Nevin's Data "Points"

As if there wasn’t enough to worry about regarding retirement—a new research paper suggests we’re not worrying about the “right” things. More precisely, that paper, published by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, was titled, “ How Well Do Retirees Assess the Risks They Face in Retirement? ” And, as you might suppose, the answer provided at the conclusion of the paper is—“not very well.”  The premise of the paper relies on the author’s identification of five major risks in retirement, which turn out to be: Longevity risk (the risk of outliving one’s resources) Market risk (the financial risk not only from the markets, but from things like the housing market) Health risk (the risk of unexpected medical and long-term care expenses) Family risk (the risks arising from divorce, death, or the unexpected illness of an adult child) Policy risk (notably the sustainability at current benefit levels of Social Security) Arguably, all of these are legitimate risks tha...

By some accounts, I just spent the past week in “retirement”—driving around sightseeing, reading some good books, hanging out with family, and yes—even walking on a beach. And I have to tell you—if that was retirement, I don’t know how I’m going to afford it. Now, I realize that isn’t the stuff of most “real” retirements, though it is frequently the stuff of retirement planning brochures. My week was a family vacation, and it was spent doing the things that families do on vacations. [i]  And it served as a stark reminder that while sitting on a beach doesn’t cost much, making arrangements to stay—and eat—in proximity to the aforementioned beach is a whole other financial consideration. That said, when those actually  in  retirement are asked about their retirement confidence—well, it’s pretty high. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute/Greenwald Associates annual  Retirement Confidence Survey , 77% of current retirees report feeling eit...

Things are—slowly—getting back to normal. Planes are filling up, commutes are slowing with increased traffic volumes, and in-person meetings are back underway.  And while for many readers things have been back to “normal” for some time, I’ve had the opportunity over the past two months to participate in three separate advisor events that were the first such in-person gatherings since the onset of the pandemic. We’ve learned not only how to navigate things like virtual committee meetings and education sessions, but found that in many cases those platforms could be even more effective in extending our reach to individuals who might not have made it to an in-person session, or who might have been more receptive to those messages in the wake of COVID concerns about health and job security.  While we’re not quite “done” with COVID (and perhaps we never will be), we’ve learned a lot of valuable lessons. The notion that we have to be in a physical office to be produc...

As new rules about rollover disclosures kick in, a new report highlights an often unacknowledged risk of rollovers—high(er) fees. That’s right—a new report from Pew Trusts seems to have stirred up a new awareness of that issue—all this attention just as PTE 2020-02 brings the  written requirement  of why a rollover is in the best interests of participants into play. That difference shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has ever compared the fees in their 401(k) to an IRA. Most 401(k)s benefit from institutional pricing, and if the menu of available investment options isn’t quite as broad as that in an IRA, they benefit from the selection and monitoring by ERISA fiduciaries. Yes, IRAs are just that— individual  retirement accounts—smaller, generally speaking with more options—and yes, much more likely to be charged retail mutual fund fees—more expensive. In that sense the report—though it’s garnered headlines of...

 It’s been said that there remains more that unites us than divides us—but that’s not how it feels most days.  However, such times are not all that unusual for this diverse nation. Indeed, if today’s battle lines do seem harsher and more extreme, my sense is that it’s only because they are magnified by media and social media, transported to us every minute of the day and night by devices we dare not relinquish any longer than to recharge the battery. Consider the nation’s declaration of independence which we will commemorate on Monday. Students of history—not to mention aficionados of the musical 1776 or   readers of David McCullough’s John Adams  or viewers of its HBO miniseries adaptation—know that the decision to declare independence was no easy matter. Indeed, the political bartering and frustrations involved in getting to a “unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America” would have been all-too familiar to the legislators of today....