{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Retirement Hangout","provider_url":"https:\/\/retirementhangout.com","author_name":"Hangout Host","author_url":"https:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/index.php\/author\/keith\/","title":"10 Great Retirement Planning Blogs - Retirement Hangout","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"UtVliltMDf\"><a href=\"https:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/14\/10-great-retirement-planning-blogs\/\">10 Great Retirement Planning Blogs<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/14\/10-great-retirement-planning-blogs\/embed\/#?secret=UtVliltMDf\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;10 Great Retirement Planning Blogs&#8221; &#8212; Retirement Hangout\" data-secret=\"UtVliltMDf\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>\n","description":"There are quite a few excellent financial planning blogs out there \u2013 so many that I sometimes wonder why I\u2019m adding my own site to what is already a crowded space in the blogosphere.\u00a0 Then I recall how much of what is out there is misleading, self-serving or just plain incomprehensible.\u00a0 My goal is to provide sound retirement financial planning ideas and advice, written in plain English, without any underlying agenda.\u00a0 I believe investing and financial planning are really quite straightforward if you can tune out the noise.\u00a0 I try to provide enough explanation and references that the curious reader doesn\u2019t just have to take my word for what I\u2019m saying, but can follow up and dig deeper where he or she is so inclined.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A great way to broaden your understanding of financial planning for retirement is to spend some time exploring some of the better blogs out there.\u00a0 This post lists some of my favorites.\u00a0 Spending some time browsing through these sites can give you a deeper understanding of retirement planning, including insight into what the experts all agree on and where they disagree.\u00a0 The authors of these blogs tell compelling stories, share enlightening analyses, alert you to important issues, impart enthusiasm, and share their experience and wisdom.\u00a0 \u00a0(Note: I have no affiliation with and receive no compensation or advantage of any kind from any of the sites I recommend below.\u00a0 I just like them.) Nerd&#8217;s Eye View &#8212; Michael Kitces Michael Kitces is a widely respected writer and analyst on financial and retirement planning.\u00a0 (I\u2019ve cited several of his blogs in earlier posts.)\u00a0 His financial planning expertise is vast, and his advice always sound and on target.\u00a0 I found his posts on Safe Withdrawal Rates (he thinks the 4% Rule still works) and on the popular \u201cBucket\u201d approach to organizing your retirement finances (more mirage than real safety net, in his opinion) particularly insightful.\u00a0\u00a0 A word of warning \u2013 he\u2019s primarily writing for other financial planners, so some of his posts are pitched a little high for the typical lay reader. Retirement Researcher &#8212; Wade Pfau Wade Pfau, one of several writers on Retirement Researcher, has received wide recognition in the finance world, and has published some important articles in the Journal of Financial Planning and elsewhere.\u00a0\u00a0 Mr. Pfau has updated the Safe Withdrawal Rate studies by Bengen and the Trinity Study, and writes on whether the 4% Rule is still sound today (he leans toward a more conservative 3.5%).\u00a0 I particularly liked a piece he wrote with Jeremy Cooper, in which he compared \u201cthe Yin and Yang\u201d of different retirement income philosophies, i.e., safe withdrawal rates vs. the lifecycle finance\/safety first approach. \u00a0Unfortunately, the RR site does not seem to be set up to allow the reader to thumb through his posts easily.\u00a0 Oblivious Investor &#8212; Mike Piper Mike Piper says that the point of his blog is \u201cto show that investing doesn\u2019t have to be complicated.\u201d\u00a0 In my opinion, he succeeds remarkably well.\u00a0 He has a solid grasp of the range of retirement planning topics, from safe withdrawal rates to investing strategies to annuities, social security and taxation.\u00a0 He has a knack for explaining these sometimes complex topics clearly, concisely, and without jargon.\u00a0 He is a proponent of the simple, index fund school of investing brought to the masses by the late Jack Bogle, who famously said: \u201cDon&#8217;t look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack!\u201d (See this post for more on the index fund approach to retirement investing.)\u00a0 If you tire of reading through Mike\u2019s 900 or so posts, he has several books on retirement planning that are also short and sweet. \u00a0\u00a0 Asset Builder &#8212; Scott Burns Scott Burns was a financial columnist for the Asset Builder blog and the Dallas Morning News, writing about all manner of financial topics for over thirty years.\u00a0 His advice, wit and wisdom were couched in fluid writing and engaging story-telling that educated you without effort on your part.\u00a0 Although he is now (unfortunately for us) retired, his posts are still well worth reading.\u00a0 He is probably best known for catching Peter Lynch giving bad retirement advice (see this post) and for inventing the \u201ccouch potato portfolio\u201d back when passive index investing was still pretty much a fringe idea.\u00a0 His archives can be found here. MoneyWatch &#8212; Steve Vernon Steve Vernon is a well known financial planner and writer. \u00a0 He has decades of experience about pretty much every aspect of retirement planning, from social security claiming to working in retirement to health care.\u00a0 His MoneyWatch posts are free of jargon and easy to follow.\u00a0 I find his work on withdrawal strategies particularly interesting; he explains the value of annuities clearly and objectively \u2013 a refreshing contrast with much of the writing on annuities \u2013 and, in a study done for the Stanford Center on Longevity, concludes that combining delayed Social Security with IRS Required Minimum Distributions might be the best retirement withdrawal strategy for most people.\u00a0\u00a0 The Retirement Cafe &#8212; Dirk Cotton Dirk Cotton, a retired executive, has earned recognition within the financial planning field for his Retirement Cafe blog. His posts, which often go into some depth, are thoughtful, analytical, and well written.\u00a0\u00a0 He brings an independent mindset to the questions he explores, and isn\u2019t afraid to take contrarian positions when he believes the conventional wisdom is off base.\u00a0 He throws in interesting stories and history, and provides useful references to his sources.\u00a0 I particularly recommend his Unraveling Retirement Strategies posts on different types of withdrawal strategies (e.g., constant percentage, constant dollar, floor-and upside, buckets), which I found enlightening and well worth reading.\u00a0 Mr. Money Mustache &#8211; Peter Adeney Peter Adeney, better known by his nom de blog, Mr. Money Mustache, may be the most widely followed of the many Financial Independence\/Early Retirement (FIRE) bloggers.\u00a0 Indeed, he has attained almost cult status, with thousands of disciples known as Mustachians and annual conventions of the faithful.\u00a0 The FIRE movement is wildly popular on the Internet, with myriad bloggers charting their progress toward the big day or reporting back from their world travels or fulfilling post-work lives, encouraging others to stay the course.\u00a0\u00a0 If you\u2019re going to read a FIRE blog (and you should \u2013 this is where a lot of the energy is in retirement planning), I can recommend Mr. Money Mustache.\u00a0 He writes in an entertaining, iconoclastic style (despite being something of an institution himself at this point), and lays out clearly the basic FIRE message and math \u2013 save a lot more than most people and live on a lot less, and you can stop working for the man a whole lot earlier than you might think.\u00a0 Even if you don\u2019t plan to retire young (or, like me, it\u2019s too late to retire early!), it\u2019s valuable for anyone to understand the trade-offs and have a plan to reach financial independence (a.k.a., retirement).\u00a0 And such enthusiasm \u2013 you can\u2019t help but enjoy it! Early Retirement Now &#8212; Big ERN Early Retirement Now is one of my favorite FIRE sites.\u00a0 Karsten Jeske (Big ERN&#8217;s real name) has the background (a PhD in Economics, work for the Federal Reserve and investment firms) to dig deep into the financial analysis behind retirement planning.\u00a0 He has made it his mission to understand \u2013 and share \u2013 the ins and outs of investing, sequence of returns, portfolio allocation, withdrawal strategies and the like as they apply to early retirees \u00a0\u2013 who may need to plan for 50 or 60 years of \u201cretirement!\u201d \u00a0His analysis is outstanding \u2013 there are useful insights even for those of us not planning to retire in our 40s \u2013 and his cogent and entertaining writing makes his complex topics accessible to the average shmoe (although you couldn\u2019t call it light reading) .\u00a0 \u00a0Check out his series of posts on Safe Withdrawal Rates; the early retirement equivalent of the 4% Rule appears to be 3.5 (or maybe 3.25) percent &#8212; if you stay invested 80% in stocks!\u00a0 And don\u2019t miss his hair-raising analysis of the prospects for those who retired in 2000 and are counting on the 4% Rule. (See this paper.) TIPSWatch &#8212; David Enna Financial journalist David Enna writes TIPSWatch, the best resource I\u2019ve found on Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) and I-Bonds (inflation-indexed savings bonds).\u00a0\u00a0 While this blog has a niche focus, I include it on this list because I think TIPS (and I-Bonds) are something every investor should consider including in the bond portion of their portfolios. \u00a0With TIPS, you can lock yourself into a real rate of return (admittedly not very high at the moment!) and protect yourself against the potential effects of inflation on medium and long-term bonds.\u00a0 Enna\u2019s easy-to-follow TIPSWatch posts educate you on the pros and cons of TIPS and I Bonds, and provide helpful alerts and analysis of upcoming Treasury auctions.\u00a0 \u00a0 The Bogleheads Forum The Bogleheads Forum is an online forum that has intelligent, often in-depth discussions on practically every financial topic under the sun.\u00a0 This site, created by followers of John Bogle, has a definite philosophy \u2013 low-cost index fund investing, as pioneered by John Bogle and Vanguard, the fund company he founded.\u00a0 Since this is an approach that has been demonstrated to beat 80% of active fund managers, and is eminently suited to small investors because of its low cost and simplicity, it\u2019s a bias I can get behind.\u00a0 Boglehead regulars are collegial, and many are extremely smart and savvy about financial matters.\u00a0 I confess to a secret crush on the moderator, Ladygeek, and would love to meet the gracious dean of posters, Taylor Larimore, the thoughtful and insightful Nispirius, and many others.\u00a0 There\u2019s so much on the site it can be intimidating; I recommend Googling whatever financial question is on your mind and appending \u201cBogleheads\u201d to the query \u2013 you\u2019re almost guaranteed to find a fascinating, instructive discussion. There you have it \u2013 ten blogs, some written for everyman, some more sophisticated and in depth.&nbsp; They cover the range of retirement planning topics from a variety of perspectives, and are all very readable and well done.&nbsp; Pour yourself a cup of coffee and start exploring! References Adeney, Peter.\u00a0 Mr. Money Mustache. Bogleheads.org \u2013 Investing Advice Inspired by Jack Bogle. Burns, Scott.\u00a0 (1995, October 1).\u00a0 Dangerous Advice from Peter Lynch.\u00a0 Asset Builder. Burns, Scott.\u00a0 The Long Archive (1993-2017). Cotton, Dirk.\u00a0 The Retirement Caf\u00e9. Cotton, Dirk.\u00a0 (2018, January 26). \u00a0Unraveling Retirement Strategies: Floor-and-Upside (An Update).\u00a0 The Retirement Caf\u00e9. Enna, David.\u00a0 TIPSWatch. ERN, Big (a.k.a. Jeske, Karsten).\u00a0 Early Retirement Now. Ern EarlyRetirementNow.\u00a0 (2017, February).\u00a0 Safe Withdrawal Rates: A Guide for Early Retirees.\u00a0 Early Retirement Now. Finke, Michael; Pfau, Wade D.; and Blanchett, David M.\u00a0 (2013). The 4 Percent Rule Is Not Safe in a Low-Yield World.\u00a0 Journal of Financial Planning 26 (6): 46-55. Kitces, Michael.\u00a0 (2012, April 18).\u00a0 Are Cash Reserve Buckets for Retirement Really Necessary?\u00a0 Nerd\u2019s Eye View. Kitces, Michael.\u00a0 (2012, August 15).\u00a0 What Returns Are Safe Withdrawal Rates REALLY Based Upon?\u00a0 Nerd\u2019s Eye View. Pfau, Wade.\u00a0 (2018, January 18).\u00a0 The Trinity Study and Portfolio Success Rates (Updated to 2018).\u00a0 Forbes. Pfau, Wade (2012, February 7).\u00a0 William Bengen\u2019s SAFEMAX.\u00a0 Retirement Researcher Blog.\u00a0 Pfau, Wade and Cooper, Jeremy.\u00a0 The Yin and Yang of retirement income philosophies.\u00a0 Challenger. Piper, Mike.\u00a0 Oblivious Investor. Vernon, Steve.\u00a0 MoneyWatch. Vernon, Steve.\u00a0 (2018). \u00a0A Smart Way to Develop Retirement Income Strategies.\u00a0 Society of Actuaries. Vernon, Steve.\u00a0 (2017, November; updated 2018, March).\u00a0 How to \u201cPensionize\u201d Any IRA or 401(k) Plan.\u00a0 Stanford Center on Longevity.","thumbnail_url":"http:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/One-Bloggers-Muse-1024x768.jpg"}