For high income earners, a 4.5% after-tax return is equivalent to an 8%+ pre-tax return. Whole-life insurance can provide the same after-tax return of an investment with a higher pre-tax return – but without the higher investment risk.

I show how the best way to utilize bonds in retirement is not to rebalance between stocks and bonds in retirement, but rather to draw down on the bond side of the portfolio first and let the portfolio drift towards a greater equity allocation.

With interest rates at near 20-year highs, guaranteed lifetime income locks in those rates for the rest of one’s life, creating better retirement outcomes.

The choice to use an advisor in retirement is one that will cost clients and their beneficiaries millions of dollars in fees and opportunity costs as I show in this article.

For life settlements, open-ended funds offer more liquidity than closed-end funds, but they also have lower returns and the management and performance fees are often based on the net asset value of the fund – which can be hard to accurately assess for assets with unlevel cashflows.

In a low-yield environment, advisors need to use financial planning tools like no-commission annuities to improve after-tax, after-advisory fee bond returns.