Hi Jan,

A solid retirement plan accounts for more than just your savings and investment returns. Timing matters too, especially when it comes to when you begin drawing income from your portfolio. This week’s featured article explores the concept of sequence of return risk and explains why the early years of retirement can have a lasting impact on how long your money lasts.

We are also including a related article that explores how to build a retirement strategy that works even when the future feels uncertain. Together, these resources are a reminder that you do not need perfect foresight to build a strong plan. You just need a framework that prepares you to adapt with confidenc
Why Sequence of Return Risk Matters for Your Retirement Income
Sequence of return risk focuses on the timing of market drops and how early losses in retirement can reshape your entire income picture. You can average the same annualized returns as another retiree and still end up with very different results simply because your bad years arrived at the wrong time. Retirees who have saved diligently worry they could still fall behind simply because they retired at the wrong moment. That fear lies at the heart of sequence risk, which is why understanding it is so important. 
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By Retirement Researcher
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Why Embracing Uncertainty Might Be the Smartest Retirement Move You Can Make
Uncertainty makes most people uneasy, especially when they are nearing retirement or already living it. You want to trust that your income will last and that your decisions today will still hold up ten or twenty years from now. Yet uncertainty is not only impossible to eliminate; it is also one of the very reasons long-term investing works at all.​​​​​​​
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By McLean Asset Management
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Episode 208

Your Retirement Spending Questions Answered: The 4 Percent Rule, Sequence Risk, and Glide Paths

In this week’s Retire With Style, Wade and Alex answer listener questions about sequence of return risk and explain how it interacts with withdrawal strategies like the 4 percent rule. They discuss why average returns can produce very different outcomes depending on when they happen and explore how variable spending approaches may help retirees stay flexible when markets are less cooperative.
LISTEN HERE