Jeffrey Ptak, managing director at Morningstar Research have a great data-infused article on how important are returns in the first 5 years of our retirement. I don’t think this is quite surprising to me even before reading. Here is briefly what I know: Returns in income spending is important but not the most important attribute. The first 25-30% of your retirement period is the most important part. For example, if you need the income for 40 years, the first 12 years is roughly the most important. If you have a poor 12 years and failed to address them in your plan, you might… run out of money. Those challenging scenarios typically involve Early poor market returns (long or great magnitude of decline) Persistently high inflation (not one or two year inflation but a persistently high inflation period) Combination of the two above. Reducing the volatility...