On August 19, 2024, the IRS released Notice 2024-63, which addresses employer retirement plan contributions related to their employees’ qualified student loan payments, or QSLPs. This notice provides important clarification for plan sponsors that are considering adding matching student loan payments in their retirement plans.

Although the student loan payments provision of the SECURE 2.0 Act is already effective for plan years beginning in 2024, many plan sponsors have been reluctant to implement this provision given the lack of IRS guidance. This notice addresses many issues regarding student loan repayment matches, including the following:

• Clarification that student loan repayments may be for the employee, the employee’s spouse, or the employee’s dependent, provided that the employee has a legal obligation to make these payments under the terms of the loan. If the employee did not co-sign the student loan for their dependent, then there is no legal obligation for the employee to repay that loan, and thus, the loan payment would not qualify as a QSLP. If the employee did co-sign, then the employee themselves must be making loan repayments in order for the payment to qualify. If the dependent is the primary person making loan repayments, then the employee cannot claim them as QSLPs.
• Plans may not restrict QSLPs to a particular group of employees, a particular loan type (e.g., only for the employee’s own education), or a particular educational institution or degree program. In general, all employees who are eligible to receive the employer match must be eligible to make QSLPs. The only exception to this rule is for collectively bargained employees.
• Employers can require that an employee be employed on the last day of the plan year to receive a QSLP, but only if the employer match has a similar requirement. However, QSLP matches can be contributed at a different frequency than elective deferral matches.
• A plan may establish a single QSLP match-claim deadline for a plan year or may establish multiple deadlines for QSLP match-claim submissions, provided that each QSLP match-claim deadline is reasonable. To clarify, an annual deadline that is three months after the end of a plan year (as was referenced specifically in the legislation text) is only one example of a reasonable deadline; an earlier deadline could also be considered reasonable.
• Prior-plan-year loan repayments may not be matched in the current plan year. Note that there was some confusion about this element of the provision, since an employee can claim the match for their student loan payments up to three months after the close of the plan year. However, the loan payment must still have been made in the plan year in question in order to receive a match for that plan year.
• Certification must consist of at least the five following elements:
• The loan payment amount;
• The loan payment date;
• An attestation that the employee made the loan payment;
• An attestation that the loan being repaid is a qualified education loan and was used to pay for qualified higher education expenses of the employee, the employee’s spouse, or the employee’s dependent; and
• Proof that the loan was incurred by the employee (i.e., the employee has the obligation to pay, as described above).

• Plans do not need employee certification for each QSLP. Annual certification of all student loan repayments is acceptable, which should greatly reduce QSLP administration. The certification process is flexible, and may be self-certified by the employee, or items 4 and 5 may be self-certified by the employee, with the remainder independently verified (i.e., if an employer allows an employee to make qualified education loan payments through payroll deductions).
• For actual deferral percentage (ADP) testing purposes, employers may treat elective deferrals made in addition to QSLPs as part of a separate ADP test for those who do not receive the QSLP match, or they may treat them as part of the main ADP test.
• QSLPs may be added as a permissible mid-year change to a safe-harbor plan.

The IRS has emphasized this notice is interim guidance. It plans to issue additional proposed regulations in the future and is requesting comments in this notice on several outstanding issues. Future guidance will be welcomed, as it appears that there are still unanswered questions about QSLPs.

Notice 2024-63 applies for plan years beginning in 2025, although plan sponsors may rely on a good faith reasonable interpretation of the related SECURE 2.0 provision before that date.

If you have questions or concerns about this notice or related SECURE 2.0 provisions, contact your CAPTRUST financial advisor.

Rucking is a form of weight-bearing aerobic exercise that has grown in popularity among fitness enthusiasts from weekend warriors to hard-core endurance athletes. Rucking is simply walking while wearing a weighted backpack, or ruck. The word ruck derives from the German word rucksack, meaning backpack. 

Born to Ruck  

Rucking has obvious connections to military training, where soldiers have long been required to carry heavy packs and march for extended periods, but its origins go back much further.  

“The act of rucking has been happening since the hunter-gatherer period,” says Jason McCarthy, founder and CEO of GORUCK, the company credited with sparking the modern rucking movement. Indeed, humans’ ability to carry heavy things over long distances has been a necessary survival skill throughout evolution.  

“People have been rucking in some way, shape, or form their entire lives,” says McCarthy. “They just haven’t noticed, or it hasn’t been intentional. Think of bringing in your groceries, walking to the bus stop with a bag full of books, or going to grab a coffee with your kid in a wearable baby carrier. They all ladder up organically to rucking.” 

McCarthy founded GORUCK in 2008 to manufacture rugged backpacks designed for rucking and host endurance events centered on the activity. But success didn’t happen overnight. “When I first produced the GR1 [the company’s initial product], I didn’t sell any, and it was a reality check of how challenging the business world would be,” he says. 

Today, McCarthy is optimistic about GORUCK’s future as people are becoming much more intentional about their relationship with and approach to rucking. “I believe that it will become bigger than running,” he says. 

Low Impact, Many Benefits 

A conversation with his doctor about his blood pressure and physical condition sparked Warren’s initial interest in rucking. “My doctor said, ‘I want you to start exercising and getting to the point where you’re having a little trouble breathing,’” he says. “Rucking really gets my heart pumping and thumping.” 

While the concept of strapping weight to your back and going for a walk may seem simple, rucking offers a powerful combination of aerobic exercise and strength training that engages muscles throughout the body. It provides an exceptional full-body workout that improves cardiovascular fitness; builds muscle endurance; and strengthens the core, back, shoulders, and legs. 

“Carrying weight while you walk engages muscles throughout your body in a way that regular walking doesn’t,” says Warren. “It’s low impact, but it’s been a very effective way for me to build strength and endurance.” 

McCarthy concurs: “Because it’s low impact, it has fewer injury risks than something like running.”  

In addition to the physical benefits, ruckers report significant mental health advantages. “It also promotes getting outdoors and getting into nature, getting exposed to sunlight and fresh air, which is great for your mental health,” says McCarthy. The rhythmic nature of rucking combined with being out in nature can reduce stress and anxiety.  

Ruckers frequently report improved sleep quality and a sense of well-being after their sessions.  

“Rucking is a great way to build community, and is, in my opinion, always best to be done with a group,” says McCarthy. “That could be several people in a ruck club, your spouse and kids, or taking your dog for a walk. Building a community through exercise and wellness is an incredibly powerful thing.” 

The Right Stuff  

While you can get started rucking with any backpack filled with weight, investing in proper rucking equipment can make a significant difference in comfort and safety, especially as you increase the weight and duration of your sessions. 

“For someone starting out, I’d suggest they do it right and get good equipment out of the gate,” advises Warren. “Otherwise, you might hurt yourself or get frustrated, and you’re not going to pursue it any further. If you invest a couple hundred dollars in the right gear, you’ll take to it, and it’ll benefit you.” 

GORUCK is one of several companies that offer backpacks designed for rucking. These packs feature padded hip belts and sternum straps to distribute weight evenly across the body, as well as durable construction to withstand the rigors of long-distance rucking. Ruckers add weights or sandbags to their packs to increase the load as desired to dial in their workouts. 

Beginner to Marathoner  

For those new to rucking, it’s best to start slowly and gradually increase the weight and duration of your sessions over time. “Start with [shorter distance], time, and weight, and work your way up,” says McCarthy. If you aren’t an avid gym-goer, 10 pounds is a good starting weight for women and 20 for men.   

“I started with a 30-pound pack for 30 minutes, which is a common go-to for ruckers,” says Warren, whose other favorite physical activities include weightlifting and loading sound gear for the band he manages. 

As you become more comfortable with the activity, you can increase the weight in your pack and the distance or time you ruck. Some experienced ruckers work their way up to carrying 40 to 60 pounds or more for extended periods, with some even taking on ultramarathon-distance rucking events. 

Choosing a suitable route is also essential for an enjoyable and effective rucking experience. Look for routes with a mix of terrain and scenery. “My 30-minute route includes some quality nature time,” says Warren. “I’m walking through woods; there’s a substantial incline and a nice downhill stretch. It’s a good workout, but it comes easily and allows me to think.” 

Rucking offers something for everyone, whether that’s a straightforward way to improve your fitness, a new challenge to push your endurance limits, or a means of achieving a greater sense of mental calm. With its accessibility and multitude of benefits, it’s no wonder this once-niche workout is growing into a widespread fitness phenomenon. “It gives me peace of mind that I’m doing something healthy and I’m enjoying the activity,” says Warren. 

Article by John Curry

“He read it and told me, ‘I wish I were writing this,’ which I thought was just about the nicest thing anyone ever said to me.” Soon after, the advisor introduced her to a literary agent, who introduced her to a publisher, who immediately asked to buy the rights to her manuscript—and that is how Youngson’s first novel, Meet Me at the Museum, came to be.  

It was an unexpected cascade of events. She was 69 years old. 

In the eight years since, Youngson has published three more books and written dozens of stories. Mostly, she writes about transformation. “I wanted to study the idea that, whatever your age, if things aren’t right, if there are things you want to explore, or if you want to bring change to your life, you can still do it.” 

At 76, Youngson speaks from experience. She didn’t start writing seriously until she was in her 60s. 

The Rover Years 

Before she became a published writer, Youngson worked for the British car company Land Rover, climbing steadily over 33 years to chief engineer of the Defender brand and managing director of special vehicle operations. It was a surprising path for someone with an undergraduate degree in medieval English. But Youngson says her transition from humanities to engineering was intentional. 

“When I left university, I didn’t want a job involving English literature because I felt that I’d come out of school without any practical skills,” she says. “I wanted to tackle problems that were open to practical analysis.”  

She took an entry-level role in the marketing department at what was then called British Leyland Motor Corporation but soon realized the only place she could have fun was in engineering. “In vehicle manufacturing, it’s the engineers who shape what the company does,” she says.  

So Youngson worked her way over to the engineering department and then rose through the ranks to the executive level. It was a highly technical environment, and her team was almost entirely male.  

Despite the ways she differed from her colleagues, Youngson says she rarely felt like an outsider and loved changing from job to job within the company. “I had quite a satisfying and varied career, which I suppose is why I stuck it out for so long,” she says. “But I have to say, when I started, I always thought, I’m just going to do this until I write my novel.” 

One of her closest colleagues at Land Rover was engineer Nick Seale. He and Youngson worked together on joint vehicle projects, designing cars in collaboration with Honda and BMW.  

Seale says he can see how Youngson’s corporate skill set contributes to her success as a writer. “We worked on some very, very big projects with large teams and lots of different aspects,” he says. “Anne didn’t have a technical background, but she knew how to listen and learn from others. She’s a brilliant listener, which is not at all common. She listened to understand people’s points and then balance them with each other.” 

But his favorite thing about working with Youngson was her consistent humility. “She has no ego,” Seale says. “She was never pushing her own feelings onto people and pulling them into accepting them. Instead, she’d say, ‘I don’t know what the technical solution is, so let’s listen to all the views and figure it out.’ That gets people on your side.” 

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the Rover Cars division was working with Honda, “product development between a Japanese company and a British company was basically unheard of,” says Seale. “There was no road map. There were no preexisting legal agreements. Throughout, it was very important to balance people’s conflicting views and ways of doing business.” 

Youngson and Seale enjoyed learning the cultural difference between teams. And Seale says Youngson’s ability to listen and then speak plainly and honestly became a critical part of the collaboration. 

From Engineering to Sweet Peas 

A few years after Ford bought Land Rover in the early 2000s, the company offered Youngson a nice retirement package. But at only 56 years old, she felt too young to stop working. She was worried about losing connections and not feeling fully engaged in the world.   

To sort out her feelings, she made a list of all the things she could do if she retired. “Some of them were really silly, like growing sweet peas,” says Youngson. The more time she spent looking at the list, the more excited she felt about retiring. 

She also felt this was the time to finally get serious about her writing. “I’d written all the time but only little stories for myself,” she says. “I wasn’t really taking it seriously. And I thought, well, now’s the time to explore.” Eventually, she accepted Ford’s offer. 

Figuring Out Retirement  

That first year was stressful and disorganized. “I was a bit panicked,” Youngson says. “When you’re working, you know what to expect. You know you’ll have however many emails to answer each day and a full schedule, but all of that had gone away. I wasn’t getting any emails at all, except from people telling me how to invest my retirement funds.” 

To fill the time, Youngson signed up for lots of volunteer opportunities and worked in governance for multiple nonprofits. “And all the time I was writing,” she says. “Then one day I realized my calendar was as full as it ever was, and nobody was paying me!” She decided to make a change.  

To focus her energy, Youngson enrolled in a two-year evening course in creative writing at Oxford University, just down the street from her home in Oxfordshire, England. She went on to earn a master’s degree and then a doctorate. “Every time I did a course, I was really stimulated,” she says. “I was writing away. But then I’d gradually just sort of run out of impetus, so I’d think, OK, time to do another course! And finally, I ended up with a PhD.” 

Friends and Feedback  

There’s an old idea about artistic jobs like writing, painting, and musical composition that says talent is innate. It can’t be taught or learned, so taking classes is pointless. Youngson found that idea both true and false. 

“I don’t think any of the courses I’ve taken have actually taught me anything,” she says. “What they’ve done is enable me to understand what I’m already doing and how I can do it better.” 

She says another benefit of going back to school is that she made unlikely friends. “I thought the biggest danger of retirement is that you end up mixing with only the same people all the time—people who think like you and live like you because that’s who your friends are.”  

Enrolling in courses was a way to meet people who weren’t in their 50s or 60s and retired. “But still, in that first class, when we went around the room introducing ourselves, I found myself thinking, What am I doing here? These people are nothing like me!” 

Over time, four of those classmates became her closest writing friends. They’d meet monthly to review each other’s work. Almost a decade later, they still meet three or four times a year. “Being part of a community of people who are writing seriously and giving you feedback on your work? I think that’s invaluable,” says Youngson. “I feel privileged to have met them.” 

One member of this writing group is Bev Murray, a business psychologist and coach who turned to writing after her first child was born to add “a stream of creativity” to her life. 

For Murray, Youngson is both a friend and an inspiration. “There’s so much humor, intelligence, and generosity in Anne, and these things come through in her writing.” She says Youngson has a special ability to interpret human nature and experience.  

Although the media often attributes this competence to Youngson’s age, Murray says that message obscures the magic in her friend’s success. In 2018, when Meet Me at the Museum was nominated for a Costa Book Award for Best First Novel, the headlines almost never failed to mention that 70 is a surprising age to make a debut. 

“I worry that, in the wider world, Anne’s age gets attention because it is seen as being so unusual,” says Murray. “From my perspective, she would have been successful no matter when she started writing. Her work shows her experiences in the world and her level of understanding of what she has experienced. Her age may be a part of that, but I have plenty of older friends who do not demonstrate the same level of understanding.” 

Seale agrees. “Anne can read people,” he says. “It comes out of seeing that there are other ways of doing things and thinking.” 

Although Youngson’s books often feature people who are middle-aged or older, her characters are focused on the future, not lost in their own reveries on aging. Youngson says this, too, is intentional.  

“An awful lot of novels feature older people who are either used as plot devices—you know, a contrast to whatever is going on in the lives of the younger people—or they’re looking back,” she says. “They’re so often going back into the past to understand how their lives ended up where they are. I would read those and think: But you keep on living!”  

Always Looking Forward  

For Youngson, this is key to understanding human nature, aging, and good storytelling. “This is what you don’t understand when you’re younger is that you just keep on living,” she says. “Every day, you’re looking forward to something. It’s what we do as human beings. We’re always looking forward to something, even if it’s only tomorrow’s breakfast.” 

It may also explain how Youngson has kept her positive attitude about change. “I’ve always believed that tomorrow is going to be at least as good as, if not better than, today.”  

Part of her optimism was a driving belief that, one day, she would finally find the time to take her writing seriously. “I always knew the time would come,” she says. “It’s like I was saving it up as a treat until I had the time and headspace to really enjoy it.”  

And now, she does. 

Article by Roxanne Bellamy. Photos by Azul Photography.

In the realm of finance, alternative investments—also called alts—represent a departure from traditional avenues such as stocks, bonds, and cash equivalents.  

The term alternative is a catch-all label. Under it, the universe of alts includes a wide range of assets, many of which have little to nothing in common, except that they don’t fit into conventional investment categories.  

Examples of alts include hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, real estate, commodities, infrastructure, natural resources, and collectibles like art and wine. What sets them apart is their potential for higher returns, their unique risks, and their tendencies to behave independently from traditional public markets. 

Democratizing Access 

Historically, alternative investments have been the domain of large institutional investors. Burdensome regulations once led managers to offer these strategies solely through private partnerships, which limited access mostly to pension plans, endowments, and the ultra-wealthy.  

Now, regulatory guidelines have softened, allowing managers to build more investor-friendly vehicles, like mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) devoted exclusively to alts. At the same time, individual investors have shown demand for alternative investment strategies, and the financial industry is responding. 

The overall effect has been a democratization of access to alts, and a corresponding explosion of assets under management. According to PitchBook, assets under management in the alts space nearly doubled between 2017 and 2022, rising from $7.4 trillion to $14.7 trillion. The same report forecasts that growth in the alts sector will accelerate exponentially in the next few years, reaching $19.6 trillion by 2028.

What is motivating investors to move their money into alternative investment strategies? Mostly, diversification and the potential for higher long-term returns.  

Targets and Managers  

Within the alts market, private equity and venture capital generally offer the highest potential long-term returns. Investing in private companies allows ownership access to businesses much earlier in their life cycles, when potential for growth is higher than in more mature publicly traded firms. However, private equity and venture capital typically also have the longest time horizons. 

Return targets vary by fund, but in general, private equity funds aim for average annualized returns of 10 to 20 percent over a seven- to 10-year time horizon. Venture capital funds typically seek even higher returns but also involve the higher risk of investing in early-stage companies.  

Of the six core categories of alts (private equity, venture capital, private debt, real estate, real assets, and funds of funds), real assets generally have the lowest targets, aiming for 5 to 10 percent net returns. 

Realized performance varies considerably, based on both the inception year of the fund and the manager’s skill. Manager selection is always important for actively managed investment strategies, but for alts, it’s critical.  

Figure Two shows the dispersion of returns between investment managers in different types of alts from 2005 to 2018. Over that period, the median return for private equity funds was 13.79 percent per year—an incredible bounty for investors. But it’s important to notice the full range of results. Those invested with the bottom 10 percent of managers barely made a dime, while those invested with the top 10 percent produced returns of more than 30 percent.

Source: PitchBook

For venture capital funds, the range of returns was even greater. Those invested with the top decile saw more than 34 percent returns, while those invested with the bottom decile lost money instead. The narrowest dispersion was in private debt, in which top-quartile managers earned an 11.42 percent return, and bottom-quartile managers earned 6.33 percent.

Allocating to alts can be a high-stakes game. To protect your portfolio from major losses, and improve your chances of success, align yourself with a manager who has disciplined investment and due diligence processes. In the alts universe, participating in the sector by simply entrusting your money to a manager, and hoping for the best, could be an exceptionally costly decision. 

Liquidity Options: Daily to Decades 

Liquidity refers to how easily an asset can be bought or sold without affecting its price. Cash is the most liquid asset of all. For other investments, the higher their liquidity, the easier it is to turn those assets back into cash. Less liquid assets require more time to be converted to cash, and the conversion may come at a higher cost. 

Within the alternative investment universe, a full spectrum of liquidity options exists, from daily to decades. The most liquid alts are ETFs and mutual funds, which provide access primarily to public market investments. As a result, these alts must limit their holdings to ultra-liquid securities like stocks, bonds, currencies, and commodities, with a few exceptions. 

Source: CAPTRUST Research

Private partnerships sit at the other end of the spectrum. Because the managers of private partnerships effectively set their own liquidity terms, they can target investments in illiquid private equity or venture capital companies. These can have investment horizons of multiple decades. 

For investors who don’t want to lock away their assets for many years or decades, but still want some of the benefits of alts, a newer form of mutual fund, called an interval fund, provides an interesting compromise between full and zero liquidity. An interval fund is a type of closed-end mutual fund that does not trade on the secondary market. Like other mutual funds, interval funds price daily, have a high degree of transparency, and report taxes on 1099s. 

Unlike other mutual funds, interval funds periodically offer to buy back a percentage of outstanding shares from shareholders at net asset value. These are called repurchase offers. Shareholders aren’t required to sell their shares back, but they can choose to participate in repurchase offers during specified intervals. Repurchases are typically done on a pro rata basis, and they allow for a percentage of shares (usually 5 to 25 percent, depending on the fund prospectus) to be repurchased during any given window.  

The important piece to understand is that even though interval funds may offer liquidity windows, managers often limit the total amount of outflows available. As a result, an investor may not always be able to withdraw as much as they would like during one of these windows. 

Fee Considerations 

The pros and cons of specific alts strategies are complicated, and they require research and due diligence. Yet there are common considerations for everyone interested in these types of assets. One is fees. 

Alternative investment strategies are actively managed, specialized strategies that often come at a premium price. Fees are usually highest on private partnerships and take the form of an annual management fee—usually 1 to 2 percent of assets—plus additional fees on profits generated by the fund. These are called success fees, carried interest, or incentive fees, and they typically range from 10 to 20 percent of the profits.  

Interval fund fees tend to be lower, ranging from a 0.9 to a 1.5 percent management fee. Most interval funds also include a performance hurdle (e.g., 5 percent annually) that the portfolio needs to reach before the manager charges an additional percent of profits.  

Mutual fund and ETF fees are the lowest in the alts universe because they are generally prohibited from charging incentive fees. That said, with annual management fees of 0.5 to 2 percent, their fees are still considerably higher than the fees most people are familiar with for public equity and fixed income options.  

Critics of alts often point to fees as a reason to avoid them. This argument resonates. When you have a choice between two identical products, it’s smart to choose the one that costs the least.  

But when it comes to alternative investments, it’s important to focus on the skill of the manager and expected net-of-fees performance as well. Net-of-fees performance refers to the return on capital reported by an investment strategy after deducting management fees and other expenses. 

An allocation to any alternative investment strategy is intentionally designed to deliver a return profile that’s different from public investments like stocks and bonds. Therefore, if the expected net-of-fees performance provides benefits to a portfolio—like higher returns, lower volatility, or increased diversification—the fees may be justified. 

A financial advisor can help unravel the net-of-fees performances for different funds. They can also assess the potential risks and returns for different types of alternative investment strategies to help you discern which are worth considering as part of your unique financial picture. 

Getting Started 

As distinctions between public and private investments continue to blur, opportunities are expanding for individual investors to participate in alternative investment strategies. And it seems this expansion is just beginning. Yet as this article highlights, understanding what you’re buying is vital, as incorporating alts can influence the fees, liquidity, and performance of your portfolio. 

Alternative investments are not appropriate for all investors. But in many circumstances, alts may make a sound addition to a well-diversified investment portfolio. To thrive in this new universe, personal education or aligning yourself with an experienced advisor is critical.

Ruffolo was so passionate about his work that the last thing he wanted for his later years was to spend a lot of free time relaxing. “I don’t really have hobbies,” he says. “I get so much pleasure from work [that] I don’t play golf or tennis. I don’t go out at night or drink and carouse.” 

When Ruffolo first started talking about retirement, his wife, Stephany, wondered where he would direct his abundant energy. She needn’t have worried; his retirement lasted only one month. “One, I wasn’t going to sit around and watch television,” he says. “Two, I wanted to have fun.”  

Fun, for him, meant advancing the science he loved, so Ruffolo designed his own version of retirement. Let’s call it unretirement.  

“I have a lifetime of knowledge about how drugs are discovered and developed,” says Ruffolo. “Companies want me to help them develop these drugs, and I’ll do it as long as my health holds out. It keeps me busy, and I’m having fun, yet without the crushing burden of responsibility that I had when I was working.” 

Before retiring, Ruffolo led a 9,000-person team and often worked 12 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week. He rarely slept more than four hours a night, rising at 4:00 a.m. to clear his email inbox before arriving at the office by 5:00 a.m. Now, at 74 years old, Ruffolo sets his own schedule.  

“I get up at 1:30 or 2:00 a.m., never later,” he says. “I do an hour on the treadmill, 30 minutes of weights, then start work. People think I’m crazy, but it makes me happy. There’s a good feeling I get when I’m awake before other people.” 

These days, Ruffolo is a consultant for several pharmaceutical companies, a board member for multiple biotech startups, and an expert witness on patent infringement lawsuits. He travels frequently to Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.  

He teaches, lectures, and—with Stephany—engages in philanthropic endeavors, including renovating a lecture hall at The Ohio State University, his alma mater. It’s a packed and fulfilling life, designed very much to his own specifications. 

Unretiring in Retirement 

While Ruffolo’s version of work during retirement may seem extreme, the trend of unretirement has gained attention in recent years as a larger share of baby boomers approach this stage of life in innovative ways. These go-getters are creating paths that include some form of intermittent, remote, or scaled-back work. Some are trying a different field altogether.  

Nearly one in five adults age 65 or older is employed today—an increase from only 11 percent in 1987, according to the Pew Research Center. Even among those 75 and older, about 9 percent are employed, more than double the share in 1987. College-educated workers are more likely to continue working than those without a college degree. 

“There’s a shift in people’s idea of retiring because of how the workforce has changed, especially in the past few years,” says Evan Cumalander, a CAPTRUST financial advisor in Wenatchee, Washington. “As much of the workforce has gone virtual, some individuals who already retired have now been hired back to work remotely or have stayed on in consulting roles.”  

On Your Own Terms 

One factor contributing to the unretirement trend is that work has become more age-friendly and flexible due to technology tools and new social norms—like flexible hours and virtual meetings—that became more common during the pandemic.  

“Before, people were waking up at 7:00 a.m., making coffee, driving to an office, and spending a lot of time away from their families,” says Cumalander. “Now, those who have perfected their craft throughout their careers can be just as effective working reduced hours virtually.” 

One of Cumalander’s clients, who worked at a food distribution company, changed her whole approach to retirement when it became possible to do her job remotely. As the main contact for some strategic customer relationships, she negotiated with her employer to continue working after age 65 as a 1099 consultant.  

1099 consultants are considered independent contractors, not employees. (The number 1099 refers to the tax form employers must file for each independent contractor.) As such, Cumalander’s client was ineligible for employer-sponsored health insurance, but she was able to get on Medicare.  

“She lives an almost-retired lifestyle, with very flexible hours,” Cumalander says. “She’s able to keep one toe in the water, working with people she likes and having something to do, while getting supplemental income so she doesn’t have to withdraw as much from her retirement accounts.” 

Cumalander sees a trend of similar trajectories. “With remote work now a common option, people can extend the length of time they work,” he says. “Instead of stopping work completely at age 65, they might start paring back at age 60 and continue working until age 70 or later.” 

Connecting and Contributing 

Work is often a core part of a person’s identity. And research shows that continuing to work can help people stay sharp, maintain skills, and feel they’re a part of something. 

“For someone who has worked 40 to 50 hours a week for their entire life, many of their social and emotional connections may come through their workplace,” says Teri Parker, a CAPTRUST financial advisor in Riverside, California. 

Leaving that world behind entirely can create a void, she says. “Suddenly, no one is calling to ask your opinion, or you’re no longer writing a paper on a new approach,” says Parker. “It can be disorienting.” 

A renegotiated work-life balance can make all the difference in an enjoyable unretired lifestyle.  

For instance, Cumalander points to another client: a veterinarian who sold his practice at age 59 and moved to the coast, a few hours from his former home. The new owner asked if he would support the continuity of the business by phasing out gradually instead of leaving altogether. He happily agreed.  

“This client loved his work so much that he would drive for two hours and stay in an apartment at his best friend’s house on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays every week,” says Cumalander. “Then, he would be so excited to drive back to the beach, where every weekend was a long weekend and felt like a vacation.” 

Financial Planning Implications 

Working after retirement can help defer dipping into your nest egg and add structure to your days, but a paycheck can also cause unexpected repercussions for retirement income and taxes. Your age, the amount you’re earning, and the type of employment you’re engaged in are just a few of the factors to be mindful of.  

Before returning to work or negotiating consulting terms, it’s good to check with a financial advisor about potential implications for your Social Security benefits and retirement withdrawal strategies.  

If you aren’t yet receiving Social Security benefits, post-retirement work may allow you to delay starting, which will likely mean a higher benefit down the road. For people who are already drawing Social Security and are full retirement age or older, earned income has no impact on benefits.  

However, for those younger than full retirement age, complex rules apply. For one thing, when earnings exceed $22,320, the Social Security Administration will withhold $1 from benefits for every $2 earned above that threshold. This money is credited back after full retirement age. A different rule applies the year someone reaches full retirement age.  

“There are so many rules for different scenarios,” says Parker. “I would suggest people make an appointment with the Social Security Administration or with their financial advisor to clearly understand the full picture before making the decision to go back to work.” 

Unretiring could also change your strategy for taking retirement distributions. “If you have income, maybe you’ll need to withhold more, or maybe you’ll want to reduce or stop taking an IRA distribution,” says Parker. “If the wages are significant, it’s a good idea to meet with a tax professional.” 

When someone is drawing a pension and then returns to work at the same company, there’s a big difference between going back as a 1099 contractor and going back as a regular employee. “If you’re a consultant, you might not qualify as an employee, so you might be able to keep drawing on the pension,” says Parker. “However, returning to the company as a regular employee could create a problem. Before making any decision, talk to a pension expert in human resources to ask about constraints.”  

Life expectancies today extend long past traditional retirement age, so it’s likely the unretirement lifestyle will continue to evolve. “That’s a long time to have nothing to do,” says Ruffolo. “For retirement, you should do what makes you happy. For me, it’s about staying active and giving what I have to offer.”

Article by Jeanne Lee

It’s something Thomson would never have imagined he’d be doing for a living: leading small-group photographic safaris. 

On this last trip, a mother leopard called her two cubs to come out of hiding and reunite with her, high up in a jackalberry tree. Jan Shealy, who traveled with her husband, Tommy, was blown away. “I don’t even know where to begin,” she says. “What an adventure!” It was Shealy’s first safari. 

Thomson’s own first safari was in 2015. Recently retired from the recruiting business he owned and operated for almost two decades, Thomson is now in his fifth year of taking clients and friends to places like Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls and Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve through his company, Boone Safaris.  

2024 is the first year in which his passion for wildlife will be his full-time occupation. 

Going Pro 

The dream hatched from a simple hobby. When his kids were growing up, Thomson took pictures of them for fun. “I even became the sports photographer at their high school,” he says. When one of his sons advanced to college football, Thomson happily focused his camera on the field and became the official photographer for Yale University’s football team during his son’s first year of school. 

Once his kids graduated, space opened in Thomson’s life, so he started aiming his lens at landscapes and wildlife instead. He especially loved photographing the larger fauna at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. 

Thomson studied the work of professional photographers and followed them on social media. One day, he happened upon a GoFundMe campaign for a renowned wildlife photographer. In exchange for a donation, the photographer would join him on a safari to watch the Great Migration in the Maasai Mara. 

The trip turned out to be the most exhilarating of his life. “I vividly remember the first time I saw a lion in the wild,” Thomson says. “There were no fences. It was just a lion out there lying down, sleeping. I probably cried. Seeing a leopard in real life, a cheetah, massive herds of wildebeest, and zebra as far as the eye could see, it was a spiritual experience.” 

Thomson’s pastime evolved into a calling. He traveled and studied with California-based photographer Roy Toft. “I went with him to a workshop in Costa Rica, then to Brazil to photograph jaguars, then to Botswana, and then to Patagonia to photograph pumas,” Thomson says. “I thought he had the coolest job in the world.”  

Soon, Thomson’s safari habit became too costly to keep up, and he got the idea to start Boone Safaris. He has been sharing his passion for African wildlife ever since. 

By Land, Air, or Water 

Thomson’s photographs brim with emotion. Some feel like portraits, capturing an animal’s personality and mood. A muscular hippo tilts its head, looking back over its massive round shoulder as if asking a question. A delicate bird with a pointy beak passes a winged insect to its mate. A cheetah cub, mid-leap, looks as playful as a preschooler. 

One of Thomson’s goals is to become certified as an African field guide. To that end, he’s spent hundreds of hours studying African species and their behaviors. A benefit of his deep knowledge is that it gives him an advantage in setting up shots and sharpening his photography. 

“When a lion comes into the pride, the first thing it does is make contact with the other lions,” he says. “They rub their heads together.” Because he can anticipate this behavior, Thomson can make sure he’s in position to capture the best shot. 

At Boone Safaris, guests choose from different types of game drives and viewing. “The most common one is a specialized Land Cruiser that gets you very close to the animals,” he says.  

“If you’re still and quiet, the elephants will come right up to you.” Another option is a hot air balloon, drifting above big herds of animals as they cross the reserves. 

“We also do walking game drives in a private conservancy in Kenya,” Thomson says. “We go out with a Maasai warrior who knows the land.” 

On his most recent trip, Thomson led a game drive by small boat on the Chobe River. “You’re down low in the water, pulling up next to hippos, and the elephants are swimming across,” he says. 

Thomson notes that hippos may react when humans get close. “Hippos can charge. They’re fast in the water, and they’re powerful, but they don’t swim. They run on the bottom. If they charge, our boat driver will speed away, and the boats are custom designed so that they won’t tip over.” 

Close Encounters 

Getting close to large animals is a thrill. For Gardner Lee, of Birmingham, Alabama, traveling with Boone Safaris in 2022 was also a precious opportunity to bond with his daughter, Anna. In Kenya, a male lion approached their vehicle. “What we didn’t notice was a female lion slipping up along the side,” he says.  

“With my daughter’s camera focused on the male, the female jumped from a creek bed toward the truck and came within five feet of Anna,” says Lee. “The entire vehicle let go of one big gasp.” 

They also watched a pride of female lions track down a herd of wildebeests and pick out the weakest. “Seeing these animals in the wild as they have existed for millennia makes you feel like you are a part of the past,” Lee says. “It gives you a new appreciation for our ancestors. It awakens you to your basic instincts as a human being.” He left with a lasting desire to help preserve the animals’ ways of life, away from civilization. 

To Love and Protect 

For Thomson, Boone Safaris means much more than simply turning a profit. He wants to raise awareness of conservation efforts. Visitors to Africa often focus on seeing big game animals, but Thomson loves to introduce them to lesser-known species as well, like his favorite, the painted dog. 

These big-eared, mottled canines are among the most endangered animals in Africa. Thomson became fascinated with them after befriending a researcher who had studied them for decades. Painted dogs are sociable; they hunt in groups. They have only four toes on each foot, an adaptation that makes them extremely agile. “Their intelligence and cooperation make them the most successful hunters in the animal kingdom,” Thomson says. 

Once considered problem animals, painted dogs were frequently killed on sight by ranchers. There are only 6,600 living today. “Europeans gave them the name wild dog, and that name really stuck, but it sounds like a feral domestic dog that deserves to be shot,” Thomson says. “At Boone Safaris, we give 1 percent of our revenue to the Painted Dog Research Trust [PDRT].” 

Thomson had the chance to stay at the PDRT compound for five days during his recent trip. He slept in a small hut and observed the work being done by Zimbabwean university students. The students were viewing recent camera trap images and identifying individual pack members. Thomson says he was taken aback to see the name of one of the dogs. It was Boone.  

Startled for a moment, he then remembered that his daughter had the privilege of naming a new dog two years ago when she worked at PDRT. She had named this one after her father. 

Some of Thomson’s clients have been so moved by their experiences in Africa that they have allocated a portion of their charitable giving to causes like the painted dog and the Maasai community. “You’re probably not going to do that if you haven’t been here,” Thomson says. 

As the Senegalese conservationist Baba Dioum put it, “In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught.” 

For Thomson, love and conservation are entwined. “I don’t want to have a company just to make money and build a big business,” he says. “I want to take people on safari so they’ll appreciate these animals and want to protect them.” 

Article by Jeanne Lee. Photographs by Boone Thomson.

The patient would insist their hearing was fine. It was just that other people were mumbling, says Ashby-Scabis, senior director of audiology practices at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Most times, she says, the test would show hearing loss. 

If you’ve noticed other people talking too softly, found yourself annoyed by people speaking to you from other rooms, or found that your usual television or radio volume is creeping steadily upward, you might have hearing loss too. And if you do, you’re in good company.  

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 15 percent of all adults have trouble hearing—a number that increases to 33 percent for people between ages 65 and 74 and nearly 50 percent for people over 75. 

Hearing experts say it isn’t surprising that most people don’t know they’re having trouble hearing, since hearing loss usually happens gradually over time. But missing or ignoring the signs can have profound consequences for your relationships, work, health, and safety. 

How and Why Hearing Loss Happens 

Age-related hearing loss is largely a matter of wear and tear on the inner ear and the nerves between our ears and brains, says Ashby-Scabis.  

Your genes, and health conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure, can raise your risk of hearing loss, says Patricia Gaffney, a professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and president-elect of the American Academy of Audiology. 

Noise exposure also matters. Too many loud concerts or a noisy job without ear protection can damage your hearing over time. “But most people don’t really notice the damage on a day-to-day basis because it’s such a gradual change,” says Gaffney.  

“The first thing people might notice is that, when they enter a noisy environment, it’s much harder to have a conversation,” she says. “They may also start to find other people’s speech less clear, especially the voices of women and children, because hearing at higher pitches declines fastest.” When people start to lose their ability to hear high pitches, they’ll hear mostly low pitches instead. These sound like mumbling, hence the common complaint. 

Turning up the TV and asking others to speak up won’t fix the problem, says Gaffney. “If you have a faulty inner ear, no matter how loud we make it, it’s still not going to make things any clearer.”  

Other warning signs, according to the NIH, include trouble understanding people over the phone, often asking people to repeat themselves, and struggling to understand a conversation when two or more people are talking. Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, is another possible sign. 

How Hearing Loss Impacts Your Life 

ASHA reports that adults who know they have hearing loss are unlikely to do anything about it unless it gets severe. It’s not unusual for people to wait 10 years or longer to consider hearing aids, the primary form of treatment. “Over those years, you’re missing out on so much,” says Gaffney. 

Studies have linked untreated hearing loss to depression, anxiety, and social isolation, says Laura Coco, an assistant professor of audiology at San Diego State University. “As communication gets harder, people just slowly drop out from their communities and their families.” 

Working adults can lose confidence in their ability to do good work, she says. Untreated hearing loss is linked with lost income and a higher rate of unemployment, according to the nonprofit Hearing Health Foundation. 

It’s even linked to a higher risk of falling, perhaps because poor hearing creates a “sense of disorientation,” says Ashby-Scabis. 

In the past few years, researchers have also found an increasingly strong connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline. First, researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that people with mild hearing loss were twice as likely to develop dementia as those with normal hearing and that those with moderate to severe hearing loss were at even higher risk.  

More recently, the same researchers found that getting hearing aids led to a 50 percent drop in the rate of cognitive decline in older adults who had both hearing loss and an elevated risk for dementia. 

It is important to note that the studies don’t prove that hearing loss leads to dementia because correlation is not causation. “One thought is that there’s a common cause that leads to both dementia and hearing loss,” says Coco.  

If untreated hearing loss does increase the risk, isolation could be the link, she says. We’re social creatures, and when we lose connection, our brains suffer. 

Another consideration is that untreated hearing loss can make someone seem like they have memory problems when they don’t. “When you don’t hear what people are saying, you can’t remember it,” says Ashby-Scabis. “That’s another reason to get answers and get help.”

Article by Kim Painter

A: The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued the Retirement Security Rule, also known as the fiduciary rule. This rule defines the term investment advice fiduciary for purposes of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The new rule is the culmination of a long process, through which the DOL has attempted to better clarify what a fiduciary is and what constitutes fiduciary advice for retirement accounts like 401(k)s and individual retirement accounts. This may be one of the reasons you’ve heard the term a lot lately, but the concept of the fiduciary is not new. In fact, it dates to ancient Roman law.  

In the context of personal finance and investments, registered investment advisors (RIAs) must adhere to a fiduciary standard of care. In other words, RIAs are legally bound to always act in your best interest. 

This means that the investment advisor must always put your interest ahead of their own and must disclose any real or potential conflicts of interest. In other words, RIAs are required to provide advice and recommendations that are best for you, even if it means earning less for themselves or their firms. The fiduciary standard is the highest ethical standard in the financial services industry. 

Another thing to know is that, in recent years, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission issued a separate rule called regulation best interest, which raised the standard applying to stockbrokers. 

However, the primary difference between RIAs and brokerage firms still exists. Brokerage firms sell securities in exchange for commissions. This is a transaction-based business model. RIAs render investment advice in exchange for a fee that is not contingent on transactions. In general, investment advice from an RIA is rendered on an ongoing basis, so that the RIA’s fiduciary obligation does not end after a transaction takes place. 

While regulation best interest imposed a new standard on brokerage firms, the incentive still exists for brokers to recommend products that generate higher commissions.  

While these distinctions may seem subtle, understanding the difference can help you make better-informed decisions when seeking financial advice. When working with a financial professional, it’s crucial to understand the standard under which they operate for the specific services you’re seeking. 

CAPTRUST is a fiduciary, first and foremost. We believe in the value of objective investment advice given solely in the best interests of our clients. The company has gone to great lengths to eliminate the kinds of conflicts of interest that are common in other parts of the financial services industry. 

After all, no one knows how long they’re going to live. So how do they know they won’t run out of money? 

“We recommend people do their financial planning with the assumption that they’re going to live a long time because of better preventive medicine and better treatments,” says Gray, who’s based in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

Many retirees today need sufficient liquid investments to last 20 to 40 years. Otherwise, they face a longevity risk, which means they might survive longer than expected and outlive their resources. 

“You may not live to 100,” says Gray. “But what if you live to 97, and you only planned for your money to last until you were 90? Then you’ll spend the last seven years broke. You don’t want to be down to your last nickel.”  

That’s a scary thought, but it can happen, says Gray. “I’m currently working with a client whose mother is 93 and has had dementia for seven years. She has survived COVID-19 three times. Now she’s living in an expensive long-term-care facility, and he’s watching her burn through her assets.”   

His client doesn’t want to be in the same situation.  

Recent surveys reinforce the wisdom of long-term financial planning. In America, the average retirement age is 62 to 65 years old. A 65-year-old man can expect to live to age 82.5 (about 17.5 years in retirement), and a 65-year-old woman can expect to live to age 85 (about 20 years in retirement), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Although a small percentage of people currently make it to 100, a 2024 report from the Pew Research Center says there will be many more centenarians in the coming decades. 

Calculating Expenses   

Several factors go into fiscal planning for a century-long life, from expenses and asset allocation to inflation and market volatility. As a financial planner, Nick DeCenso, CAPTRUST senior director of wealth solutions, says estimating how much retirees will spend is the hardest part of developing a plan. 

“We know our clients’ assets,” says DeCenso. “We know what their income looks like. We know their Social Security benefits. We know their liabilities. But anticipating spending is tough.” 

“For the first three to five years of retirement, we often see a spike in spending,” he says. “A lot of folks are taking trips they’ve put off, leaning into their lifelong hobbies, or buying big-ticket items they’ve always wanted. They tend to spend less later in retirement.” 

Figuring out expenses is important, says Briana Smith, a CAPTRUST financial advisor in Raleigh, North Carolina. Smith helps clients develop plans for a life expectancy of 95.  

“We want to get as accurate a number as possible,” she says. “For instance, we need to know if you’re spending $15,000 a year on groceries and $30,000 a year on travel.”  

What might seem like a small difference on paper can have a significant impact when you grow these expenses with inflation over long periods. Smith says some people like to create a detailed budget. Others just want a general understanding of how much they spend. 

Adding Costly Items 

Beyond regular living expenses, each person’s long-term financial plan needs to incorporate occasional large expenditures, such as buying a second home or helping adult children purchase property, paying for weddings or grandchildren’s educations, or some combination of those things.   

These expenses are important because they have big potential to move the needle, jeopardizing the chance you’ll achieve your financial goals. “You may end up paying for a wedding that’s so expensive it impacts your retirement lifestyle,” Gray says. 

Today, more clients are making big gifts to their children, grandchildren, and charities during their lifetimes, says DeCenso. “If I live to 100, for example, that means my two daughters are going to be 70 before they get an inheritance. If I’m able to give them financial gifts while I’m still alive, then I get to see some of the fruits of those gifts.”   

Some parents opt to give each child or grandchild the maximum annual amount that you can give without reporting it to the Internal Revenue Service. In 2024, that amount is $18,000 from one parent or $36,000 from both. “That’s fine as long as it doesn’t put the parents’ retirement plan in jeopardy,” Smith says.    

Gray suggests taking care of yourself first. “Make sure you’re comfortable with your resources and planning so you can have the lifestyle you want and eliminate—or at least mitigate—your risk of creating a financial shortfall.”  

Models and Scenarios 

Advisors use financial planning software to give clients a reasonably reliable look into the future.  

The software considers factors such as age, assets, living expenses, charitable donations, automobile expenses, education costs, and gifting to family. Once all your expenses and sources of income are in the system, it can calculate different long-term financial scenarios, adjusting for inflation, market volatility, increased healthcare costs, and other factors.  

The goal is to model multiple versions of the future so you can prepare accordingly. “From there, we can determine how growth-focused each client needs to be, how much money they’ll need available at key moments in their life, and how much of their total portfolio should be allocated to different types of investments,” Gray says.  

For a lot of people, modeling creates peace of mind. 

“We’ve worked with people who were absolutely petrified about the future, and after using these software tools, they were comfortable living a lifestyle that was considerably nicer than they thought they could ever afford,” says Gray. 

Customizing Investments 

Despite what many online calculators might say, when it comes to investments during retirement, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy. “The best mix depends on each person’s unique assets and liabilities,” says DeCenso. “Now more than ever, people are retiring with multiple assets beyond their homes and employer-sponsored retirement accounts.”  

Besides Social Security and, in some cases, pensions, retirees might have other income streams, such as rental properties, business partnerships, or severance from a company. They might also be consulting or working full or part time.  

“All of this factors into how we decide on the right mix of equities and fixed income in investments,” says DeCenso.  

Sometimes, retirees go too far in one direction. “I see folks who are at each of the extremes,” he says. “They think, I’m retired, so I’m going to be as conservative as possible with my investments.” 

“Other folks are too aggressive,” he says. “They keep too high of a percentage of their assets in equities after retirement, which can create substantial risk.” 

There’s a lot to consider when making investment decisions. Someone who’s getting Social Security and has a pension and other sources of income might need to withdraw less from their portfolio. This person can afford to take more risks. But a retiree who receives smaller Social Security benefits and has no pension can’t afford to take as much risk. 

Dividing Investments into Buckets 

Smith suggests thinking about investments as buckets:  

The Cash-Flow Bucket: Keep one to three years of your retirement withdrawal needs in cash or cash-equivalent accounts, such as a money market fund or—in today’s interest rate environment—an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks a three-month Treasury bill. “This can help retirees avoid selling stocks if there’s a dip in the market,” Smith says. 

The Income Bucket: This is money for the intermediate term. “We recommend having roughly seven years’ worth of withdrawal needs in a more income-focused bucket, something that includes a balanced asset allocation with a mix of stocks and bonds,” she says. “It could even include some private credit alternatives to boost yield.” This asset allocation is dependent on the retiree’s risk tolerance. “You have a nice waterfall effect with dividends and interest flowing from the income bucket to the cash-flow bucket,” Smith says.  

The Growth Bucket: The first two buckets should fund the first 10 years of retirement. “This creates peace of mind and allows clients to be more growth oriented with their longer-term assets in the third bucket,”  
she says. 

Avoiding a Financial Shortfall 

The 4 percent rule is a guideline that says if retirees withdraw 4 percent annually from their portfolios, they won’t exhaust their savings. “In general, this is a good budgeting strategy,” Gray says. “However, it’s prudent to check your withdrawal percentage regularly. If your rate starts to creep up, then 4 percent might not be sustainable.” 

In some cases, clients aren’t worried about running out of money. They’re more concerned with preserving investments to pass on to their heirs or favorite charities.  

Smith suggests clients might want to live off dividends and interest to preserve the current buying power of their portfolio. She says financial advisors often coordinate with a client’s estate planning attorney. 

“Sometimes, we need to help strategize the most tax-efficient estate plan,” Smith says. “This could include setting up and funding certain types of trusts or simply considering which assets should be directed toward heirs versus charities.”  

In some cases, people choose to leave homes to their children. Other retirees downsize during their golden years and use some home equity to cover expenses.  

“My mother-in-law is retired and conscious about her spending,” says DeCenso. “She lives in a 3,000-square-foot house that is worth $1 million and is almost paid off. If she needs more money, she has a lot of equity to work with.”  

Regular Check-ins 

Retirement planning is not a one-time exercise. “That would be nice, but it’s not realistic,” says DeCenso. “Nothing will go precisely as planned. The markets won’t move in a straight line and may do better or worse than everyone thought. Also, your spending will fluctuate and evolve. There will be times when you spend more or less than expected.”  

Smith says she tells clients to revisit their plans annually or any time they have a major life change, such as moving to another state, having more grandkids, getting divorced, or having a death in the family.  

DeCenso says some have a clear mental picture of the portfolio amount they’re determined to stay at or stay above. “They think: If I dip below my peak savings amount, it feels like I’m trending toward zero,” he says. Sometimes, this type of thinking can cause more harm than good, causing people to underspend and worry unnecessarily.  

“You saved for your retirement, so enjoy it,” he says. “This is what those long years of saving were meant for.”   

Article by Nanci Hellmich

A: Investing in gold may provide some benefits as a portfolio diversifier and potentially as a hedge against inflation, but there are several issues to consider when contemplating an investment in this or other precious metals. Here are a few: 

• Store of value. Gold has traditionally been viewed as a store of value and a safe-haven asset during times of economic uncertainty and high inflation. As currencies tend to lose purchasing power due to inflation, gold may be viewed as a way to preserve wealth during these periods. 
• Limited supply. The supply of gold is relatively limited and cannot be easily increased. This scarcity can make gold more attractive at times when the supply of money is increasing. 
• Portfolio diversification. Adding gold to an investment portfolio can help hedge against the potential negative effects of inflation on other asset classes, such as stocks and bonds. In addition, gold has historically shown a low correlation to stocks and bonds, providing a diversification benefit. 
• Timing. While gold is often considered an inflation hedge, its price can be volatile and does not always move in tandem with inflation in the short term. Also, timing the purchase and sale of gold can be challenging, so it’s essential to have a long-term investment horizon. 
• Trade-off. While gold may help preserve wealth during inflationary periods, it does not generate income or dividends like other assets, such as bonds or stocks. 

Investors should also be mindful of the additional costs of investing in physical gold, including storage, insurance, and transaction fees, which can erode potential gains. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that include gold may be a cost-effective alternative but do not offer the same features as investing in physical gold. 

If you do choose to invest in gold, it should be as part of a well-diversified investment strategy and should not be considered a stand-alone solution to combat inflation. As always, consult with your financial advisor to determine what makes sense for you based on your investment goals, risk tolerance, and overall financial situation. interest that are common in other parts of the financial services industry.