Research Center
Guides, strategies, and analysis for retirement planning professionals
Best Retirement Planning Software for Advisors: 2026 Guide
Advisor summary: The best retirement planning software for advisors in 2026 depends on what the practice actually does. Income Lab...
Best eMoney Alternative for Financial Advisors (2026)
Advisor summary: eMoney Advisor holds 35.62% market share according to the T3/Inside Information 2026 Advisor Software Survey, and it is...
The Best AI Tools for Financial Advisors: 2026 Guide
Summary: The best AI tools for financial advisors in 2026 are specialized, not generic. Jump, Zocks, and Zeplyn lead meeting...
How Advisors Use Income Lab in Client Meetings
Forty minutes into a review meeting, Carol, age 70, asks the question the whole meeting was building toward: “Our daughter...
Monte Carlo Simulation in Retirement Planning: How It Works and Where It Breaks
Advisor Summary: A Monte Carlo simulation tests a retirement plan against randomized market and inflation futures and reports how often...
Net Investment Income Tax in Retirement: What Advisors Must Plan For
Executive summary: The net investment income tax (NIIT) is a 3.8% federal surtax on investment income that applies once modified...
How Social Security Is Taxed: Provisional Income Explained
Summary: Provisional income is adjusted gross income (excluding Social Security), plus tax-exempt interest, plus half of the year’s Social Security...
Bucket Strategy vs Guardrails vs Total Return: A Comparison for Advisors
Three strategies appear frequently in current discussion on retirement income planning. The “bucket strategy” divides the portfolio into time-segmented pools...
How Much Can a Retiree Actually Spend? A Modern Methodology for Advisors
Sooner or later, every client asks the question that retirement planning exists to answer: “How much can I spend?” The...
Risk-Based Guardrails vs Guyton-Klinger: An Advisor’s Decision Guide
Two households retire in late 2007 with the same portfolio, the same monthly spending, and the same commitment to adjust...
Retirement Distribution Strategy: A Framework for Financial Advisors
When a client stops adding to their portfolio and starts living on it, the industry calls it “distribution”, or “decumulation”....
How to Present a Guardrails-Based Retirement Plan to Clients
A client walks in for the annual review. The advisor opens the slide deck and the first chart on the...
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