Retirement Talk with Dr. Wade Pfau

💬 Show Notes Wade Pfau, author of The Retirement Planning Guidebook and creator of the Retirement Income Style Awareness (RISA®) assessment joins Roger for a wide-ranging conversation on the big questions of retirement income planning. Wade breaks down why the RISA is a better fit for retirement than a traditional risk tolerance questionnaire, how to think about real estate and reverse mortgages as retirement tools, and what the research actually says about annuities — including when to buy, whether to add inflation protection, and how fixed index annuities with living benefits really work. This podcast is a replay of a recent Rock Retirement Club meetup where members were able to join live and ask questions. Outline Of This Episode Of The Retirement Answer Man (00:00) Roger previews the episode and invites listeners to register for Noodle Live — a Saturday morning Zoom on March 28 at livewithroger.com CONVERSATION WITH DR. WADE PFAU (02:00) Roger introduces Wade Pfau, author of The Retirement Planning Guidebook (04:15) RISA vs. risk tolerance questionnaires (10:45) How to use The Retirement Planning Guidebook (12:00) AI in retirement research (14:30) RRC Member Question: How does real estate fit into retirement planning? (17:00) Reverse mortgages as a retirement tool — usage trends, how the HECM line of credit works, upfront cost hurdles, and why adoption remains low (21:30) RRC Member Question: What is an effective marginal tax rate (EMR) and how does it affect Roth conversion strategy? (25:00) Navigating ACA subsidy cliffs before Medicare (28:00) RRC Member Question: Fixed vs. inflation-adjusted annuities (33:00) Annuity timing (37:00) RRC Member Question: Should we explore intentionally breaking the ACA cliff every few years? (48:00) Fixed index annuities with living benefits vs. income annuities (53:00) RRC Member Question: Is there an optimal age window for buying an annuity if it's a "nice to have" rather than a must? (57:00) Interpreting retirement planning software SMART SPRINT (59:00) Pick up the latest edition of The Retirement Planning Guidebook . Use it as an approachable reference guide, or read it straight through if you're really into retirement planning. REFERENCES livewithroger.com — Register for Noodle Live on March 28! The Retirement Planning Guidebook , 3rd Edition — Wade Pfau / retirementresearcher.com Take the RISA® assessment . Submit a Question for Roger . Sign up for The Noodle .

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Retirement Talk with Dr. Wade Pfau is an episode from Retirement Answer Man by Roger Whitney.

This episode is 61:09 long.

This episode was published on Mar 18, 2026.

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