How to Escape the Retirement Danger Zone

What changes when retirement gets close enough that time is no longer your safety net? In this episode, Mark Falter explains why the years immediately before and after retirement can become the most financially vulnerable stretch of the journey, as the focus shifts from building wealth to drawing income from it. He walks through the impact of sequence of returns risk, the limitations of staying in accumulation-style strategies too long and the challenge of relying on retirement vehicles that were built more for saving than for distribution. The conversation also introduces the tax side of the equation. When the same portfolio has to survive market swings, fund income and face taxation at the same time, the real question is not just how much you saved, but how well the plan is built for the moment you start living on it.