Derek Tharp: An Alternative Approach to Calculating In-Retirement Withdrawals

The Long View

Our guest on the podcast today is financial and retirement planning expert Derek Tharp. Derek is an assistant professor of finance at the University of Southern Maine, and he’s also lead researcher at Kitces.com where he writes about a broad range of financial and retirement planning matters. In addition, Derek is a senior advisor at Income Lab and he’s president of a private wealth management firm called Conscious Capital. Derek received his bachelor’s degree in finance from Iowa State University and his doctorate in personal financial planning from Kansas State University. He’s a certified financial planner, and he’s also a chartered life underwriter.

Background

Bio

Retirement Withdrawal Rates

“The Retirement Distribution ‘Hatchet’: Using Risk-Based Guardrails to Project Sustainable Cash Flows,” by Derek Tharp and Justin Fitzpatrick, kitces.com, Nov. 24, 2021.

“Using Probability-of-Success-Driven Guardrails to Manage Safe Retirement Spending,” by Derek Tharp, kitces.com, March 3, 2021.

“With Retirement-Spending Plans, the Odds Are Stacked in the Investor’s Favor,” by John Rekenthaler, Morningstar.com, Jan. 13, 2023.

“Justin Fitzpatrick: ‘Retirees Have a Superpower,’” The Long View podcast, Morningstar.com, July 12, 2022.

“Retirement Income Guardrails Beyond Withdrawal Rates,” Webinar, incomelaboratory.com, Jan. 12, 2022.

“Why 50% Probability of Success Is Actually a Viable Monte Carlo Retirement Projection,” by Derek Tharp, kitces.com, Jan. 6, 2021.

“Christine Benz and John Rekenthaler: Revisiting What Is a Safe Retirement Spending Rate After a Tough Year,” The Long View podcast, Morningstar.com, Dec. 20, 2022.

“What Is the ‘Retirement Spending Smile’?” by Wade Pfau, retirementresearcher.com.

“The Ratcheting Safe Withdrawal Rate—A More Dominant Version of the 4% Rule?” by Michael Kitces, kitces.com, June 3, 2015.

“Reframing Monte Carlo Results to Increase Trust in Dynamic Retirement Spending,” by Derek Tharp, kitces.com, June 29, 2022.

“Simplifying Retirement Income Planning Visualization Using the ‘Spending Risk Curve,’” by Derek Tharp and Justin Fitzpatrick, kitces.com, April 13, 2022.

“The Impact of Decreasing Retirement Spending on Safe Withdrawal Rates,” by Derek Tharp, kitces.com, Feb. 22, 2017.

Portfolio Construction and Tax-Loss Harvesting

“The Extraordinary Upside Potential of Sequence of Return Risk in Retirement,” by Michael Kitces, kitces.com, Feb. 20, 2019.

“Michael Kitces: Does Portfolio Customization Pay Off?” The Long View podcast, Morningstar.com, Aug. 23, 2022.

“Tax Loss Harvesting+ Methodology,” by Boris Khentov, betterment.com, Sept. 7, 2021.

“Tax-Loss Harvesting Best Practices (and How to Scale It Across a Client Base),” by Ben Henry-Moreland, kitces.com, Sept. 7, 2022.

“Quantifying the Value of Tax Loss Harvesting,” by Derek Tharp, retirementprof.com, Jan. 10, 2023.

ESG

“The Tricky Ethics of Socially Responsible Investing,” by Derek Tharp, wsj.com, Sept. 4, 2017.

Robo-Advice

“The Value of Robo-Advisor Technology: A Practical Tax-Loss Harvesting Case Study,” by Derek Tharp, retirementprof.com, Jan. 9, 2023.

“Why DIY Investors Should Still Use a Robo-Advisor,” by Derek Tharp, retirementprof.com, Dec. 7, 2022.