Why leaving clinical medicine can amplify volatility — even if your math works. Sequence risk is typically framed as a retirement math problem. But it’s often a life-timing problem. The real danger isn’t just poor early returns — it’s when volatility collides with income reduction and identity shifts. Anyone familiar with me from my website, blog articles or podcast appearances knows that I am a second shifter.  "The Second Shift" is the name of a new podcast that I am co-hosting with my...

Donor Advised Funds: A smart tax strategy In my last post , I spoke about a great tax strategy for charitable giving called a Qualified Charitable Distribution , or QCD.  QCDs allow you to lower your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) dollar for dollar and still take advantage of the standard deduction (or itemize if it makes sense) for further reduction of your tax bill.  The main problem with the QCD strategy is that it is available to a relatively small demographic:  charitably minded...

This week is Christmas, which feels like the perfect time to write a post about charitable giving. I recently worked with a retired client couple who were excellent candidates for a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD): are charitably minded, still have relatively high income (pension/social security/part-time employment), are required to take RMDs, and hold a meaningful balance in a traditional IRA. I introduced the concept to them and was able to save them thousands of dollars in taxes. ...