Retirement Plans for Aging: EDU #2519

May 7, 2025

Retirement Plans for Aging: EDU #2519

Chris’s Summary:
Jim and I take a step back in this Dialogue EDU episode to explore how we design retirement plans for again. We talk through common misunderstandings around projections, explain how our See Through Portfolio™ helps people navigate retirement with more confidence, and clarify how simplicity is built into the process.

Jim’s “Pithy” Summary:
Chris and I use this EDU episode to have a dialogue on some of the feedback we’ve received about our planning approach. A few listener emails spark a broader discussion about how people interpret our process, where confusion creeps in, and how we intentionally design retirement plans for aging—plans that simplify as clients get older rather than becoming more complex. It’s not about right or wrong but how a retirement plan holds up when real-world questions come into play.

Along the way, I dig into why every projection is technically wrong (but why that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do one!), how we use the law of large numbers to find planning value, and why the first few years of retirement are the hardest. I rant a bit about outdated bond assumptions, explain how our forward-looking returns are built, and revisit my old fog and boat analogies (yes, again). We talk about how retirement should get easier over time, how to protect your future self from cognitive decline, and why someday—even for all you hardcore DIYers—it might be worth hiring a firm like ours, as long as they’re not charging AUM fees. I even manage to tie it all together with a story about firewood. You’ve been warned!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:31:34 — 41.9MB)

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