7. Have a Portfolio Withdrawal Strategy

Now’s the time to finally dip in your portfolio. Maybe you want to work on your house or finally take a vacation somewhere far, far away. Whatever the case, every financial advisor under the sun will tell you to be careful about how you withdraw your money.

We wouldn’t be surprised if the main piece of advice you’ve received so far is to focus on proportional withdrawals and annual re-balancing. As it turns out, though, new research shows that this might not be as effective as many experts claim.

Instead, try to avoid spending equities early in retirement and during down year. Many financial advisors say we should focus on cash/bond withdrawals first, as well as more complex or sophisticated strategies. Once more, you should avoid cookie-cutter plans just because everyone’s doing them and because they seem to be the easiest to approach.