Retirement Starts Today

Latest Episodes:

"New" Rules around 401K Catch-Up Contributions Aug 10, 2026

Show notes

A rule changed on January first that takes the tax deduction away from catch-up contributions for a lot of people who are still working. We'll run through all the 2026 numbers and talk about whether it's still worth doing.

In our Listener Question segment, a fellow in Connecticut is worried that the low-income window he's been counting on for Roth conversions may never show up, because his wife is a high earner four years younger than he is. He's come up with a clever workaround.

And to close out the show we hear from a retired HR Manager. After building a successful career, he found a meaningful way to give back through Reading Partners, serving as a remote reading tutor for students who need extra support.

Resources:

Article by Amy Arnott in MorningStar: Should Higher Earners Still Make 401(k) Catch‑Up Contributions?
Reading Partners: https://readingpartners.org

Connect with Benjamin Brandt:

Subscribe to the This Week in Retirement: http://thisweekinretirement.com
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Work with Benjamin: https://retirementstartstoday.com/start

Get the book!Retirement Starts Today: Your Non-financial Guide to an Even Better Retirement

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The Four Risks to Retirement Security Aug 03, 2026

Show notes

Chris Heye makes the case in a Journal of Financial Planning article that the two retirement risks we obsess over might not be the two most likely to derail us. There are four risks in play, and the two nobody models are the ones quietly doing the most damage:

Longevity Risk
Market Risk
Health Risk
Decision Risk

I go into depth on those last two.

In our Listener Question, a 69-year-old retired engineer and do-it-yourselfer asks about setting up my plan for his wife who's just not into dollars and cents.

And in our Retire To Something segment: Debbie shares her "One Year Sabbatical" — and how she gives herself permission to figure out her purpose along the way.

Resource: Article by Chris Heye, Ph.D. in the Journal of Financial Planning: Beyond Sequence of Returns: The Four Risks to Retirement Security

Connect with Benjamin Brandt:

Subscribe to the This Week in Retirement: http://thisweekinretirement.com
Get the Retire-Ready Toolkit: http://retirementstartstodayradio.com
Work with Benjamin: https://retirementstartstoday.com/start

Get the book!Retirement Starts Today: Your Non-financial Guide to an Even Better Retirement

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How Much Should You Worry About Inflation? Jul 27, 2026

Show notes

Inflation again? Christine Benz over at Morningstar has three questions that tell you exactly how exposed you are - and how much retirees worry about inflation.

Then, a listener question from someone one year into retirement who says their pension check feels like it just shrank ten percent - and what they might do to remedy that.

And in our Retire To Something segment, Linda from Ontario, Canada, wanted a job at a cheese shop that wasn't hiring — and she applied anyway.

Resources:

Morningstar article by Christine Benz: How Much Should Retirees Worry About Inflation?
Christine Benz book: How to Retire: 20 lessons for a happy, successful, and wealthy retirement

Connect with Benjamin Brandt:

Subscribe to the This Week in Retirement: http://thisweekinretirement.com
Get the Retire-Ready Toolkit: http://retirementstartstodayradio.com
Work with Benjamin: https://retirementstartstoday.com/start

Get the book!Retirement Starts Today: Your Non-financial Guide to an Even Better Retirement

Follow Retirement Starts Today in:Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or iHeart

Revisiting the 4% Rule, with Bill Bengen Jul 20, 2026

Show notes

If you've been anywhere close to a retirement podcast over the last 10-20 years, you've heard of the 4% rule. And like many people, you might have questions about it.

We're going to hear about it directly from the horse's mouth as we talk to Bill Bengen, who first articulated the 4% withdrawal rate as a rule of thumb for withdrawal rates from retirement accounts.

The 4% rule is not a rigid rule but a guideline. Its application requires careful consideration of individual factors, including health, life expectancy, and specific financial circumstances. Bengen encourages retirees to tailor their withdrawal strategies based on their unique situations. Our discussion also explored required minimum distributions (RMDs), which may necessitate higher withdrawals in later years of retirement. However, Bengen suggests that for most people, RMDs would not exceed the calculated withdrawal rates until a very advanced age, making the two compatible.

Core Points:

The 4% rule, initially a worst-case scenario calculation, suggests a 4% annual withdrawal from retirement savings. This has since been refined
Research indicates a more generous 4.7% withdrawal rate is now possible due to portfolio diversification and lower investment costs
Higher withdrawal rates might be feasible (5-5.5%), depending on market valuations and inflation
Early retirement withdrawal timing significantly impacts long-term success
Consider individual circumstances, market conditions, and inflation when adjusting withdrawal strategies

Resource: Bill Bengen's book, "A Richer Retirement: Supercharging the 4% Rule to Spend More and Enjoy More" https://www.bengenfs.com/order-my-book

Connect with Benjamin Brandt:

Subscribe to the This Week in Retirement: http://thisweekinretirement.com
Get the Retire-Ready Toolkit: http://retirementstartstodayradio.com
Work with Benjamin: https://retirementstartstoday.com/start

Get the book!Retirement Starts Today: Your Non-financial Guide to an Even Better Retirement

Follow Retirement Starts Today in:Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or iHeart

Retirement Is a Sprint, Not a Marathon Jul 13, 2026

Show notes

Fritz Gilbert says the adage that "Retirement is a marathon, not a sprint" is backwards. He cites an average age where health starts to decline is 64, so sprinting in those first few years when the average retiree is 61-63 makes sense.

We will dig into that idea, then follow it up with a listener who can't get her husband to think about anything but saving money.

Resource:

Article by Fritz Gilbert: Retirement is a Sprint, Not a Marathon

Connect with Benjamin Brandt:

Subscribe to the This Week in Retirement: http://thisweekinretirement.com
Get the Retire-Ready Toolkit: http://retirementstartstodayradio.com
Work with Benjamin: https://retirementstartstoday.com/start

Get the book!Retirement Starts Today: Your Non-financial Guide to an Even Better Retirement

Follow Retirement Starts Today in:Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or iHeart

Is Your Cautious Retirement Spending Doing More Harm Than Good? Jul 06, 2026

Show notes

The fear of running out of money in retirement turns out to be mostly backwards. For super-savers, the data says the opposite usually happens. A piece from Danielle Labotka at Morningstar makes the case that for a lot of retirees: Being too cautious with your spending is actually the bigger risk.

In our listener question segment: Anonymous wants to give money to her kids with warm hands, not cold. How much you can safely give today without putting your own retirement at risk?

And then we'll wrap up with our Retire To Something segment: Dabbling in a little of everything.

Resources:

Article by Danielle Labotka at Morningstar: Is Your Cautious Retirement Spending Doing More Harm Than Good?
Book by Bill Perkins: Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life

Connect with Benjamin Brandt:

Subscribe to the This Week in Retirement: http://thisweekinretirement.com
Get the Retire-Ready Toolkit: http://retirementstartstodayradio.com
Work with Benjamin: https://retirementstartstoday.com/start

Get the book!Retirement Starts Today: Your Non-financial Guide to an Even Better Retirement

Follow Retirement Starts Today in:Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or iHeart

The IRS Penalty Retirees Never See Coming (And How to Beat It) Jun 29, 2026

Show notes

Every year, thousands of retirees pay an extra penalty to the IRS — and almost none of them see it coming.

What catches them off guard isn't a penalty for owing too much. You can do everything right — claim Social Security at the right age, run picture-perfect Roth conversions, manage your withdrawals down to the dollar — and still get a letter from the IRS charging you extra.

I reworked a framework from an article by Sheryl Rowling at Morningstar into four clean, completely legal ways to avoid getting tax penalties.

After that, we've got a listener question: A retiree writes in and says, "I don't want to think about money. My plan is tested, I have enough — so what's a simple checklist I can use to stay on track?"

And to close the show, our Retire To Something segment where Clif traded his to-do list for a garden plot — and found community, leadership, and a whole lot of homegrown vegetables in the process.

Resource: Article by Sheryl Rowling at Morningstar: 5 Ways to Avoid Tax Penalties

Connect with Benjamin Brandt:

Subscribe to the This Week in Retirement: http://thisweekinretirement.com
Get the Retire-Ready Toolkit: http://retirementstartstodayradio.com
Work with Benjamin: https://retirementstartstoday.com/start

Get the book!Retirement Starts Today: Your Non-financial Guide to an Even Better Retirement

Follow Retirement Starts Today in:Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or iHeart

Consumer Sentiment is Terrible Jun 22, 2026

Show notes

Americans don't feel great about the economy. Consumer Sentiment just hit the lowest reading in roughly 75 years.

Ben Carlson over at A Wealth of Common Sense dug into why that might be, and what it means for those of us trying to enjoy a retirement when it always feels like the second shoe is about to drop.

In our Listener Question segment, we hear from someone who is sitting on 50x their annual spending - and they can't get their spouse to spend it.

Wrapping up the episode we hear from Karen in our "Retire To Something" segment. She's thru-hiking thousands of miles and loving it.

Resource:

Article by Ben Carlson of A Wealth of Common Sense: The Lowest Consumer Sentiment EVER

Connect with Benjamin Brandt:

Subscribe to the This Week in Retirement: http://thisweekinretirement.com
Get the Retire-Ready Toolkit: http://retirementstartstodayradio.com
Work with Benjamin: https://retirementstartstoday.com/start

Get the book!Retirement Starts Today: Your Non-financial Guide to an Even Better Retirement

Follow Retirement Starts Today in:Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or iHeart

The IRA Decision That Affects Your Kids Jun 15, 2026

Show notes

There's a decision your surviving spouse is going to make about your IRA, after you're already gone, that can either cut short or stretch out how long your kids get to keep that money growing — and most people don't even realize the choice is being made. We're going to zero in on one option in particular, one that sounds a little crazy on its face: turning down an inheritance on purpose.

In our Listener Question segment: A listener wrote in about a family farm, a couple of brothers he'd rather not be in business with, and whether saying "no thank you" to his own share is the way to keep the peace in the family.

And then to close things out, we'll head over to our Retire To Something segment where Shawn figured out how to check just about every box that matters.

Resource: Article by Denise Appleby at Morningstar: The IRA Decision That Affects Your Kids

Connect with Benjamin Brandt:

Subscribe to the This Week in Retirement: http://thisweekinretirement.com
Get the Retire-Ready Toolkit: http://retirementstartstodayradio.com
Work with Benjamin: https://retirementstartstoday.com/start

Get the book!Retirement Starts Today: Your Non-financial Guide to an Even Better Retirement

Follow Retirement Starts Today in:Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or iHeart

The Richest Person in the Graveyard Jun 08, 2026

Show notes

You've heard it said a hundred times: Spend the money, make the memories, don't die with regret.

However, for certain kinds of retirees, dying as the richest person in the graveyard isn't a tragedy at all. The comfort of simply having the money can be worth more than anything you'd ever buy with it.

Today, we begin with an article, The Many Utilities of Retirement, which talks about RPIG (the Richest Person In the Graveyard) versus FORO (the Fear of Running Out of money).

It's an interesting look at the juxtaposition.

After that, a question - listener that calls himself the millionaire next door — he'll never spend what he's saved, it's all headed to the kids and grandkids, and yet he still mows his own lawn and changes his own oil. He wants to loosen up and spend a little more… but he also kind of loves the life he's already got. So what do you tell a guy like that? I'll give you my take.

And we wrap up the show with our Retire To Something segment.

Resource: