A Few Useful Finds for Life After Work — Issue #8

Hi from Stefan,

Welcome to the eighth issue of this biweekly newsletter.

Nothing here is sponsored or written for compensation.

The Investment That Can Shield You in Uncertain Times

Jason Zweig of the Wall Street Journal calls TIPS one of the best ways to guard against a loss of purchasing power and notes that “The real yields on TIPS—their payouts after inflation—are at or above 2% on many longer-term maturities. That’s close to the most generous returns they’ve offered over the past couple of decades.”

What an Oscar-Nominated Short Film Can Teach Us About Retirement

One of this year’s Oscar-nominated animated shorts is called Retirement Plan (watch on YouTube). It’s not about financial planning, but about a man planning how to spend his time in retirement. In turns both inspiring and melancholy, it’s understated yet surprisingly powerful.

Morningstar’s retirement writer Christine Benz shares her reflections on the film.

My favorite podcast

Acquired. In each episode, hosts David Rosenthal and Ben Gilbert do a multi-hour deep dive on the history of one enduring business. These are impeccably researched and compelling stories, told as the “hero’s journey” of the company’s founders and leaders, along with accessible take-aways on business strategy. The latest episode is about Ferrari.

Check out the website’s episode catalog of the many companies they’ve covered; ranging from luxury (Hermes, Rolex) to mass market (Walmart, Coca-Cola) to tech (Google, Amazon) to sports (NFL, Formula One).

Product update

In the last newsletter I mentioned that I’m preparing to release some major website improvements with user-requested features — including timing of eligibility for retirement account withdrawals, RMDs and detailed accounting of income, withdrawals and taxes across your plan.

The upgrade will be up on the site within a few days. I’ll send out a short note once it’s live.

Warmly,
Stefan Sharkansky, PhD
Founder of The Best Third