Early Retirement Resources 1/30/23

I have an outstanding collection of resources this month. We’ll start with two always popular topics among readers of the blog, shifting from saver to spender and creating retirement income.

I have a resource that gives details on new legislation that impacts retirement and education planning. We’ll also look at financial scams and how to protect yourself.

We’ll explore what you can know and what you can’t as you do your financial planning. Finally, I close out with a challenge regarding how we use our most valuable resource, our time.

Enjoy!

Spending Your Money

Morgan Housel does a deep-dive into The Art and Science of Spending Money. Of particular value to many of us in this audience is what he describes as “frugality inertia,” describing the challenge many of us who are natural savers have when we try to shift to spending from our assets.

Notice I say “us” and not you when describing this challenge. My wife, Kim, and I recently discussed how this phenomenon created stress around money for the first time in our relationship at the time when we had more than ever before. Listen to the conversation on the Earn & Invest Podcast: Should I Retire Yet?.

A book about how to spend money that has been on my radar is Bill Perkins’ Die With Zero. That book got bumped way up the list after listening to the insightful discussion he had on Peter Attia’s Drive Podcast: Optimizing life for maximum fulfillment.

Retirement Income

Allan Roth provides a thoughtful review of current safe withdrawal rate research, writing Challenging Morningstar’s Safe Withdrawal Rates.

Jeffrey Levine and Ed Slott provide key insights into a potential way to create early retirement income, 72(t) Payments, Yes of No?.

Lisa Rabasca Roepe gives an honest take on a topic that is often misrepresented in the personal finance space. She writes What’s Passive Income? It’s Not What Influencers Say It Is.

Secure Act 2.0 — The Details

Last month, I shared early reports on the Secure Act 2.0. The new bill was passed just before the end of last year, and I wanted to share information about this bill that impacts financial planning, though details were still rolling in.

Earlier this month, I expanded on some key changes to RMD rules in the law when answering a reader question in a post about creating retirement income.

Now that the dust has settled, Jeffrey Levine presents the most comprehensive review I’ve read as it relates to financial planning aspects of the new law. He writes, Secure Act 2.0: Later RMDs, 529-To-Roth Rollovers, And Other Tax Planning Opportunities.

The significant RMD changes have already been incorporated into the NewRetirement PlannerPlus tool, allowing you to see how they impact projected income, taxes, and Roth conversion strategies.

Protect Yourself

I devoted more time in these “round-up” posts that I would have liked last year discussing scams, fraud, and how to protect yourself from them. Unfortunately, these are topics that are likely not going anywhere.

Lily Hay Newman reports on yet another data breach, to a company that exists specifically to prevent such occurrences. She highlights the challenge of protecting your data in an online world, writing Yes, It’s Time to Ditch LastPass.

A scam I reported on late last year was “check washing.” Mike Piper shares his experience as a victim, writing My Experience With Check Fraud – And What You Can Learn From It.

What You Can Know…. And What You Can’t

We all desire certainty when making financial projections and creating plans. Meg Bartelt shares why Reasonable But Arbitrary is the best you can do with financial decisions.

It’s common to waste time and energy on things we can’t possibly know. Simultaneously, we’re often ignorant to things that absolutely can be known. One that is vital to your financial outcomes is investment costs. Yet Michael Taffe reports Most Clients Don’t Know How Much Their Advisor Costs.

Spending Your Time

I started the collection with articles about spending money. Brendan Leonard challenges each of us to consider how we’re using our most precious resource, our time. He writes Feeling It.

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[Chris Mamula used principles of traditional retirement planning, combined with creative lifestyle design, to retire from a career as a physical therapist at age 41. After poor experiences with the financial industry early in his professional life, he educated himself on investing and tax planning. Now he draws on his experience to write about wealth building, DIY investing, financial planning, early retirement, and lifestyle design at Can I Retire Yet? Chris has been featured on MarketWatch, Morningstar, U.S. News & World Report, and Business Insider. He is also the primary author of the book Choose FI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence. You can reach him at chris@caniretireyet.com.]

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