Retirement Starts Today

Maybe make your show longer and talk slower.

The perfect RMD episode isn’t advice you will hear everywhere. This is a solid podcast for every level of listener looking at retirement. But trim the beard way back.

Benjamin promotes flexible spending using the Guyton-Klinger. He suggests the risk as being basically a one time 10% cut in spending, while allowing a 5% or more initial SWR. However, a January 2000 retiree with a 60/40 portfolio would face four 10% cuts with the first 10 years, resulting in a 35% reduction in spending. That’d be OK if your basic needs represent 65% of your spending at the start of retirement (and you’re OK with potentially that much spending variation); but I’ve never heard him provide this warning. His other content is good - thus, not giving it one star. But this one omission is pretty serious in my mind.

Very helpful podcast, and nice that the format is concise. I think I am reasonably sophisticated and still get a lot out of it. Ben recently noted that some people who save a lot and who are a bit risk averse end up layering protection on top of protection, and ultimately overdo the risk mitigation thing. This was a super-helpful insight that allowed me to improve my own financial plan.