Ok, don't kill the newbie for the stupid question but who is Wade Pfau?

[bclover]

Who is Wade pfau?
LOL, I did "google" the man and basically it says he's a professor at American College but is he like the Pied Piper of the retirement world.

I see him quoted often here.

BC

 

[RunningBum]

Who is Wade pfau?
LOL, I did "google" the man and basically it says he's a professor at American College but is he like the Pied Piper of the retirement world.

I see him quoted often here.

BC

I agree with you but I would appreciate if you could actually put the full question and not just a teaser in the thread subject. It drives me nuts when people use thread titles that give no clue as to the content.

 

[nun]

Wade Pfau is a guy who likes to play with his software and numbers. He does a lot of interesting modeling for different withdrawal strategies and asset allocations. You might not agree with everything he proposes, but you can learn a lot from his papers.

 

[MichaelB]

Who is Wade pfau?
LOL, I did "google" the man and basically it says he's a professor at American College but is he like the Pied Piper of the retirement world.

I see him quoted often here.

BC

Yes, he is quoted often, because he is an academic and specialist in retirement finance, a topic near and dear to all of us. His work has been thoroughly discussed here, I would suggest you do a forum search for threads with "Pfau" in the title, you will see a number of threads discussing specific publications of his.

 

[brewer12345]

He is an annuity salesman with an increasingly thin veneer of academic respectability.

 

[Sarah in SC]

He is an annuity salesman with an increasingly thin veneer of academic respectability.

 

[RunningBum]

Yes, he is quoted often, because he is an academic and specialist in retirement finance, a topic near and dear to all of us. His work has been thoroughly discussed here, I would suggest you do a forum search for threads with "Pfau" in the title, you will see a number of threads discussing specific publications of his.

Thanks to whoever updated the thread subject title. Being able to search is another good reason for making descriptive and accurate titles.

 

[MichaelB]

Thanks to whoever updated the thread subject title. Being able to search is another good reason for making descriptive and accurate titles.

+1

 

[Midpack]

He is an annuity salesman with an increasingly thin veneer of academic respectability.

+1. Some of Pfau's earlier papers were enlightening IMO, but he seems to have gone headlong into the above as described by brewer12345.

Even (my former investing idol) Dr Bernstein seems to have been rattled by how many of his private investors panicked during the 2008-09 meltdown...

Oh how the mighty have fallen?

 

[bclover]

I agree with you but I would appreciate if you could actually put the full question and not just a teaser in the thread subject. It drives me nuts when people use thread titles that give no clue as to the content.

Not a problem. sorry about that.

BC

 

[fritz]

He is an annuity salesman with an increasingly thin veneer of academic respectability.

Does come across the same to me. I take into consideration where he teaches/who they teach...

 

[mathjak107]

i prefer the work of michael kitces .

pfaus research seems to always have an annuity theme . which he changes his opinion on frequently .

remember how the rising glide path was the great fixer . then it was pointed out by guyton how bad a time this is from a bond perspective as opposed to looking at it from stocks and wade agreed .

 

[brewer12345]

I am not sure why the Evil Dr. Pfau is taken seriously as an academic. He is free to say or publish whatever he likes, but to regard him as a scholar? Please. Annuity salesman who isn't smart enough to make sure he gets commissions on any sale.

 

[walkinwood]

i prefer the work of michael kitces .

pfaus research seems to always have an annuity theme . which he changes his opinion on frequently .

remember how the rising glide path was the great fixer . then it was pointed out by guyton how bad a time this is from a bond perspective as opposed to looking at it from stocks and wade agreed .

+1 on Kitces and Guyton. Two people who are informed by real life in addition to all the back testing they do.

 

[Chuckanut]

Dr. Pfau does seem less interesting these days, IMHO. Or am I just getting smarter and thus harder to impress? Time will tell.

 

[GravitySucks]

Pfau's the guy telling me I'm going to go broke before I die.


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[photoguy]

Dr. Pfau does seem less interesting these days, IMHO. Or am I just getting smarter and thus harder to impress? Time will tell.

I think there's a limit to how much truly novel work one can do around SWR strategies and much of the low hanging fruit has already been picked. We talk an incredible amount about AA and withdrawal rules but these have a minimal impact compared to just lowering your withdrawal percentage.

 

[audreyh1]

He is an annuity salesman with an increasingly thin veneer of academic respectability.

I think that is a really good description.

His best work is when occasional co-author Kitces gets involved. Kitces challenges his pro-annuity assumptions.

Pfau's papers are very repetitive, so he must operate under a "publish or perish" mandate.

I just follow Kitces more or less.

 

[ERD50]

The real question for me is - how do you pronounce these names? Is it just coincidence that neither are obvious pronunciations?

Pfau? Silent "p" I assume? Fow (rhymes with How?)? Or Foe (rhymes with Toe?)?

Kitces? "C" like an "S"? "Kit" as in "Kitten", or as in "Kite"? End in "-esss" or "ezzz" or "issss"?

-ERD50

 

[marko]

Dr. Pfau does seem less interesting these days, IMHO. Or am I just getting smarter and thus harder to impress? Time will tell.

I think after a while, it becomes a question of 4%, 3.8%, 3.753216% and so on.

After you get zeroed in on the premise there's not much more to discuss.

 

[CaliforniaMan]

I think after a while, it becomes a question of 4%, 3.8%, 3.753216% and so on.

After you get zeroed in on the premise there's not much more to discuss.

Well put, but no, the exact number is given here:
https://archive.org/stream/Pi_to_100000000_places/pi.txt

I am just having a hard time entering it all into my spreadsheet.

 

[nun]

Pfau does get some funding from the insurance industry and he is upfront about that. Some if his work has recommended annuities instead if bond allocations, but I wonder how much is influenced by industry payments and how much by assumed low bond returns using current rather than historical data to calculate returns. Without firm proof I think it's irresponsible to throw out unsubstantiated accusations of academic fraud.

There is a tendency to reject anything that mentions annuities with less than total condemnation. Hence, some people have consigned Pfau and his papers to the junk heap. Read them and you will see the reasons for his results. You might not agree with them but it would be silly to dismiss them.

 

[Animorph]

Today's Pfau post says you shouldn't take SS early and buy an annuity. "Buy" the SS annuity first by delaying to age 70, then fill in with an annuity if needed. So a tiny bit of moderation. And he's mostly annuity as bond replacement, which is fine by me. Though he does like a safe floor of income.

He's very accessible and fairly prolific (lots to talk about), retirement focused, and not a Wall Street insider. I'll take what we can get, though as with anything, I'll go my own way.

 

[urn2bfree]

The real question for me is - how do you pronounce these names? Is it just coincidence that neither are obvious pronunciations?

Pfau? Silent "p" I assume? Fow (rhymes with How?)? Or Foe (rhymes with Toe?)?

Kitces? "C" like an "S"? "Kit" as in "Kitten", or as in "Kite"? End in "-esss" or "ezzz" or "issss"?

-ERD50

In my head they are always "Faw" (rhymes with saw) and "Kit says" (rhymes with hit- fez)

I believe I have at one time or another heard them interviewed and heard their names pronounced either by themselves or the interviewer.


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[newtoseattle]

fyi dashboard was updated

As this forum was my intro to this topic in last couple of years, I've learned a lot from Pfua. I appreciate he makes his work accessible to the "masses". Yes, he seems to be in favor of annuities these days but it makes some sense to me. I like to think of him and his projections as a good "floor". His dashboard was updated for november 2015. I usually add about 0.3% to his projected safe withdrawal to account for his assumption of 0.5% fees...