Pluto will always be a planet in my heart!!!

Hi Paul, thanks for sharing your wisdom and helping many people to have better investment plan for retirement. Thanks Paula for this interview. I learnt a lot and I am trying to improve my investment strategy as someone who recently retired. @paulmerriman2947, for someone who just retired in mid-40 with most of investment in total stock market and S&P500 with pretty high risk tolerance, would you recommend to prioritize re-allocate some to bond first or small cap value first or do equal split? I'm about to do the re-allocation of my taxable account portfolio with the 'free tax' capital gain allowance. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and wisdom for free to help others!

Thank you for speaking fast. I usually watch everything on 1.5-1.75 rate, but i had to slow down to 1.25 for this podcast

Great podcast. one point I didn't understand is the question about someone 'resetting' using 4% of the portfolio every year. In bull years you get a raise to 4% of the larger portfolio. in bear years you get a reduction. Bengen's point that resetting every year to 4% of the current value o portfolio may cause the portfolio to collapse doesn't make intuitive sense. in some respect you are just starting your retirement again. 4% of portfolio should work for any 30 year period going forward from that point in time. If anything the inflation risk of multiple years of high inflation would be somewhat mitigated as the automatic CPI adjustment would never take place. The main downside is for periods of bear markets you would have a lower withdrawal amount. What am I missing? Thanks!

I really enjoyed this discussion! While Christine recommended keeping cash and bonds to guard against the sequence of returns risk, I wondered what were the thoughts on whole life insurance in this regard? I know that opinions can vary on whole life but perhaps this could be more efficient with the option to tap the policy’s cash value in the event of a down market, a dividend that exceeds the coupon rate on many corporate/Gov’t bonds (most mutual life companies paid ~ 6% dividend this year) and a death benefit in the event that the worst should happen. Thanks!

Awesome thank you!

Great video!!❤ Eagerly waiting for his book!!

Bring back Pluto as a planet! 😀

Every week I buy more of whatever is the lowest percentage of my portfolio and try to keep everything around 10%,

Great video. I'm l French and Portuguese and actually I'm living in Brazil. Last week, I brought your book that is giving me great ideas! I'm gonna work with some. Thank you a lot. God bless you

Over the course of an “investment life cycle”, there are two stages ; - the “accumulation” stage ( working years ) and - the “spending” or “income” stage ( retirement ) For the "accumulation" stage investor seeking the "maximal" accumulation stage portfolio growth, a well diversified portfolio of small & large value stocks (ETFs) and the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) has produced almost 2X the returns above the S&P 500 benchmark over ten rolling 30 year periods (a typical accumulation stage investment horizon), since 1986. This has been achieved with equivalent "downside risk" as the S&P 500 index ( a popular choice for 401K portfolios ). Why seek the "maximal" portfolio growth ? In the book "Work, Retire, Repeat - The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy", Teresa Ghilarducci cites that only 15% of U.S. retirement aged citizens have "enough" or "excess" savings / investments accumulated to live in "financial independence". This suggests that a majority of workers need to consider producing the highest alpha over their accumulation stage in order to reduce the odds of a lower quality retirement than they have envisioned. Many types of "spending events" undermine this retirement savings trajectory : job losses/switching, divorce, child expenses, care for elderly, business failure, health problems, etc., these leading to the possibility of "hardship withdrawals" from retirement accounts. These MAY lead to a premature and inadvertent FIRE decision ( early retirement in one's 50s ). Then, as the investor approaches the income stage, research shows that a portfolio of small & large value stocks and "Berkshire Hathaway" ( and a simple conditions based income withdrawal strategy ) has sustained between a "4 - 7%" inflation adj annual withdrawal rate ( "sale of shares", dividends internally reinvested ), accompanied by higher portfolio ending balance, over twenty rolling 20 year periods since 1986. This would entail transitioning out of the QQQ and into Berkshire Hathaway ( while continuing to hold the "value" stock ETFs ) over a pre determined period. This portfolio has been the "gold standard" equity based portfolio for income generation. Why? Because the predictability of the earnings streams and profits coming from BRK's operations ; the energy business, railroad, manufacturing service, retail and leasing businesses, and most importantly, the best assembly of insurors in the world ( which are massively overcapitalized ), are some of the most durable and well capitalized in the world. And it has tended to hold a healthy allocation of U.S. Treasury securities within it's portfolio, resulting in further asset diversification. Further, research shows that small & large value stocks have sustained between a "4 - 7%" inflation adj annual withdrawal rate ( "sale of shares", dividends internally reinvested ), accompanied by higher portfolio ending balance, over seventy two rolling 20 year periods since 1931 ! Another consideration that is rarely discussed is that, upon entering retirement, retirees are at the peak of our health ( the active "go go" years ). We may want to spend "more" / have a higher withdrawal rate during these years because as we age, spending tends to decrease on "activities & travel", and increases on health care costs - overall spending typically shrinks into demise. It can be important for the portfolio to be able to sustain a higher withdrawal rate in the earlier years of retirement. The portfolio mentioned has been able to sustain an annual "6%" inflation adjusted income rate taken in the first 5 years of the 20 year periods and these even sustained starting from the "worst" starting years ( 1999, 2001, 2002, & 2008 ). And this accompanied by higher ending portfolio balance to be use for legacy purposes. So it can be vital to pinpoint withdrawal rates with precision, along with the prevailing rate of inflation and from which account that the investment portfolio that the income is taken. Yet the design of the investment portfolio from which the withdrawal is taken is also of critical importance.

I highly recommend reading all of the papers relating to the 4% rule and its revisions including his original. Fascinating stuff.

The 70s, terrible for stocks, great for music though!

I track my returns annually and sum it to a rolling average. Calculated my "comfortable life" at my chosen retirement date using a future value of a present sum calculatiin usimg tge average inflation rate since 1972. My withdrawal rate (less inflation) floats with the averag market returns. Then I use gold as a hedge for extended down marketa since I can use the assets as collateral for secured loans to suppliment income to mitigate down markets. There is NO "one size fits all" solution, like qlot of finance nerd orthodoxy. You know your finances better than any external party. In my case, I would (and I never thought I woukd say this) agree more with thr Dave Ramsey methodology.

Absolutely ❤ these videos

My strategy: • 3% rule for fixed expenses (rent and food) • Any excess returns I'll spend on nice holidays, gadgets, etc • Inflation-linked bond ladder for 5 years rolling as a safety net • Small-cap value tilt (10%) for diversification • Occasional contract and part-time work to keep my skills sharp

I like this guy. He is like, “I am old, and don’t give a F……K…….”

Omg I love this man! Thank you for interviewing him

Great show, ❤❤

Bill Bengen is a legend! Always appreciated this guy

Thanks for sharing such valuable information! A bit off-topic, but I wanted to ask: I have a SafePal wallet with USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). How can I transfer them to Binance?

So it turns out responsible retirement planning really does take a rocket scientist! Good interview. Important to have repeatedly emphasized the danger of high inflation, underestimated by both retirees (and soon-to-be retirees) and most politicians (many of whom should have gone into retirement themselves a long time ago!).

No. The reason we don’t spend is the fear of medical expenses and LTC that’s drilled into us!

Fabulous interview. Keep taking those vitamins, Bill! We need your voice around planet earth for a while, yet.

Seems Trump's 10% Tariff ideas are a threat to markets and investors in addition to household budgets. Another 10% on top of 20% over the last 2 or 3 years might be enough to break the economy for a few years.

Fixed income is broken, good luck

I have complete financial freedom I still choose to get up at 4am go to the gym and be at work at my office at 7am to work I have my own accounting firm that runs itself I don't even need to be there at all I get paid regardless I can be on my own schedule if I want to I choose not to because people are too quick to complain about everything that's why I give myself the same disciplines rules as everyone else and do it better than everyone else and I never complain just shows people hate their personal choices that got them in the situation where they have a shitty job it's their fault they're miserable to the point they hate their job

At 32, I'm diving into investing for the first time. I’ve started contributing to my 401K and opened a Roth IRA with automatic contributions. My main question is whether asset allocation is crucial at this stage or if I'm just overthinking as a beginner.

I love the added visuals of the Morningstar chart! I mean I loved the entire discussion, but the visuals are new.

Chasing after side hustles online ends up being a super expensive mistake. Please don’t waste your time and money on trying to “make money online”

Sooo much good here. So my irritation will come across out of proportion to all that I did like. My irritation is hearing full time work referred to as a “40 hour job”. Who has those?! And do they also get to use all of the vaca days purported by HR? When I picked 58 to retire I found all of the RFP literature and channels categorizing that as “early retirement”. It triggered second guessing if I had lost my work ethic, wasn’t completing my career, etc. When I pulled old notes and tax docs to check my Soc Sec earnings history I was shook. It wasn’t most of my career, it was all the years of my career from 17 to 58 that I had averaged 55-65 hours a week. And at inopportune times there were many dozens of 70-84 hour weeks. When I realized that the number of hours I had worked would have taken over 6 decades for a “40 hour job”, I was suddenly unburdened from the “retiring early” label. Luckily I had the discipline and gym access during a couple decades of my career. This contributed to being fit and healthy enough at retirement to go find whatever life and world was being enjoyed by all of the people rumored to have “40 hour jobs”.

Oops, Back to the drawing board

Disregard everything they said , use bitcoin instead, you’re welcome

I have about 35% in real estate , 40% in stocks/index funds, 25% in cash-bonds-cash vehicles.

I listened until you said you went to Columbia. Hard no on anything from a graduate of that most over valued shit hole in America.

It would be nice that when you or your guests are mentioning different classes that you would provide examples of ETFs that are withing thoses classes, with your audience knowing full when they are not recommendations but examples. Thanks

5 to 8 years of living expenses in bonds? Did I hear that right?

It is mind blowing that someone as tied to planning for retirement as Christine has a total inability to envision a life completely without her work. Sad. There is so much more to life than the narrow focus of a working career. She is not alone. It seems especially the case that Type A's suffer this malady. She has saved her entire life for retirement and thought about it extensively, but to no point. A real tragedy.

Thank you - I enjoyed the interview with Christine Benz and learned a lot.

I've set up my retirement to minimize taxes, thanks to Monica Mary Strigle, a NY-based fiduciary whose expert guidance significantly influenced my diversified portfolio. At 58, my wife and I plan to retire at 62 with a booming portfolio that Monica helped me structure: $620k brokerage account (withdrawing up to $94k at 0% tax), $140k IRA (tax-deferred, using standard deduction), $325k Roth IRA (tax-free), $100k cash, and 15oz physical gold. Monica's strategic advice led me to allocate assets effectively, ensuring a balanced mix of investments, and her tax planning expertise enabled me to optimize our withdrawals. With Social Security, a $25k pension, and our diversified investments, we'll draw from multiple sources, securing a comfortable retirement.

Lots of wisdom from Christine here. I agree that cash and fixed income is important to ride out potential stock declines. To reduce opportunity cost / minimise regret, you can use TIPS or Inflation Linked Bonds for part of your fixed income. Part-time and contract work does exist, you just have to be steady and persistent in seeking it out. Be prepared to be looking for 3-6 months. In my experience, as long as you're persistent and work to market yourself properly there's always some way to get paid, if you need a bit of extra funds.

And aim to put at least 50 % of income into shares from your pay !

excellent information and enjoyable as always.

2023's market correction offers a buying opportunity for disciplined investors. Focus on long-term growth with $VOO (S&P 500), $VTI (Total US Stock Market), $QQQ (High-Growth Tech), and $SCHD (Growth + Dividends).

Have you ever imagined inheriting $1 million? Bro said he's feeling guilty about spending the money and anxious about making financial mistakes.

I converted my 401k to a Roth IRA to avoid higher taxes in the future. I'd rather pay taxes now than be stuck paying taxes on my retirement income when I'm 59 and living off my savings.