Living Off Your Money: The Modern Mechanics of Investing During Retirement with Stocks and Bonds

I was starting to consider DIY pension drawdown. Early 50s. So exactly the target audience for this book.This book is the best by far, that I have found that examines the subject practically and compares different and relevant approaches. No pseudo religion. Nothing for sale except the book. McClung brings data. Lots of data. More importantly he brings interpretation and step by step analysis. He shows why (and when) you should take one approach over another based on what is more important to you - based on how things performed across all the historical record (back testing, of multiple markets (to avoid tuning and data mining bias). He simulates failure markets (beyond the historical record) and tests again. The book has an engineering / cook book approach - it's about "how to do it" after a long explanation as to "why" do X. If you don't like this detailed narrative style of communication (lots of data tables) then you will hate the book. It is very far from an easy read. If you lack attention span this will not work for you. You will also need to learn the jargon of pensions and drawdown or it will be baffling. It's not the first book or blog you should read about drawdown. I took more than one read through to grasp most of what he is saying and to reach the point where I could see confidently what I would choose among the options presented.So it will either be a big step on education for DIY pension drawdown or it will cure you of the notion entirely that you want to do it yourself.Minor gaps/negatives from a UK perspectiveThere are a couple of US focused chapters on guranteed income and US bonds ladders (TIPS) which are of lesser interest to a UK pensioner. The principles about mixing drawdown and guaranteed income are considered so this is still usefulIt doesn't cover UK tax specifics - pensions, IHT, ISAs, CGT, LTA and all the other tax code alphabet soup. Will need to self educate on that elsewhere - internet forums, government communications etc. It matters but you can add it on top.

The majority of today's DC scheme pension holders are walking into an uncertain pension future. I would say I am more informed than most people I know and work with, if not the most informed! But as I am now learning, I knew very little about how DC pensions perform in retirement, I have been on a huge learning journey over the last 6 Months and this book has been hugely helpful in making me aware of the risks but also the possibilities of my investment. scary! But exciting as well. A must read for all people retiring on a DC Pension, especially Drawdow.

This is an excellent – although at times complex – book about retirement income generation. For me it covered a number of threads/ideas/concepts I have been thinking about but had not yet managed to pull together into a complete strategy or approach to retirement income. After reading it I immediately ordered a copy via Amazon for my brother who lives in the USA.Broadly:1) It tests several portfolio management approaches (called harvesting). It recommends the best ways to get an income from your portfolio;2) How to deal with varying portfolio returns given that there are sequence of return risks using stock and shares;3)How to decide upon an initial withdrawal rate. This was the bit in the book I found the hardest to follow;4) What will make up a good retirement income portfolio. The USA leaning of this book means this chapter may not always suggest investments available in other countries, but the principles are useful to read about;5) Thinking about the cost and approach to get a minimum guaranteed income to cover essential living expenses. This was probably the least important chapter because of the USA focus of the book.Tests and comparisons, that he calls surveys, are conducted using mainly one set of USA based historical returns but are cross tested with a different set of USA figures plus UK and Japanese historical data.

The best-evidenced drawdown strategy I have read. It also makes more than a nod to the non-USA market. Given the dearth of such texts aimed at the UK this has been a welcome addition to my knowledge base.

Interesting book, very detailed and analytical. A good lesson in broad diversification of your hard earned money but still need to bear in mind systemic risks which as the author points out, is not factored in. In other words, starting with the recommended strategy in 2010 would lead to a different outcome compared to starting in 2018.

Thorough and data heavy. I found it very useful but heavy going as a lot of justifying technical data is strewn through the text. Might have been better to delegate the technical stuff to appendices. Nevertheless, this book is almost unique in its focus on how best to draw down a portfolio in retirement.