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When Memory Becomes History

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A quarter-century is a long time. Long enough for children born after Sept. 11, 2001, to have now finished college, entered the workforce and begun building lives and families of their own.    Long enough for the images that remain painfully vivid to some of us to have become history to millions of others. ad space But 25 years is not long enough to forget. Those of us who lived through that day still remember where we were when we heard — or, perhaps more accurately, when we finally understood. We remember the images, the uncertainty and the urgent need to hear the voices of those we loved. We remember a day on which thousands of people left home for an ordinary Tuesday and never returned. As it happened — and I have shared this story before — I was travelling from one coast to the other — heading to speak at a conference early on that bright Tuesday morning in 2001. In fact, I was in the middle of that cross-country flight, literally running from one terminal to another in D...
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‘Success,’ More or Less?

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What does it mean to have a 75% probability of success? I’ve never been particularly fond of the probability-of-success measures commonly used in retirement planning. It’s not that the calculations aren’t useful — or that I have a better crystal ball. I’m just not convinced that most people understand what the resulting percentage means, much less how to apply it to their retirement decisions. After all, a 75% probability of success sounds like a grade — and not a particularly good one. It also sounds as though there is a 25% chance that your retirement will be a complete and unmitigated failure. Neither interpretation is necessarily accurate. ad space A new paper from David Blanchett at PGIM, aptly titled “Successfully Failing,” takes on that conventional measure and suggests that it may not simply be confusing. It may actually lead retirees — and those advising them — to make less-than-optimal decisions. Success ‘Measures’ Probability-of-success calculations generally run a retireme...
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Kids, Confidence — and Causation

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It seems that having kids can be good for your retirement confidence. At least that’s the headline regarding a new survey from Allianz Life that finds that Americans without children are significantly less confident in their ability to meet their retirement savings goal — 54%, compared with 72% of those with children. Now I’m sure that result is supposed to be counter-intuitive because — let’s face it — kids are expensive. There’s food, clothing, childcare, education, healthcare and, in some cases, financial support long after they have theoretically “left” the nest. So, it would seem logical that Americans without children would have more money available for retirement — and greater confidence about their prospects. [i] ad space Parental Planning? Well, as it turns out, it may not be children that account for the confidence — at least not directly. Rather, Allianz suggests that parenthood may provide a catalyst for financial planning. According to the survey, 62% of Americans without...
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Spending Their Inheritance?

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   Apparently, Baby Boomers have some ‘splainin to do. Yes, after decades of being blamed for everything from the demise of defined benefit pensions to the price of housing, Boomers are now being castigated for something else: spending the money that their children were (apparently) counting on inheriting. Indeed, there’s been a lot of talk about the so-called “Great Wealth Transfer” — and lately a fair amount of consternation that Boomers might actually spend some of that wealth before they die. Which got me wondering: How much did the Boomers actually inherit from their parents? Turns out, for most, not all that much. Back in 2011, researchers at Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research [i] took a specific look at that question. They estimated that about two-thirds of Boomer households would ultimately receive an inheritance. And that median expected inheritance was ... (just) $64,000 . Now, $64,000 is certainly nothing to sneeze at. But neither is it the kind of ge...
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