Serious Investing for Your 60s (Ages 60-69)

• Investment policy statement: At 60 the statement shifts from accumulation to drawdown rules. Common mistake: Carrying the accumulation-era allocation unchanged through the retirement date, with no cash buffer or withdrawal order written down for the first years, when sequence risk is highest.
• Research sleeve: In the 60s, the sleeve meets the retirement decision. Common mistake: Keeping the sleeve at full size into the first years of withdrawals, so that a drawdown forces sales at low prices just to cover ordinary living costs.
• Concentration management: In the 60s, the retirement decision and Social Security timing turn concentration into a spending-plan problem. Common mistake: Rolling an entire 401(k) into an IRA at retirement without checking how employer stock is treated, which can forfeit the favorable tax treatment of that stock's appreciation.
• Tax location: In the 60s tax location meets Medicare. Common mistake: Realizing a large capital gain or Roth conversion at 63 without noticing that Medicare premiums at 65 are set from income two years earlier.
• Rebalancing: At 60 to 69, rebalancing doubles as a way to fund spending, since withdrawals can come from whichever asset class is overweight and correct the portfolio as the money leaves. Common mistake: Realizing a large taxable gain to rebalance in the two years before Medicare begins, without noticing that the income feeds IRMAA premium tiers two years later.
• Scenario testing: At 60 to 69 the test that matters most is sequence risk: the same average return produces very different outcomes if the decline comes in the first years of withdrawals. Common mistake: Testing average returns over thirty years instead of the order of returns, which hides the damage of a bad first three years when withdrawals are already underway.
• Security research: In the 60s withdrawals are close or have begun, and the research question shifts from growth to durability. Common mistake: Chasing the highest dividend yield without checking that the payout is covered by free cash flow, so a cut arrives just as the portfolio begins to be drawn down.
• Exit rules: The 60s are where exit rules become withdrawal rules. Common mistake: Selling a large appreciated position in a single year near 63 without checking that the gain may raise Medicare premiums two years later through IRMAA.

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