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	<title>Retirement Investment Blog - Start Building Your Retirement Today! &#187; Retirement Planning</title>
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	<link>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog</link>
	<description>Your Retirement Investment Blog</description>
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		<title>Happiness Is a Reliable Income Source</title>
		<link>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/06/happiness-is-a-reliable-income-source/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/06/happiness-is-a-reliable-income-source/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:49:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>kcstar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fixed Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indexed Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Investment Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Risk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Benefits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bond Investing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Investing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stock Market]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/?p=107</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The content of human happiness is a subject for never-ending speculation and wonder. One aspect of this picture seems to have clarified, however. Retirees consistently say that they are happier when they have a reliable source of income than when they don’t.
Unfortunately, retirement is, by definition, that time of life when earned income ceases. How, then, should a prospective retiree find a reliable income source?
What is a Reliable Source of Income, Anyway?
Surveys of retirees are valuable but potentially misleading. Reactions to the phrase “reliable source of income” will vary not only because people have different needs for security and growth, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/06/happiness-is-a-reliable-income-source/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>To Bail or Not to Bail</title>
		<link>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/06/to-bail-or-not-to-bail/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/06/to-bail-or-not-to-bail/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:45:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>kcstar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Contingency Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Investment Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Risk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Investing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stock Market]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/?p=105</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[That is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to endure the slings and arrows of outrageous equity markets, or to take rise against a sea of portfolio fluctuations – and, by opposing, end them.
Shakespeare’s portfolio decisions are not recorded. Nonetheless, his protagonist in Hamlet displays a psychology remarkably like that of non-professional equity investors. They can’t make up their mind, either. On the one hand, they can still feel the terrifying sensation of the equity downdraft in late 2008 and early 2009. On the other hand, they are obsessed with “getting back” what they lost – and how [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Internet and Retirement</title>
		<link>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/05/the-internet-and-retirement/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/05/the-internet-and-retirement/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 May 2010 05:57:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>kcstar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fixed Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indexed Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Risk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Variable Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Benefits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Investing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/?p=96</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Some aspects of retirement are eternal and immutable. In other ways, today’s retirees are unlike any others in human history. Living standards depend on productivity, which is spearheaded by technology. Current retirees benefit from a technological revolution of staggering breadth and depth. The Internet provides the nexus to that revolution.
The Internet as Shopping Mall
If the Internet did no more than serve as a mobile shopping mall for retirees, its impact would be dramatic. Aging makes it progressively more difficult for retirees to travel and transact outside the home. Economists describe these difficulties as “transaction costs.” They consist not merely of [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Why Aren&#8217;t Annuities More Popular?</title>
		<link>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/05/why-arent-annuities-more-popular/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/05/why-arent-annuities-more-popular/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 May 2010 02:52:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>kcstar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fixed Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Risk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Benefits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Investing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/?p=94</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Annuities have been around forever. Anybody with any experience in investments is familiar with them. They’re issued by insurance companies, the epitome of financial soundness. Fixed annuities are considered conservative investments. And, to top it all off, their signature feature and unique claim to fame is the ability to provide guaranteed income for life.
Yet, according to one reliable source, “the majority of modern annuity customers use annuities only to accumulate funds and to make lump-sum withdrawals without using the guaranteed-income-for-life feature.” Another source notes that “voluntary annuitization of income is rare.” As a source of income in retirement, private annuity [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8220;In Fed We Trust&#8221; Inspires No Trust</title>
		<link>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/04/in-fed-we-trust-inspires-no-trust/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/04/in-fed-we-trust-inspires-no-trust/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:27:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>kcstar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Risk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Collapse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Investing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/?p=92</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[David Wessel is the Economics Editor of The Wall Street Journal. This is the most successful newspaper in the U.S. It is the leading financial publication in the world. Economics is to the Journal as algebra is to mathematics. And David Wessel is THE Economics Editor.
 That fact is at least as terrifying and depressing as his account of the financial crisis.
 AIG as “Casino”
Mr. Wessel has recently made the rounds of talk shows promoting his story of how the Federal Reserve and Chairman Ben Bernanke saved the world from the next Great Depression. In Fed We Trust is subtitled “Ben Bernanke’s [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Best Possible Result, or the Best Result Possible?</title>
		<link>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/04/the-best-possible-result-or-the-best-result-possible/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/04/the-best-possible-result-or-the-best-result-possible/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 Apr 2010 19:13:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>kcstar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fixed Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indexed Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Benefits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Well-Being]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Investing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stock Market]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/?p=89</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The British bridge expert, S. J. Simon, drew a distinction that is just as valuable to investors as it is to bridge players. Simon criticized players who sought to achieve the “best possible result” on every hand. This was too unrealistic, he contended; they should strive instead for the “best result possible” under the circumstances. Now is the season for reviewing last year’s market results and looking ahead to this year. That makes it the ideal time to recall Simon’s dictum.
 Simon’s “best possible result” (BPR) corresponds to what economists would call a global optimum. It is analogous to the highest [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Managing Retirement Withdrawals</title>
		<link>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/04/managing-retirement-withdrawals/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/04/managing-retirement-withdrawals/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:54:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>kcstar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Contingency Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fixed Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Benefits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Collapse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Well-Being]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Investing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/?p=86</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Retirement finance has an accumulation stage and a decumulation stage. Accumulation gestates, hatches, and cooks your retirement nest egg; decumulation allows you to eat it. Accumulation commands the lion’s share of attention in popular finance, but decumulation, or distribution, is equally important. Understanding how to disburse wealth is just as important as understanding how to build it.
 The Basic Problem
On retirement day, you possess a store of wealth built up throughout your working life. Stretched out before you is the rest of your life, of uncertain duration. You want to withdraw a sufficient quantity of wealth to finance a comfortable lifestyle, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/04/managing-retirement-withdrawals/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Why Do Funds Make Stocks Safer, But Bonds Riskier?</title>
		<link>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/03/why-do-funds-make-stocks-safer-but-bonds-riskier/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/03/why-do-funds-make-stocks-safer-but-bonds-riskier/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:53:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>kcstar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economic Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bond Investing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Investing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stock Market]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/?p=80</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Suppose you had $100,000 to invest in the stock market. How would you go about it?
Stock Investing: Diversification is the Name of the Game
For decades, the orthodox advice to average investors has been to put the money in one or more mutual funds. And sound advice it is, too. Putting the money in the stock of any one company &#8211; no matter how sound, no matter how “hot,” no matter how currently profitable – would be the wrong thing to do. Any information affecting the company’s future stock price is already reflected in its price, which means that changes in [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Die Rich or Die Happy?</title>
		<link>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/03/die-rich-or-die-happy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/03/die-rich-or-die-happy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:58:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>kcstar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Well-Being]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Investing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/?p=77</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Economist Steven Landsburg noted that policy wonks want people to die rich while economists want them to die happy. Is it better to die rich or die happy?
 “Why die at all?” will be the reaction of some. Science has not advanced quite far enough to make this attitude practical, although that may change shortly after we die. Others will find it impossible to separate the two outcomes, let alone treat them as mutually exclusive. How could one die happy without dying rich? Then there are those of us who would cheerfully settle for either outcome.
 The reason for pondering the question [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>The Season for Buying &#8211; and Selling</title>
		<link>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/02/the-season-for-buying-and-selling/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/2010/02/the-season-for-buying-and-selling/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:27:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>kcstar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Annuities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annuity Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retirement Investing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stock Market]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freeannuityrates.com/blog/?p=71</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[To everything, there is a season – and a time for every purchase under heaven. No, that‘s not a misprint – just an economist’s reworking of the Biblical passage.
Every recession brings with it a curious phenomenon. Non-professional investors exit the stock market like a herd of lemmings with an appointment at the edge of the cliff. Eventually, the same people stampede into the stock market during the expansion phase of the cycle. Typically, net stock-market inflows peak at or around the apex of the cycle.
This is no way to run a railroad.
The general idea behind portfolio investment is to make [...]]]></description>
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