helping to manage estate taxes. 
- Prepare for the non-financial aspects of retirement, including the need to find purpose and passion, to understand if there is a role for work in retirement, to enhance relationships and social connections, and to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. 
Retirement has an entire vocabulary associated with it. We’ll demystify the 4% rule, sequence-of-return risk, time segmentation and buckets, reverse mortgages, income annuities, variable annuities, fixed index annuities, long-term care insurance, living trusts, irrevocable trusts, budgeting, the funded ratio, Medicare Advantage, Medicare supplements, diversified investment portfolios, Roth conversions, the hazards of the Social Security tax torpedo and increased Medicare premiums, buffer assets, 401(k) plans and IRAs, the rollover decision, distribution options for defined-benefit company pensions, required minimum distributions, qualified charitable distributions, aging in place, cognitive decline, and so much more. 
The Retirement Planning Guidebook does not let important matters fall through the cracks. This is a comprehensive look at the key retirement decisions to achieve financial and non-financial success. You will have the foundation to make the most of your retirement years, and I hope you’ll be able to do something great! 
 Review \nAlthough the sheer amount of granular detail the author brings to the subject can seem daunting, the clarity of his explanations will smoothly carry even financially illiterate readers along.\nA readable and invaluably thorough resource for understanding retirement finances.\nKIRKUS REVIEWS\nDr. Pfau is a preeminent retirement researcher and consummate scholar. Yet, he possesses the rare trait of remaining accessible to a wide audience. Dr. Pfau's Retirement Guide is incisive, instructive, and actionable. Retirement planning is the mos

Retirement Planning Guidebook: Navigating the Important Decisions for Retirement Success

Pfau, Wade

The Retirement Planning Guidebook helps you navigate through the important decisions to prepare for your best retirement. You will have the detailed knowledge and understanding to make smart retirement decisions: 
- Understand your personal retirement income style, which can then help you navigate through the conflicting opinions about retirement strategies to choose your right path. 
- Learn about investment and insurance tools that may best resonate with your personal style. 
- Determine if you are financially prepared for retirement by quantifying your financial goals (annual spending, legacy, and reserves for the unexpected) and comparing them to your available assets. 
- Make smart decisions for when to start Social Security benefits, which could potentially support an additional $100,000 or more of lifetime income from Social Security. 
- Develop a plan for making the best initial and ongoing choices from the alphabet soup of Medicare options, as well as how to find health coverage if you retire before Medicare eligibility. 
- Assess where you wish to live in retirement and whether there are helpful ways to incorporate housing wealth into your retirement strategy. 
- Decide how to manage your long-term care risk between self-funding, Medicaid, or private insurance, and take steps to support living at home for as long as possible. 
- Understand how to manage your taxes to pay less, to avoid common pitfalls, and to have more for your lifetime and your legacy. You will be able to apply tax diversification, asset location, tax bracket management, and Roth conversions to enhance the sustainability of your retirement assets. 
- Get your finances organized and understand how to get your estate and incapacity planning documents in order, including your will, account titling, beneficiary designations, financial power of attorney, and advance health care directives. 
- Identify whether there is a role for trusts in your estate plan for reasons related to avoiding probate, controlling how and when assets are disbursed, obtaining creditor protections, or helping to manage estate taxes. 
- Prepare for the non-financial aspects of retirement, including the need to find purpose and passion, to understand if there is a role for work in retirement, to enhance relationships and social connections, and to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. 
Retirement has an entire vocabulary associated with it. We’ll demystify the 4% rule, sequence-of-return risk, time segmentation and buckets, reverse mortgages, income annuities, variable annuities, fixed index annuities, long-term care insurance, living trusts, irrevocable trusts, budgeting, the funded ratio, Medicare Advantage, Medicare supplements, diversified investment portfolios, Roth conversions, the hazards of the Social Security tax torpedo and increased Medicare premiums, buffer assets, 401(k) plans and IRAs, the rollover decision, distribution options for defined-benefit company pensions, required minimum distributions, qualified charitable distributions, aging in place, cognitive decline, and so much more. 
The Retirement Planning Guidebook does not let important matters fall through the cracks. This is a comprehensive look at the key retirement decisions to achieve financial and non-financial success. You will have the foundation to make the most of your retirement years, and I hope you’ll be able to do something great!

Reverse Mortgages: How to use Reverse Mortgages to Secure Your Retirement (The Retirement Researcher Guide Series)

Review\nReverse mortgages get bad press. But cleverly used, they can help provide you with a higher income for life. Wade Pfau tells you how. His books and blogs are the gold standard in personal finance. 
JANE BRYANT QUINN, personal finance columnist, and author of How to Make Your Money Last: The Indispensable Retirement Guide\nYour book is invaluable - I used it earlier this year when researching and procuring my HECM. And I made sure to mention it to every loan provider that I interviewed. They all knew and respected your work, and I'm convinced that I got better treatment from them because they thought I was a well-informed consumer. 
MICHAEL HEANEY, A satisfied reader, posted at Retirement Researcher Basecamp\nA rare, unbiased analysis of how reverse mortgages can fit into a prudent retirement income plan from one of the nation's leading researchers. Both consumers and financial advisers can benefit from a fresh look at this often-dismissed option. 
MARY BETH FRANKLIN, CFP®, Contributing Editor, Investment News\nDr. Pfau has written the definitive book on reverse mortgages. American retirees will at last have access to a scholarly, unbiased, and quantitative overview of how reverse mortgages work and what their role in retirement income planning should be. With innovative insight, Dr. Pfau will put the financial planning community on notice that their clients are entitled to a thoughtful assessment one of their major assets - their home. 
SHELLEY GIORDANO, author of What's the Deal with Reverse Mortgages?\nOnce again Wade Pfau publishes a book that converts theory to the real world unlike so many books on the market. If you want to have a safer retirement by considering a reverse mortgage, it is imperative that you read this book. The stakes for success with increased longevity in our new baby boomer landscape are simply too high not to! 
HARLAN J. ACCOLA, author of Home Equity and Reverse Mortgages: The Cinderella of the Baby Boomer Retirement\nThis book is a must have for anyone heading into retirement with a home. Wade Pfau is a true thought leader in the retirement income arena and his research and writing can really change the way Americans prepare for retirement. 
JAMIE HOPKINS, J.D, LL.M., Managing Partner of Wealth Solutions at Carson Group\nReverse mortgages are an important retirement planning tool. This book provides an up-to-date understanding about reverse mortgages and how to use them as part of a complete and responsible retirement plan. 
I am a professor of retirement income. I may be the only author of a reverse mortgage book who does not work within the reverse mortgage industry. My focus is on finding ways to build strong retirement plans, and this is the perspective I bring to reverse mortgages. 
I know that reverse mortgages can look expensive in isolation. But reverse mortgages should not be viewed that way. We need to focus on their overall contribution and interactions with other retirement assets as well. 
Retirement is different from what people are accustomed to when working. Risks change. Retirees must sustain spending while not knowing how long their funds need to last, while managing the risks of a market downturn that can permanently derail a retirement portfolio, and while also being ready to manage unexpected spending surprises. 
Reverse mortgages can help to manage these retirement risks by providing an additional resource to support spending and to coordinate with other investments assets. 
My overarching interest is in building efficient retirement income plans to support the most spending potential for assets, both during life and as a legacy for the next generation. I demonstrate with case studies how reverse mortgages can contribute to better retirement outcomes in numerous ways: 
- Coordinate between spending from the investment portfolio and from the reverse mortgage to better protect investments from market volatility 
- Avoid the additional burden of fixed mortgage payme

Pfau Ph.D., Wade D.

Real Estate

Retirement Planning Guidebook: Navigating the Important Decisions for Retirement Success (The Retirement Researcher Guide Series)

The Retirement Planning Guidebook is designed to help readers navigate the key financial and non-financial decisions necessary for a successful retirement. Readers will understand the different retirement income styles and the different risks that retirees must manage, and the retirement income tools used with different retirement styles and risks. This includes investment-based approaches and insurance-based approaches such as annuities. Readers will also be provided with a framework to assess their retirement preparedness by comparing the value of retirement assets and liabilities. Additional chapters then dig deeper into other important aspects for a retirement income plan, including how to develop a strategy for claiming Social Security benefits, how to make decisions related to Medicare and other health insurance, how to structure a plan for managing long-term care needs, and how to choose retirement housing and incorporate housing wealth into the plan. This is followed by a deeper investigation of tax issues and how to structure retirement income to create the most tax-efficiency during life and for beneficiaries. With legacy planning, I also explore how to get your finances organized for incapacity and death. The focus then shifts to the nonfinancial aspects of a successful retirement, including the need to find purpose and passion, to understand if there is a role for work in retirement, to enhance relationships and social connections, and to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. The book includes detailed action plans for decision making. The final chapter fits these pieces together into an integrated series of steps to achieve financial and non-financial success in retirement. Readers will come away with the detailed knowledge and planning steps needed to make the most of their retirement years.

The Retirement Planning Guidebook helps you navigate through the important decisions to prepare for your best retirement. You will have the detailed knowledge and understanding to make smart retirement decisions:\n- Understand your personal retirement income style, which can then help you navigate through the conflicting opinions about retirement strategies to choose your right path.\n- Learn about investment and insurance tools that may best resonate with your personal style.\n- Determine if you are financially prepared for retirement by quantifying your financial goals (annual spending, legacy, and reserves for the unexpected) and comparing them to your available assets.\n- Make smart decisions for when to start Social Security benefits, which could potentially support an additional $100,000 or more of lifetime income from Social Security.\n- Develop a plan for making the best initial and ongoing choices from the alphabet soup of Medicare options, as well as how to find health coverage if you retire before Medicare eligibility.\n- Assess where you wish to live in retirement and whether there are helpful ways to incorporate housing wealth into your retirement strategy.\n- Decide how to manage your long-term care risk between self-funding, Medicaid, or private insurance, and take steps to support living at home for as long as possible.\n- Understand how to manage your taxes to pay less, to avoid common pitfalls, and to have more for your lifetime and your legacy. You will be able to apply tax diversification, asset location, tax bracket management, and Roth conversions to enhance the sustainability of your retirement assets.\n- Get your finances organized and understand how to get your estate and incapacity planning documents in order, including your will, account titling, beneficiary designations, financial power of attorney, and advance health care directives.\n- Identify whether there is a role for trusts in your estate plan for reasons related to avoiding probate, controlling how and when assets are disbursed, obtaining creditor protections, or helping to manage estate taxes.\n- Prepare for the non-financial aspects of retirement, including the need to find purpose and passion, to understand if there is a role for work in retirement, to enhance relationships and social connections, and to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle.\nRetirement has an entire vocabulary associated with it. We'll demystify the 4% rule, sequence-of-return risk, time segmentation and buckets, reverse mortgages, income annuities, variable annuities, fixed index annuities, long-term care insurance, living trusts, irrevocable trusts, budgeting, the funded ratio, Medicare Advantage, Medicare supplements, diversified investment portfolios, Roth conversions, the hazards of the Social Security tax torpedo and increased Medicare premiums, buffer assets, 401(k) plans and IRAs, the rollover decision, distribution options for defined-benefit company pensions, required minimum distributions, qualified charitable distributions, aging in place, cognitive decline, and so much more.\nThe Retirement Planning Guidebook does not let important matters fall through the cracks. This is a comprehensive look at the key retirement decisions to achieve financial and non-financial success. You will have the foundation to make the most of your retirement years, and I hope you'll be able to do something great!

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Retirement Researcher Media publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Retirement Researcher Media

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Retirement Researcher Media publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Safety-First Retirement Planning: An Integrated Approach for a Worry-Free Retirement (The Retirement Researcher Guide Series)

Retirement Planning Guidebook: Navigating the Important Decisions for Retirement Success

Retirement Planning Guidebook: Navigating the Important Decisions for Retirement Success

Reverse Mortgages: How to use Reverse Mortgages to Secure Your Retirement (The Retirement Researcher Guide Series)

Reverse Mortgages: How to use Reverse Mortgages to Secure Your Retirement (The Retirement Researcher Guide Series)

Retirement Planning Guidebook: Navigating the Important Decisions for Retirement Success (The Retirement Researcher Guide Series)

Retirement Planning Guidebook: Navigating the Important Decisions for Retirement Success (The Retirement Researcher Guide Series)