A time to reap ...[Wireless Investor]

One focus of the "Wireless Investor" column is on accumulating enough wealth to fund a comfortable retirement. The recommended strategies are as follows: save 10% or more of your gross income; use index funds to obtain market returns; minimize investment expenses. Implementing these strategies is straightforward. The accumulation of sufficient wealth to fund a comfortable retirement may take 30 years or more when it is done in ways that are legal and ethical. This is only the first stage of preparing for retirement. The second stage involves accessing the wealth over a period of time that may last for an additional 30 years or more. This is more complicated than the task of accumulating the wealth but receives less attention. This article looks at this second stage of retirement planning.