We’ve Updated Our Two Actuarial Budget Calculators for Retirees

We recently received a suggestion from one of our readers that resulted in changes to our two ABCs for retirees. The suggestion came from Mr. Jerry Kiefer, a retiree with an engineering background. Mr. Kiefer was looking at our post of July 26, 2016 (we are not making this up), and suggested that it would be nice to reflect the expected proceeds from the sale of David’s, (our hypothetical retiree in that post) house in the expected runout of David’s assets in the ABC for Single Retirees. Mr. Kiefer correctly noted that doing so would eliminate the potential cash flow warning that was being produced when he entered the present value of the expected sale in the “PV Other Sources of Income” cell. 

Managing Your Finances in Retirement

Every once in a while, we come across an article in the retirement-focused press that contains what we believe to be reasonably good financial advice for retirees or near-retirees.  And by good retirement financial advice, we mean, of course, advice that is reasonably consistent with what we advocate in this website.   As you can probably guess from our prior posts, these “good advice” articles generally don’t advocate using the 4% Rule or any other SWP to withdraw amounts from your savings.

Actuaries Submit Comments on LISE Calculation and Disclosure Rules

On November 17, the Lifetime Income Risk Joint Committee of the American Academy of Actuaries submitted comments regarding the DOL/EBSA Interim Final Rule on Lifetime Income Stream Equivalents (LISEs) to be included in benefit statements provided to participants in defined contribution plans.   We agreed with most of their comments, as they were reasonably consistent with comments we submitted earlier this year.  Our comments were discussed in our posts of May 29, 2020 and September 1, 2020.  This post will summarize primary areas of broad agreement and one minor area of disagreement with the recently released Academy comments.

Free Planning Data from the CBO

Every year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) releases its 30-year projection of U.S. federal deficits, debt, spending, and revenues assuming current law remains substantially unchanged.  This projection can provide helpful information to individuals planning for the future.  In this post, we will summarize some of the key takeaways from the 2020 CBO report released last September and potential retirement financial planning implications for our readers.