Web Winners: How to manage investments after retirement

  • By Reid Kanaley The Philadelphia Inquirer
  • Wednesday, July 2, 2014 4:35pm
  • Business

After you retire, with the possibility of decades ahead of you, where should you park your nest egg? Experts are divided on how conservatively, or aggressively, you should invest your money.

”Great funds to own in retirement,” according to this post at Kiplinger.com, should continue to represent a mix of stocks and bonds. “Keep your focus on growth,” writes Stacy Rapacon. She cites an expert, Tim Courtney of Exencial Wealth Advisors in Oklahoma, who recommends “putting 15 percent to 30 percent of your retirement portfolio in high-quality bonds and 5 percent to 15 percent in riskier bonds. The remainder should go into ‘growth investments.’ primarily U.S. stocks.” tinyurl.com/KipRetireInvest

Other options for investing post-retirement are outlined by Meghan E. Smith at HowStuffWorks.com. “Retirement is not the time to put most of your money into high-risk investments,” she writes. “You want to ensure that you have a secure financial base to last the remainder of your life, which could realistically be several decades. Whatever money you put into a high-risk investment could be lost, so you need to balance things out with low-risk financial opportunities.” After being sure to set aside an emergency fund, low-risk U.S. Treasury bonds and annuities are at the top of her list. Annuities are a way of setting aside money in a manner that is meant to guarantee regular payouts to you, like receiving a salary. tinyurl.com/StuffRetireInvest

The nuts and bolts of handling money after retirement gets attention from this post at WellsFargo.com. It suggests a short list of rules to keep you on track. Among them: Consolidate accounts. People with one or more 401(k) retirement accounts from former employers can roll them over into a single IRA to simplify matters. Another rule: “Factor inflation into your planning.” Relying “wholly on CDs, money-market accounts, and other seemingly low-risk choices to park your cash could be hazardous to your wealth,” it says. tinyurl.com/WellsRetireInvest

Citing recent research, this blog post at the Christian Science Monitor, www.csmonitor.com, lays out a counterintuitive plan — gradually increase investment risk after you’ve got the gold watch. This plan starts with advice to “decrease your stock exposure the first year in retirement and don’t worry about missed opportunities.” After that, however, “retiree portfolios that begin with a 20-40 percent allocation to stocks and increase to 60-80 percent generally increase the success of retirement income.” tinyurl.com/CSMRetireInvest

Read the full study at this page of the Journal of Financial Planning. tinyurl.com/FPARetireInvest

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Black Press Media operates Sound Publishing, the largest community news organization in Washington State with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska.
Black Press Media concludes transition of ownership

Black Press Media, which operates Sound Publishing, completed its sale Monday (March 25), following the formerly announced corporate restructuring.

Maygen Hetherington, executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, laughs during an interview in her office on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Snohomish, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Maygen Hetherington: tireless advocate for the city of Snohomish

Historic Downtown Snohomish Association receives the Opportunity Lives Here award from Economic Alliance.

FILE - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs poses in front of photos of the 15 people who previously held the office on Nov. 22, 2021, after he was sworn in at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Hobbs faces several challengers as he runs for election to the office he was appointed to last fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs: ‘I wanted to serve my country’

Hobbs, a former Lake Stevens senator, is the recipient of the Henry M. Jackson Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Mark Duffy poses for a photo in his office at the Mountain Pacific Bank headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Mark Duffy: Building a hometown bank; giving kids an opportunity

Mountain Pacific Bank’s founder is the recipient of the Fluke Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Barb Tolbert poses for a photo at Silver Scoop Ice Cream on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Barb Tolbert: Former mayor piloted Arlington out of economic brink

Tolbert won the Elson S. Floyd Award, honoring a leader who has “created lasting opportunities” for the underserved.

Photo provided by 
Economic Alliance
Economic Alliance presented one of the Washington Rising Stem Awards to Katie Larios, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Mountlake Terrace High School senior wins state STEM award

Katie Larios was honored at an Economic Alliance gathering: “A champion for other young women of color in STEM.”

The Westwood Rainier is one of the seven ships in the Westwood line. The ships serve ports in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia. (Photo provided by Swire Shipping)
Westwood Shipping Lines, an Everett mainstay, has new name

The four green-hulled Westwood vessels will keep their names, but the ships will display the Swire Shipping flag.

A Keyport ship docked at Lake Union in Seattle in June 2018. The ship spends most of the year in Alaska harvesting Golden King crab in the Bering Sea. During the summer it ties up for maintenance and repairs at Lake Union. (Keyport LLC)
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’

When a processing plant in Alaska closed, Edmonds-based business Keyport stepped up to solve a “no-win situation.”

Angela Harris, Executive Director of the Port of Edmonds, stands at the port’s marina on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Leadership, love for the Port of Edmonds got exec the job

Shoring up an aging seawall is the first order of business for Angela Harris, the first woman to lead the Edmonds port.

The Cascade Warbirds fly over Naval Station Everett. (Sue Misao / The Herald file)
Bothell High School senior awarded $2,500 to keep on flying

Cascade Warbirds scholarship helps students 16-21 continue flight training and earn a private pilot’s certificate.

Rachel Gardner, the owner of Musicology Co., a new music boutique record store on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 in Edmonds, Washington. Musicology Co. will open in February, selling used and new vinyl, CDs and other music-related merchandise. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Edmonds record shop intends to be a ‘destination for every musician’

Rachel Gardner opened Musicology Co. this month, filling a record store gap in Edmonds.

MyMyToyStore.com owner Tom Harrison at his brick and mortar storefront on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burst pipe permanently closes downtown Everett toy store

After a pipe flooded the store, MyMyToystore in downtown Everett closed. Owner Tom Harrison is already on to his next venture.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.