If You Can: The 5-minute Version
Dr William J. Bernstein is a neurologist, author and financial theorist. He has several books to his credit. Among them is If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly, written in 2014. It is available as a pdf document, freely downloadable here. If you’d rather hold a book and turn its pages, it’s right […]
The Simple Path To Wealth: The 5-minute version (Part 2)
In the previous post, we covered about half of the gem that is The Simple Path To Wealth by JL Collins. Here, we continue from where we left off. Asset Allocation “Wealth Accumulation Phase” The author is a proponent of simplicity. He recommends sticking to the Total Stock Market Index Fund, preferably at Vanguard (VTSAX), […]
The Simple Path To Wealth: The 5-minute version (Part 1)
I am beginning the 5-minute version series with one of the simplest, yet most powerful books in the personal finance arena: The Simple Path to Wealth by J L Collins. Lines from this book have become veritable quotable quotes. I wish I’d chanced upon this book earlier, it espouses all that is good, solid investing. […]
How Much To Save for Retirement?
Saving for retirement. Sounds fairly simple, right? Earn a bunch of money. Stick it in accounts earmarked “Retirement” and you’re done! Actually, this isn’t far from the truth. It really is simple. Let’s see how. Working Your Way Backwards In the previous post on this series, we learned how to figure out how much you […]
Safe Withdrawal Rate: The Trinity Study
In the previous post, we read about Bengen’s 1994 study which first brought about the concept of a Safe Withdrawal Rate to ensure one’s portfolio outlasts oneself in retirement. Close on the heels of Bengen’s publication, came another one: “Retirement Savings: Choosing a Withdrawal Rate That Is Sustainable”, nicknamed the Trinity Study- since the three authors […]
Safe Withdrawal Rate: The Evidence
If you are saving up for retirement, you are probably planning on a Safe Withdrawal Rate between 3 and 4%. Where does this come from? As physicians, we love to see the evidence behind recommendations. Here’s a little bit about the Safe Withdrawal Rate. The origin of the Safe Withdrawal Rate comes from a study […]
How Much Do You Need For Retirement?
I did an informal survey of physicians back in 2016. One of the questions I asked was this: How much do you need for retirement? 11% of the nearly 1000 physicians said they had no idea. This is a problem. How do you attain a goal if you can not define it? So let’s try […]
Healthcare Costs in Retirement: The Basics (Part 1)
Healthcare costs in retirement: known as the BIG UNKNOWN of retirement finances. Even among folks enthusiastic and knowledgeable about personal finance, I found this subject broached with some trepidation. Turns out, it may be less daunting than initially expected. Make no mistake, it is a sizable chunk of change. Plus, it remains the most uncertain […]