July 29, 2026 – I’ve written several posts in the “How to Lie with Personal Finance” series, all dealing with common misconceptions and, well, sometimes outright lies in the personal finance world: General Personal Finance Lies, Homeownership Lies, and Diversification Lies. Today I collected a set of lies for another interesting topic. Recently, I’ve heard and read a lot about an ostensibly innovative asset allocation strategy, Risk Parity, and its advantages, especially for retirees. Among some of the purported benefits are lower volatility, less stock market exposure, and higher sustainable withdrawal rates. The rationale for the superiority of this asset allocation is that it covers all the bases and hedges against different economic regimes, i.e., high growth vs. low growth and high inflation vs. low inflation. Some folks claim you can raise your safe withdrawal rate from 4% to 5% if you use Risk Parity in your retirement portfolio. So, why haven’t I proclaimed victory over Sequence of Return Risk yet? Mainly because there is a lot of hype, false advertising, and misunderstandings about Risk Parity. Here are several reasons to be skeptical…
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Can we increase the Safe Withdrawal Rate with Risk Parity? – SWR Series Part 64
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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