A lot of what we do in financial planning today are simply based on rules of thumb, handed down from adviser to adviser, and in many case flawed ideas pushed down by insurers and asset managers.
I have always believed that planning people’s retirement should be based on more than sticking the proverbial finger in the air. I strongly believe that financial planning practices, particularly in the area of retirement planning, must be subjected to rigorous academic and empirical research.
Accordingly, in selecting the keynote speaker for the Science of Retirement Conference, I was looking for someone with not just the extensive research on retirement income planning but also with real world experience of putting the research into practice. Afterall, there’s a lot of truth in the saying; “in theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.”
I have followed the work of Dr Wade Pfau for a few years now and thoroughly impressed with his rare combination of extensive academic research on retirement income strategies and also the real world implementation of those idea into, as the Director of Retirement at McLean Asset Management, an advisory and wealth management firm with particular expertise in retirement planning.
Wade generates high quality and practical research about retirement planning. As the Professor of Retirement Income Planning at the American College‘ s PhD program in Financial and Retirement Planning and a frequent conference speaker, he spends a lot of his time educating financial planners about developing sustainable retirement income strategies. He earned a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University in 2003 and became a CFA charterholder in 2011.
Hear Dr Wade Pfau speak at the Science of Retirement Conference 2016!
His extensive research are shared via his Retirement Researcher website, and is a monthly columnist for Advisor Perspectives, a RetireMentor for MarketWatch, and an Expert Panelist for the Wall Street Journal. His research has been discussed in The Economist, Wall Street Journal, Money Magazine, and SmartMoney.
Papers
Dr Pfau has written extensive research papers on retirement planning and even I can’t manage to keep up with them all, but here are some of his best work in my view
- “Does International Diversification Improve Safe Withdrawal Rates.” Advisor Perspectives
- The Yin and Yang of Retirement Income Philosophies” A Whitepaper for Challenger (Australia). (with Jeremy Cooper)
- “An Efficient Frontier for Retirement Income.” Journal of Financial Planning (February 2013)
- Making Sense Out of Variable Spending Strategies for Retirees
- Optimizing Retirement Income by Combining Actuarial Science and Investments
Accolades
Dr Pfau was ranked one of the top 5 most prolific financial planning author of the last ten years and the tenth most prolific of the last 30 years by a recent study published in the Journal of Financial Planning.
- Wade’s research article on “safe savings rates” won the inaugural Journal of Financial Planning Montgomery-Warschauer Editor’s Award
- His work on evaluating the outcomes of different retirement income strategies received an Academic Thought Leadership Award from the Retirement Income Industry Association.
- InvestmentNews 40 Under 40 for 2014
- Investment Advisor IA 25 List for 2014
- InvestmentNews Power 20 for people expected to shape the financial advisory industry in 2013
- Financial Planning magazine’s “Portfolio Innovator Award”in 2012
- The 2014 best paper award in retirement planning from the Academy of Financial Services.
He has also served as a past curriculum director for that organization’s Retirement Management Analyst (RMA) designation program
I’m delighted to welcome Wade Pfau to London as the keynote speaker at the Science of Retirement Conference on the 2rd of March! I hope you can join us!
Hear Dr Wade Pfau speak at the Science of Retirement Income Conference 2016!
He holds a Master’s degree from Coventry University and an alphabet soup of qualifications, including the Investment Management Certificate, Chartered Financial Planner, CFP and Chartered Wealth Manager designations. He was one of 5 finalists for the Professional Advisers Personality of Year Award 2015 but the award went to a more deserving winner, obviously!
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