32 KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE^ 05/2017MONEY
ISTOCKPHOTO.COMSET AND FORGET
RETIREMENT
WITHDRAWALS
Several advisory services help you put
your retirement withdrawal strategies
on autopilot. For all except one, you
need to have assets under manage-
ment by the firm.
Robo adviser BETTERMENT (www
.betterment.com/retirement) gives
account holders access to its retire-
ment income tool, which calculates
a dynamic “monthly safe withdrawal”
from your Betterment accounts based
on your age, portfolio value and risk
tolerance. Betterment also shows your
required minimum distributions annu-
ally, so you can incorporate them into
the withdrawals. There’s no account
minimum. Fees range from 0.25% of
the average asset balance per year
(with no minimum) to 0.5% if you have
at least $250,000 in assets. The higher-
priced plan includes unlimited callswith Betterment’s financial experts.
INCOME STRATEGY (www.income
strategy.com) offers software that
helps you coordinate withdrawals
(including RMDs) from all of your
accounts, maximizes tax efficiency
and designs a Social Security strategy
that maximizes benefits. The software
costs $500 for one-year’s access (the
price includes up to two hours of ad-
vice from a financial professional). For
more hand-holding, you can also use its
advisory service. You’ll pay 1% for up
to $1 million in assets, 0.75% for $1 mil-
lion to $3 million, and 0.5% for more
than $3 million.Designed for the needs of near-
retirees and retirees, robo adviser
TRUELINK (www.truelinkfinancial.com)
sets up your investments and with-
drawal strategy to match specific
goals: “If your goal is income, we de-
sign it so you get a monthly check you
can depend on,” with occasional ad-
justments for major expenses, such as
a car purchase, says Kai Stinchcombe,
cofounder and CEO. The plan factors
in Social Security and other income,
as well as RMDs. Underlying invest-
ments include ETFs and bond ladders.
Cost: 0.87% of assets per year.
VANGUARD PERSONAL ADVISOR SERVICES
(https://investor.vanguard.com/
retirement/income/we-can-help)
uses human advisers to help you
come up with an investment-and-
withdrawal strategy (based on your
Vanguard portfolio) and to provide
ongoing advice. The strategy considers
Social Security and other income and
factors in tax-efficiency and RMDs.
The cost is 0.3% of Vanguard assets up
to the first $5 million, with a $50,000
asset minimum. JANE BENNETT CLARKSAVE TIME WITH THESE APPS AND TOOLS
Pay bills online. You can
pay all your bills using most
banks’ bill-payment feature.
Or you can use Mint.com to
set up auto pay for multiple
bills (free if you’re paying with a bank ac-
count) as well as receive billing reminders
and track spending.Rebalance investments automatically.
Many firms offer automatic-rebalancing
tools to help keep your portfolio’s mix of
stocks, bonds and other investments from
drifting off course. You can generally set up
this feature by logging in to your account
and selecting the auto-rebalance option.Track loyalty programs. AwardWallet
keeps track of your points, miles and otherrewards in nearly 700 loy-
alty programs, from airlines
and hotels to credit cards
and popular stores. The free
service will notify you when
your point balance changes and before your
points expire.Manage passwords. End
the vicious cycle of resetting
forgotten passwords while
keeping your accounts secure
by using a service such as Dashlane. The
service stores and encrypts your passwords
and fills them in automatically when you’re
browsing the web. The free version works
for a single device, but for $40 a year you
can sync your account information across
multiple devices.Monitor credit. The free
tool at CreditKarma.com
will track your TransUnion
and Equifax reports and
alert you to changes, such as
when a new account is opened or when your
balance changes.Track deductible expenses.
To make next year’s tax return
less of a headache, start
keeping tabs on deductible
expenses and donations throughout
the year using a program such as It’s
Deductible, available through TurboTax.
If you’re using a budgeting site such as
Mint.com, flag expenses that may be tax-
deductible as you review them so you can
simply search for them at tax time. K.P.