Financial Advisor

How Inflation May Affect Your Retirement Distributions

November 10, 2022 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

Reading Time: 2 minutes

On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we continue our conversation with Morningstar’s director of personal finance, Christine Benz on how inflation may affect your retirement distributions. One of the major questions that retirees face is how much to distribute from their portfolio in retirement. Retirees also want to know which buckets to distribute from first, and what happens if they withdraw too much during a downturn. During this episode, Christine Benz walks us through the impact inflation has on retirement planning and distributions.

At Intelligent investing, we love answering these types of questions. We perform various stress tests, we strive to use conservative assumptions, and we try to educate to improve investor behavior—all with the underlying passion of minimizing financial stress to maximize lives.

You may be unsatisfied with your current financial advisor or perhaps you’ve never worked with one before. You may find yourself with a lot of financial stress and would like a second opinion on your financial situation or portfolio. Don’t stress any longer than you need to when it comes to your financial picture.

Intelligent investing is a boutique wealth management firm serving high net worth individuals and families using Intelligrations™ and behavioral coaching. Consider requesting a complimentary no-obligation call or coffee with us.

Schedule a short discovery call or meeting

We’ll be interviewing Christine on several podcasts regarding retirement strategies, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Christine Benz Bio

Christine Benz is Morningstar’s director of personal finance and author of 30-Minute Money Solutions: A Step-by-Step Guide to Managing Your Finances and the Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and Russian/East European studies from the University of Illinois. Christine lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Greg. She is an avid cook, a political junkie, and a long-suffering Chicago Cubs fan. Follow Christine on Twitter.

Don’t Assume You’re Getting an Inheritance

September 29, 2022 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we continue our conversation with Morningstar’s director of personal finance, Christine Benz on don’t assume you’re getting an inheritance. Financial communication is critical, especially between generations. Many children in our country are making a dangerous assumption; that a lucrative inheritance is headed their way. Yet many come to the reading of will only to be devasted that the inheritance they’re expecting doesn’t exist. During this episode, Christine Benz stresses the importance of talking about finances with family members before it’s too late.

At Intelligent Investing, we focus on helping facilitate and communicate on difficult financial topics between family members. If you find it difficult to communicate with the next generation regarding your estate or your wealth, please consider reaching out for a complimentary no-obligation call or coffee to discuss your financial situation. We’d love to be considered your financial accountability partner.

Schedule a short discovery call or meeting

We’ll be interviewing Christine on several podcasts regarding retirement strategies, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Christine Benz Bio

Dangerous Assumptions in Retirement Pt.2

September 1, 2022 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we continue our conversation with Morningstar’s director of personal finance, Christine Benz on dangerous assumptions made in retirement. Hans and Christine highlight the value of being conservative in your assumptions and expectations. During this episode, Christine breaks down another area retirees often make dangerous assumptions. Christine talks about setting a legitimate return assumption that factors in all areas realistically.

If you are wondering what kinds of risks are in your current portfolio, or where there may be an unforeseen risk you aren’t aware of, consider contacting us for a complimentary call or coffee. If it makes sense, we may perform a complimentary portfolio review for you so you can get an idea of the types and current risk level in your portfolio.

Schedule a short discovery call or meeting

We’ll be interviewing Christine on several podcasts regarding retirement strategies, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Christine Benz Bio

Dangerous Assumptions in Retirement Pt.1

August 4, 2022 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we continue our conversation with Morningstar’s director of personal finance, Christine Benz on dangerous assumptions made in retirement. During this episode, Christine breaks down four areas retirees often make dangerous assumptions, hurting them in the long term. In particular, Christine talks about what types of risk to assume in the stock and bond market.

Schedule a short discovery call or meeting

We’ll be interviewing Christine on several podcasts regarding retirement strategies, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Christine Benz Bio

What Rising Interest Rates Mean for Retirement

June 29, 2022 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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Reading Time: 2 minutes

On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we continue our conversation with Morningstar’s director of personal finance, Christine Benz on the implications of rising interest rates on retirement. During this episode, Christine breaks down the impact of rising interest rates on pre-retirees, and what you can do to prepare in an inflationary environment. In particular, Christine lays out the history of bond valuations in 2022 and their price performance and durations during these inflationary times. Another consideration investors need to make are their time horizons.

As Christine mentioned, be mindful of your liquidity needs and your time horizons. When we develop a portfolio for a client, we keep these two constraints in mind, as well as other factors such as tax location and risk tolerance.

Schedule a short discovery call or meeting

We’ll be interviewing Christine on several podcasts regarding retirement strategies, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Christine Benz Bio

Retirement Planning Is Boring?

September 7, 2021 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we continue our conversation with Morningstar’s director of personal finance, Christine Benz on why retirement planning is boring. The last thing you expect to hear is that retirement is boring. Retirement finances and strategies can consume and overwhelm any pre-retiree couple. During this episode, Christine Benz explains how retirement planning can be simple and boring.

As Christine said, Doing the boring stuff such as saving and living below your means can really impact your financial future. Having both spouses working and saving for the same goals can be challenging, yet rewarding. Don’t be confused by other advisors that may confuse you into buying something you don’t need or want. If you are wanting a second opinion, we’d love to have a complimentary coffee or call with you to learn more about your concerns, struggles, and goals. If you want to learn more, you can click here to learn more.

Schedule a short discovery call or meeting

We’ll be interviewing Christine on several podcasts regarding retirement strategies, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Christine Benz Bio

Spending Money in Retirement with Christine Benz

August 26, 2021 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we continue our conversation with Morningstar’s director of personal finance, Christine Benz on spending money in retirement. During this episode, Christine about retirement distribution strategies and whether there’s truly a safe withdrawal rate. Interestingly enough, she mentions a study that more retirees were concerned about finances than death. She highlights this strategy of simply taking 4% and whether it’s still usable in today’s economy.

Many pre-retirees and retirees are concerned about running out of money. Having a written financial plan and having flexibility with withdrawals are some of the keys to having a good probability of success of not running out of money.

Are you are wondering whether you have enough money to outlast your lifetime? If you are, we’d love to have a complimentary call or coffee with you. We are fee-only fiduciaries that don’t sell other products, so you can rest assured, we want to have your best interest in mind. Please visit investedwithyou.com. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Schedule a short discovery call or meeting

We’ll be interviewing Christine on several podcasts regarding retirement strategies, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Christine Benz Bio

How Potential Higher Inflation and Taxes Impact Your Retirement Strategy

July 29, 2021 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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Reading Time: < 1 minute

On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we continue our conversation with Morningstar’s director of personal finance, Christine Benz on how potential higher inflation and taxes impact your retirement strategy. Christine believes we should be mindful of potential inflation and high taxes. A key point she makes is not waiting to implement tax-saving strategies. During this episode, she explains the value of tax-deferred accounts. Tax-deferred accounts blended with other financial vehicles could be beneficial to your financial strategy.

At Intelligent Investing, one of our unique factors is that we strive to minimize fees and that includes government fees. There are many planning opportunities, especially in the sweet spot years between retirement from an employer and when you start social security benefits. We love organizing our clients’ financial junk drawers, and we’d love to organize yours. To learn more about Intelligent Investing or to become our next intelligent investor, please visit investedwithyou.com.

Schedule a short discovery call or meeting

We’ll be interviewing Christine on several podcasts regarding retirement strategies, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.