ABOUT

Peter Benedek, CFA

Mission

Mission is to create an independent network for retirement finance educationand advocacy. The target audience is those who are inclined to be primarily do-it-yourselfers and would like to better their understanding of retirement finance principles and pitfalls.Topics covering all phases of the individual’s life-cycle will be addressed, from planning (pre-retirement or accumulation) to transitioning into retirement (retirement /-3 years) or already retired. The focus is to help individuals achieve their retirement objectives. In addition, opportunities will be identified for improved public policy and new financial products and services.

The format is to tackle news, educational or advocacy topics on a bi-weekly basis (although, I have initially started out with a twice-weekly blog). The readers have the opportunity to agree/disagree, correct/enhance or just raise questions about the topic(s) discussed, by clicking on Contact Peter.

While the primary focus will be from a Canadian perspective, most of the content is applicable to U.S. based readers as well.

Why participate RetirementAction network?

Unless you are independently wealthy you must plan, implement and monitor your “private retirement plan” with the clear objective to secure your desired lifestyle in retirement. What are my goals? How much do I need to save? Will my investment strategy achieve my goals? What pot-holes must I avoid and risks minimize? Will I run out of funds during retirement? Should I crimp my retirement lifestyle to insure that I leave an inheritance?

While there are no general or guaranteed answers to these questions, since the future by definition is unpredictable and individual value systems differ, there are objective (and subjective) ways to analyze these questions, to increase our level of comfort with the possible outcomes and the likelihood of their occurrence. Society (or the government) does not owe us a comfortable retirement. It’s up to each one of us to plan for what we would like and have the wisdom to live within what’s affordable by the resulting means.

What do I bring to this network?

I retired in 2002, after almost thirty years working as an engineer, manager and then executive in telecommunications R&D. While I have a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering, I was always also interested in the financial world. However, due to work and family pressures, I had the opportunity to delve deeply in a formal finance related study only after retirement. The collapse of telecom industry, coincidental with my retirement, has reinforced my interest in financial related matters not just as an intellectual pursuit, but also as a means to better understand how to manage my personal financial affairs, and assist others to better manage theirs in order to achieve some level of control over their financial destinies. In the summer of 2006 I successfully completed the three levels of study toward the Chartered Financial Analyst designation offered by the CFA Institute and I am a CFA charterholder.

In addition to authoring this pro bono website, I started providing research and consulting services to investment management firms in 2009.

9 comments

MOI · June 6, 2012 - 9:37 am · Reply→

Interesting potential here Peter.

I’ve hunted for tax implications of Limited Partnership “companies” but found none. Do you cover this topic?

Certainly a very worthwhile resource for geezers and goats like myself.

moi
drhoffm · September 10, 2013 - 1:12 pm · Reply→

I came across your web site through a copy of “Money Sense/Beginner’s Guide to Personal Finance” I have recently purchased. I am impressed with it and with your accomplishment. I’ll be reading it in the days to come. Thanks for starting this web site.
Diane Hoffmann, http://www.hofron.com
1. peter benedek · September 10, 2013 - 4:24 pm · Reply→
  
  Thanks for your note Diane…hope you’ll find it useful…peter
Chris Middlebro · January 17, 2016 - 3:05 pm · Reply→

Peter,
Really enjoyed your thoughts. I am retired at 63 and looking for tax effective advice on the decumulation phase, for example, getting pension income credit, drawing from registered versus non-registered etc.
1. peter benedek · January 17, 2016 - 5:06 pm · Reply→
  
  Glad you enjoyed the blog posts…though while tax considerations are important, what I often found is that outcomes of letting tax considerations drive my investment decision, don’t always work out for the best…
Aaghar Methiwalla · January 17, 2016 - 10:23 pm · Reply→

Hi Peter,
Your material is a tremendous treasure. Best part – relative to anything else – is you are not selling and you treat readers as intelligent people.

I would love to read real case studies of retirees (their strategies. wins. losses, etc).

Is there some way you can solicit these from your subscribers?

Regards, Asghar Methiwalla.
1. peter benedek · January 18, 2016 - 6:29 am · Reply→
  
  Hi Ashgar…Glad you appreciate the blog posts…for better or worse, I do not provide any individualized financial advice, but only generic educational retirement finance material…therefore there are no “real case studies” to share…
Asghar Methiwalla · January 18, 2016 - 10:46 am · Reply→

Hi Peter,
I understand. Instead, would it be possible to request your readers (‘students’) to share their stories?
Regards, Asghar
1. peter benedek · January 18, 2016 - 10:51 am · Reply→
  
  Asghar,
  That’s an interesting idea…let me think about it…content/format/etc?