Table of Contents

078 Wade Pfau: Retirement Income Style Awareness

Stan Haithcock
October 12, 2021
078 Wade Pfau: Retirement Income Style Awareness

About Fun With Annuities Episode #78

If there was an “Annuity Mt. Rushmore”, this week’s co-host Wade Pfau would be one of those infamous faces on the side of that retirement mountain.  If there was ever a true retirement expert, it is Wade.  He is the real deal.  He is the Miles Davis of retirement thought. My thoughts as we fired up the mic: Ahead of his time, outside the box, and ground-breaking retirement advice.

I felt this in my bones when Wade shared, "Retirement… doesn't have to mean just not working, it's about having financial independence to do what you want and be who you wanna be… it's about finding your passion and purpose.”

In this podcast, I actually dug into what make Wade Pfau tick.  How did he arrive at this lofty position of the “go to” source for retirement thinking and insight?  Who is he when he’s not being the retirement expert?  What is the future of retirement income planning?  

From those foundational answers, we discussed in detail his new view of retirees, and his Retirement Income Style Awareness (RISA) research and insights.  Wade covered how people can position annuities in their retirement planning picture and why it’s so important to find your specific and personal retirement income style.

I pushed him to simplify his explanation of what he considers to be retirement success, and how risk tolerance works in conjunction with his Retirement Income Style Awareness (RISA) recommendations.  He fully explained how people can find the right plan for their specific situation.

One of the more fascinating parts of the podcast was when Wade explains how the “4% Rule” is really no longer valid and the research he has done to back up that statement.  This part of the podcast alone is worth the listen.

We also dove into other topics like Income Flooring, Social Security, Long-Term Care risk, the power of “risk pooling”, and even why everyone should take a close look at reverse mortgages.  He actually wrote a must-read book on that controversial topic.  Wade also addressed why non-financial aspects are so important to retirement success as well.  Timeless.  Genius.

This podcast is so full of knowledge, insight, and facts, you might want to listen to it more than once.  Not kidding.  This podcast is one for the ages.  Sharpen your pencils.

Brief Bio on Co-host Wad Pfau:

Wade Pfau is the founder of Retirement Researcher - a organization established to help guide investors along the path to a successful and sustainable retirement by providing modern, sound academic research. You can read his Retirement Researcher articles, and follow him on Twitter.

He is also the Professor of Retirement Income at The American College of Financial Services, a higher education institution for financial planners, and the Director of Retirement Research for McLean Asset Management and inStream. He earned a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University in 2003 with a dissertation about Social Security reform, and became a CFA charter holder in 2011.

Personal finance reporters come to him when they have a question. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes (where he is also a regular contributor), The New York Times, Money and Newsweek.

He is the author of a number of best-selling books that are well worth the read, including:

His accolades are too many to list but some highlights include: two Academic Thought Leadership Awards from Retirement Management Journal; named as one of the Innovators in the 2016 InvestmentNews’ Icons and Innovators list of titans in the financial advice industry; and named the fifth most prolific financial author of the last ten years, and the tenth most prolific of the last 30 years by the Journal of Personal Finance.

In this episode, The Annuity Man and Wade Pfau discuss:

  • Success in retirement
  • RISA - Retirement Income Style Awareness
  • Funding long-term care
  • Reverse mortgages and risk pooling

Key Takeaways:

  • Retirement doesn't only mean stopping work, it's about being able to do what you want.
  • Three retirement strategies: Total return investment strategy, time segmentation or bucketing, or annuity and social security.
  • These are the factors that determine which retirement strategy or style will work for you: probability based or safety first; and optionality versus commitment.
  • There is no ROI until you die, up until that point it’s a transfer of risk.
  • Retire to something, don’t retire from something.  

Fun With Annuities® Podcast is hosted by America’s Annuity Agent®, Stan Haithcock, The Annuity Man®. Hear brutal annuity facts with no sales pitches from the top independent agent in the country, licensed in all 50 states. Author of 7 books, Stan dives deep on all annuity types and strategies. It’s fun, learning the contractual truths on how annuities actually work and if they’ll fit your personal retirement lifestyle.

Listen in on how you can be livin’ the reality, not the dream®. Listen and subscribe on Libsyn, Stitcher,Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Spotify.

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