| Vanguard_-_Retirement_Plans Retirement benefit guide with planning information and links, from a financial services company. |
| Women\'s_Institute_for_a_Secure_Retirement_(WISER) Non-profit organization devoted to educating women about retirement and financial security issues. |
| Advantages_of_raised_bed_gardens Describes advantages and disadvantages of raised bed gardening. |
| Build_a_Raised_Bed Advantages and construction information. University of Illinois Extension. |
| Building_a_square_foot_garden__Journey_to_Forever Pictures and descriptions of laying out garden beds. |
| Building_Raised_Beds Step by step description of wooden raised bed construction. |
| Canadian_Gardens__The_Plot_Thickens Online magazine article about the technique, with examples. |
| Dave\'s_Garden__Definition_of_Intensive_Planting Definition includes links to other relevant topics. |
| Gardening___Square_Foot_Gardening Basic description of the technique. |
| Gardening_-_Square_foot_Method Pictures of a small garden and basic tips. |
| Grow_Good_Foods The Texas Raised-Intensive Method is a soil building method that was developed to conserve water, eliminate petroleum-based fertilizer run-off, and optimize food harvest all within the 12 month growin |
| Meditation_Garden_-_Design,_Layout,_Planting Intensive planting technique to create an oasis for rejuvenation in a small space. |
| The_Mittleider_Method_-_Food_For_Everyone Learn Grow-Box or Soil-Bed intensive vegetable gardening methods, with free tips, techniques and FAQs. Products about technique available to order. |
| More_Food_on_Less_Land__The_Joys_of_Square_Foot_Gardening Explains reasons intensive planting works for home gardeners and basics on how to start out. |
| No_Dig_Vegetable_Garden No dig gardening primer - planning, sowing, vegetable recipes and recommendations. |
| Patchwork_Prairie_Texas_Gardening_Page Square-foot gardening and raised bed techniques. Several sections of gardening information and links to other resources. |
| Prairie_Home_Ministries_-_Square_Foot_Gardening Overview of methods, appropriate varieties, pictures and example layouts. |
| A_Small_Backyard_Garden Pictures of personal vegetable, herb, and flower gardens and cultivation information. |
| Square_foot_Gardening_-_Anne_Armstrong Pictures and layout of a personal square foot garden. |
| Square_Foot_Gardening_-_Complete_Gardening_Reference_Site Picture of personal garden and descriptions of links to other square foot sites. |
| Square_Foot_Gardening_-_Organic_Gardening_-_UK Cultural information, trail gardens, plant spacings and related articles. |
| Square_Foot_Gardening_-_Steven_and_Paula_Hicks Pictures and description of personal garden and related links. |
| Square_Foot_Gardening_-_Topper\'s_Place Combined Square Foot and Deep Bed gardening techniques. |
| Square_Foot_Gardening_-_TuffyDog Pictures of personal garden and links to other square foot resources. |
| Square_Foot_Gardening_at_Claudia\'s Pictures and description of building a square foot garden. |
| Square_Foot_Gardening_Chat_-_Farmer_Brown Description, reflections and links. |
| Square_Foot_Gardening_Forum__(shortcut=sqftgardn) Newsgroup for square foot gardening. |
| Square-Foot_Gardens_Ideal_For_Small_Volume_Growers Article from the University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture, about the advantages of square foot planting. |
| squarefootgardening_-_Yahoo!_Groups Club discussing square foot practices. |
| Tomato_Growing_Information_for_Succession_Intensive_Square_Foot_Gardening Intensive container growing practices. |
| Yahoo!_Groups___forsmalllots Discusses using square foot and intensive planting to utilize small gardening spaces. |
| Bonsai_in_Asia_Guide Where to find Bonsai and Suiseki in Asia. |
| Bonsai_Information Information, articles, pictures, suiseki, singing bowls, and antique pots. |
| Bonsai,_Suiseki_and_a_Cat Information and image galleries. |
| BONSAI-TODAY Photos galleries on bonsai, suiseki, asian gardens, and koi carps with articles and discussion forums attached, in English and česká |
| Bonsaiville Images of Bonsai and Suiseki in Auckiland, New Zealand. |
| Clip_and_Save Offers tips and tricks, resources and trading. Includes a wish list. |
| Coupon_Council History, tips, and lesson plans on the use of coupons. Offers shopping worksheets. |
| Couponstar Provides products and services specifically to support the creation, distribution, tracking and reporting of consumer-printed coupons. |
| Wow_Coupons Features printable coupons for grocery, gift and home products. |
Note: The featuredwriter is solely responsible for the content of this article. Theopinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of MFI or BES,Inc.
OverviewInvesting during retirement is completely different than investing forretirement. The requirement to generate liberal, consistent, and reliable incomeover a long-term, indefinite time horizon changes the problem in a fundamentalway.During the accumulation phase it is completely rational and consistent totake a full measure of global equity risk in return for the probable higherreturns. The emphasis is correctly placed on attaining the highest possibleaccumulation.At retirement the objectives change: Generate income, and dont run out ofmoney! An entirely different strategy is called for.Retirees have several key concerns: How much can I safely withdraw? How can I make my nest egg last forever? Can I hedge the portfolio for inflation? If anything is left over, how can I get the most to the nextgeneration?Several factors complicate the retirees problem: Fixed dollar withdrawal programs increase investment risk andintroduce the possibility of self-liquidating the portfolio during extendedmarket declines. Time horizons are extended, but cannot be predicted exactly inadvance. The average life expectancy for a couple age 60/55 is 32.3 years. Inflation is embedded within government policy. We cannot counton it going away. Taxes are a dead drag on performance and the largest expenseinvestors face. Because investment returns are finite, expenses must berigorously controlled. IRA and pension forced withdrawals at age 70 may acceleratereceipt of principal and its taxation far in excess of needs. Beneficiary selection and estate planning is complex due to theintersection of IRA withdrawal rules, income and estate tax considerations.Decision-making is complicated by uncertainty. Most of the factors thatdetermine success or failure are beyond our direct control. Retirees cannotcontrol or predict market returns, interest rates, or even their own mortality.So, we must focus on the things that we can control, and devise a conservativeinvestment strategy that will yield the highest probability of success.Because no two retirees have identical situations or objectives, each casemust be individually considered. A comprehensive approach will consider all thecomplicating factors before reaching a solution. No single facet can beconsidered in a vacuum. The process is a little like putting together a puzzlewith many parts. Some compromise may be necessary, and retirees must face up tothe possibility of mid-course corrections.Next: Sustainablewithdrawal ratesCopyright 2000 Francis C. ArmstrongFrank Armstrong, CFP, is the author of InvestmentStrategies for the 21st Century, published here,President of Managed AccountServices, Inc., a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor, and ChiefInvestment Strategist of DirectAdvice.com.Get The Facts: Fordetailed fund information, risk, rankings, and performance, click here.
