July 27, 2026 – Welcome back to a new part of my Safe Withdrawal Rate Series. In my 10-year quest to study safe withdrawal strategies and find ways to hedge or at least alleviate Sequence of Return Risk, I’ve come across a lot of purported “solutions.” Some actually work to at least some degree. For example, a reverse glidepath can improve outcomes. Momentum strategies look promising. But most proposed solutions to Sequence Risk are ineffective (e.g., dividend yield, bucket strategies, small-cap value stocks, etc.). The flavor of the season right now seems to be Risk Parity. My blogging colleague Frank Vasquez has been making the rounds on various podcasts over the last year or so, touting the benefits of Risk Parity, a supposedly brilliant and innovative portfolio construction method that will miraculously increase your safe withdrawal rate in historical simulations. Supposedly up to 5% or more. I’m less optimistic, though. Let’s take a closer look…
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