The Retirement Income Solution, or How to Stop Worrying and Love Equities as You Age (Journal Article)

This paper explores the issues surrounding retirement income planning, arguing in favor of a goals-based, rising equity glide path strategy. Prominent issues include retirement spending trends, conventional planning strategies, asset allocation, and safe withdrawal rates. The proposed approach anticipates the arc of a typical retirement life cycle, accounting for the primary risks that retirees face. Despite the lack of consensus on the optimal way to design a retirement distribution plan, the proposed strategy offers an effective means to mitigate both sequence risk and adverse investor behavior, thereby improving outcomes.

Author: Beau W. Burns, CFP, is a financial advisor at Robert W. Baird & Co. He received his masters of science in personal financial planning at The College for Financial Planning. In addition to providing comprehensive financial planning services to his clients, he publishes a blog called Beau Knows, which features planning and investment insights.