Nevin's Data "Points"

Whether you are a Game of Thrones aficionado – or haven’t watched a single episode – there are lessons to be learned nonetheless. Last week I recounted some fiduciary admonitions from the HBO series. Turns out there are words of wisdom for individual retirement savers as well. Check these out. “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.” All the way back in Season 1, Cersei Lannister explained what has certainly been a theme for the series as a whole. That said, retirement isn’t a game of thrones, nor is it precisely a “win or die” scenario. We all die, eventually of course (no “wights” here), but there are those who “win,” at least if you consider those who have sufficient resources to fund retirement as “winning.” The non-partisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) has previously  found  that current levels of Social Security benefits, coupled with at least 30 years of 401(k) savings eligibility,...

I was late to the Game of Thrones – and though its final season seems a bit “rushed” – there has been plenty to not only watch, but mull over in its eight-season run. And yet, as the series wound to a close on Sunday night, I kept thinking there were some lessons for retirement amidst the mayhem. ‘A man’s gotta have a code.’ Sandor Clegane (a.k.a., the Hound) had some of the best quotes during the series run (though most of them are not “printable” here). This is one for the ages, and while he drew this particular line in a conversation with Arya Stark about his choice between being a thief (not OK) and a murderer of young boys (OK?), for Sandor, he did at least have a personal, if not, “professional,” boundary which governed his actions. Of course, plan fiduciaries have not one, but two to keep in mind: ERISA – and the Internal Revenue Code. ‘No one can survive in this world without help. No one.’  Jorah Mormont’s words of wisdom to his “Khal...