The “New” Math?
One of my more frustrating memories of parenthood was trying to help my kids with their homework. Not because I hadn’t covered the territory once upon a time myself, or because I couldn’t manage to refresh my recollection(s) of the subject. It wasn’t enough to teach my kids a method sufficient to arrive at the correct answer, and to help them understand how we got there. No, it didn’t “count” unless I could arrive at the answer by adhering to what struck me as a weirdly inefficient and complicated regimen upon which their teachers insisted. If this was the “new math,” I remember thinking at the time, I fear for the sanity of the next generation. This past weekend The New York Times ran an article aptly, if somewhat awkwardly, titled, “ New Math for Retirees and the 4% Withdrawal Rule .” The focus of the article, like the 4% rule itself, was how to pace withdrawals in retirement so that you don’t run out of money before you run out of retirement. However, like so many other things...