Episode 416: The Retirement Problem No One Can Solve? Not So Fast.

Financial planning expert Rob Berger says the biggest challenge in retirement planning is one that no one can solve, since nobody knows how long retirement will last.  David McKnight shares his disagreement, and explains why a financial product designed for exactly this problem – annuities – may be the answer. Show Notes In this episode, David McKnight responds to Rob Berger's video The Retirement Problem No One Can Solve. Rob compares retirement to entering a race without knowing how long it is, how fast you can safely run, or when someone will tell you that you've reached the finish line. David thinks Rob did an excellent job of identifying the problem, but he strongly disagrees with the premise that no one can solve it. The fundamental challenge for every retiree is that you don't know whether your savings will need to support you for five, twenty-five years, or longer than that. David shares a different analogy, inspired by retirement economist Michael Finke: a birthday p...