Ritz Stevens Insights · Retirement Planning
The Retirement Conversations Clients Bring You.
Withdrawal rates, Social Security timing, RMDs, and the sequence of returns risk that shows up right when a client can least afford it. Ritz Stevens writes about the retirement income questions advisors field every week.
What We Write About
Retirement planning topics advisors are fielding right now
Social Security Timing
When claiming early costs more than it saves, and when delaying doesn’t.
Withdrawal Strategy
Safe withdrawal rates, sequence of returns risk, and building an income plan that survives a bad first five years.
Required Minimum Distributions
RMD rules, the accounts they apply to, and the mistakes that trigger a penalty.
Longevity and Care Planning
Lifespan assumptions, continuing care retirement communities, and planning for a retirement that runs longer than the plan expected.
Early Retirement
Coast FIRE and the accumulation strategies clients are asking about earlier than they used to.
Legislative Watch
The WEP and GPO repeal, and what changed for clients who spent part of a career outside Social Security coverage.
Where This Fits
Retirement income planning is client work. Running the firm that does it is ours.
Ritz Stevens doesn’t manage retirement income for individual clients. What we track is the planning questions advisors are getting asked right now, claiming strategy, withdrawal rates, RMDs, so you’ve got a current answer before you build the plan. The same practitioner first approach carries into Next Destination℠ and Launch℠, we tell you what we know and point you to the right resource for what we don’t.
From the Library
New retirement planning posts land regularly
- The RMD Planning Window Most Solo RIAs Never OpenExecutive Summary Ask an advisor about required minimum distributions and most describe a task that runs itself. The custodian’s system… Read more: The RMD Planning Window Most Solo RIAs Never Open
- The Safe Withdrawal Rate Number Is Solving The Wrong ProblemExecutive Summary Every year, the retirement planning industry waits for an updated safe withdrawal rate. Morningstar puts this year’s number… Read more: The Safe Withdrawal Rate Number Is Solving The Wrong Problem
- The Social Security Claiming Advice Clients Already Know And Still IgnoreExecutive Summary For two decades the standard advisor playbook on Social Security has been the same. Show the client the… Read more: The Social Security Claiming Advice Clients Already Know And Still Ignore
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is considered a safe withdrawal rate right now?
The old 4 percent rule still gets used as a starting point, but sequence of returns risk in the first five years matters more than the headline number, and a plan built only around the average return misses that entirely.
How much does delaying Social Security actually add to a client’s benefit?
Roughly 8 percent a year between full retirement age and 70, fixed by law rather than by markets, and it’s the reason delaying is worth modeling even for a client who wants to claim early.
What triggers an RMD and when does it start?
Required minimum distributions start at the age set by current law for most retirement accounts, and missing one triggers a penalty that’s steep enough to matter even on a small account.
What is sequence of returns risk and why does it matter more in the first years of retirement?
Two clients can retire with the same average return over twenty years and end up in completely different places depending on whether the bad years hit first or last, because withdrawals during a downturn lock in losses a portfolio in accumulation never has to realize.
Does Ritz Stevens manage retirement income for clients directly?
No. We’re not a registered investment adviser and don’t manage assets or give individualized retirement advice. This page is where we publish what we’re seeing on the topic. If you want to talk about your practice instead, that’s the Next Destination℠ and Launch℠ conversation.
Have a Retirement Planning Question We Haven’t Written About Yet?
Tell us what you’re working through. We’ll point you to what we’ve got, or just answer it directly.
General information for financial advisors. Not individualized tax, legal, or investment advice. See our Disclosures.