by Steve Vernon, FSA

Welcome back to my monthly email newsletter on retirement planning. For my loyal readers, you may have noticed that I skipped September. I've been distracted by the passing of my mother, and in this newsletter, you'll read about some poignant lessons learned.

Target date funds are touted as the one-stop investment option for retirement savers, but they require special attention if you terminate employment before retirement and as you approach your retirement date. My first post in this series provides some background information on selecting a target date fund that's best for you, and also advocates that you not blindly choose a target date fund based on the target year of retirement. My second post covers the issues you may encounter with these funds as you approach your retirement date, and also explains why you may not want to necessarily stick with your target date fund during this important period.

Please keep reading for this month's selection of helpful blog posts and articles.

One of the most important and complex retirement planning decisions you'll make is how to generate reliable, lifetime retirement income from your IRA, 401(k), and retirement savings. This series of three posts suggests a methodical approach for sorting out which retirement income generator (RIG) or combination of RIGs might work best for you.

The first post describes my overall approach to retirement planning, including a description of four possible goals you may have for your RIGs and how you can rate those goals using my LIFE rating system. The second post applies this rating system to the first two goals: income for life and inflation protection. The third post applies the rating system to the remaining two goals: flexibility and exposure to market risk.

Are rising interest rates bad for REITs?

Read this insightful post from fellow CBS MoneyWatch blogger Larry Swedroe, in which he examines how real estate investment trusts, or REITs, have performed relative to inflation and interest rates. This post includes links that provide a good background on REITs.

In this post, Dr. Wade Pfau, professor of retirement income at The American College, explains several methods for building retirement portfolios using Vanguard funds. Dr. Pfau notes that this is not a paid advertisement for Vanguard and that there are other mutual fund companies that could also be used, but because he's a customer of Vanguard, he's most familiar with their offerings.

Study shows how to fix big flaw with 401(k) plans   

Most 401(k) participants plans are on their own when it comes to deciding how to turn their retirement savings into reliable, lifetime income. The reason? Most employers pay retiring employees a lump sum from the 401(k) plan and don't provide any help with the critical task of generating retirement income from that savings. Read here for more information on a report I co-authored for the Stanford Center on Longevity and learn how employers can take steps to significantly improve their employees' retirement income.

Helping to improve your community and the environment while making ends meet in retirement can be rewarding and satisfying. Read here for some ideas on how to accomplish both goals.