The 2008-2009 market crash and resulting bear market have been absolutely brutal to new retirees and soon to be retirees alike. For those in my age set (about 30 years out from retirement) it serves as a poignant lesson of what can go wrong.

To Mary Beth Franklin, editor of Kiplinger’s magazine, it also suggests a new way to view near retirement and post-retirement investing. It puts emphasis on what she calls “Reliability of Income”. Mary Beth suggests that retirees divide their assets into 3 buckets:

Bucket 1:

25% in laddered CDs or short-term, immediate payout annuities. This will generate safe income for the 1st 5 years.

Bucket 2:

50% in bonds and broad based stock market index funds or ETF’s for intermediate goals. A portion of this money moves into bucket 1 in 5 years.

Bucket 3:

25% invested in stocks, commodities and real estate for long term growth. A portion of this money will move into bucket 2 every 5 years.

By rebalancing every 5 years, this method ensures that you are shielded from crashes like the one we just experienced, because you still have that 25% to live on for the next 5 years that is unharmed. By the time you need that money in buckets 2 and 3, the market will have rebounded at least somewhat.

• Mutual Fund Monday. I'm down with the flu this week, which means I'm taking it easy - but not too easy. I'm catching up on some reading and found some nuggets of knowledge regarding mutual funds that you may not already know about and you may enjoy reading. So, without further ado (because......
• 3 Retail Stocks For the BRIC Countries. American consumers are spending less, and this presents a big hurdle for American retail stocks. But investors can still cash in on emerging markets over the next couple decades. Big spenders. The emergence of the middle class in so called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) is the most......
• When it Comes to Investing, Simplicity Rules. There was a time when only the wealthy and well connected could invest in the stock market. Then IRAs and 401(k) plans ushered in a new era of the "common man" investor. Flash forward a bit more, to the Internet age, and we have a grand democratization of the stock......
• A Sample ETF Portfolio for Alternative Investments. If you're looking for an ETF portfolio that provides exposure to assets other than stocks and bonds, you may want to check this out. The ETFs in this portfolio (from Kiplinger's magazine) are anything but the boring, old index funds that got the ETF started. The funds cover commodities like......
• Beware Target-Date Funds! Target-date funds were supposed to be the ultimate idiot-proof investment vehicle for retirement savings. The idea is that asset allocation is the single most important factor in determining investing success, and most people get it wrong. Many others never even try because they find the concept too daunting. Many people......

• How Much Does $20 A Week Amount To Over Time? I know a lot of people think that they cannot afford to save money because they have too many bills or don't make enough money every week to actually put anything aside. But for those of you in this situation, I wanted to point out how even $20 a week......
• the math hurts What is the name for what's going on with the economy these days? We're still technically not in recession and I think shrieks about a depression are overdone.  A crisis?  Whatever it is, it continues and I see no signs that it will abate before long. I had managed......
• Blogging is Big Business For those that are interested in building up alternative streams of income, blogging has become very popular. We've all heard about monetizing content, adding in advertising and finding sponsors, but there are some folks out there that have taken their efforts to the next level and seen they pay off......
• Great Debates: Actively Managed vs. Index Funds On the face of it, this match up shouldn't be a Great Debate; it shouldn't even be a minor scuffle.  After all, everyone knows that Index Funds are the one and only type of mutual fund in which you should consider investing.  And every adviser from David Bach to Suze......
• make money now versus make money later OK, think fast: two jobs. One pays $50,000 this year; it will have a steady raise keeping pace with inflation (more or less) for the next 20 years, but there will be no spectacular bumps up. The other job pays $15,000 this year. In 10 years it might give you......