Morningstar Moments: The Latest Studies on Retirement Spending Rates and Financial Literacy

1) Defining a “Safe” Withdrawal Rate

When it comes to retirement spending rates, the standard rule of thumb has always been 4%. However, the “right” withdrawal rate mostly depends on one thing: the individual retiree. In a

,

,

, and

use forward-looking estimates for investment performance and inflation to explore withdrawal systems.

2) Going Beyond the Books

The reason behind many financial mistakes is financial literacy--or a lack thereof. Many traditional financial literacy programs have room for improvement to help keep investors on track. Making financial behaviors into habits and taking advantage of our technology are two of the ways

Lamas found to make these programs more effective.

3) Portfolio Makeover Week 2021

Christine Benz’s most anticipated event of the year is here: Portfolio Makeover Week. As always, her portfolios feature a variety of investors and financial situations, from first-time parents with a $1.9 million portfolio to a new investor trying to balance her investing FOMO with almost 100 holdings.

Stay in the loop with @MorningstarInc and our analysts: Jeff Ptak, chief ratings officer: @syouth1 Samantha Lamas, behavioral researcher: @SamanthaLamas4 Christine Benz, director of personal finance: @christine_benz