Stop Chickening Out

Retirees obsess over the exact safe withdrawal rate they think they'll need while simultaneously building layer after layer of backup plans. Dividends, buckets, multiple years of cash, constant Monte Carlo recalculations are all done in the name of safety. Jordan Grumet's argument to this problem is simple and provocative: If you believe in the safe withdrawal rate, then act like it. Stop stacking contingencies on top of contingencies and chasing 100% certainty in a world where it doesn't exist. We go over Jordan's article "Stop Chickening Out" in our headline segment. Then we answer Robert's question: "What if you just use the Traditional IRA for living expenses instead? If both approaches reduce the IRA balance and lower future RMDs, is Roth conversion strategy overhyped?" And we wrap up the show with a story from one of our happiest retired listeners in our newest listener-sourced segment "Retire to Something". Resources: Article: " Stop Chickening Out " by Jordan Grumet Jordan Grumet interview on our show: Connect with Benjamin Brandt:

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Stop Chickening Out is an episode from Retirement Starts Today Radio by Benjamin Brandt CFP®, RICP®.

This episode is 18:00 long.

This episode was published on Mar 2, 2026.

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