But this particular metaphor implies something important that is often missed.
Retirement planning includes more than just sitting-on and growing invested capital.
It is not surprising that most current discussion is focused on the accumulation phase of retirement planning. The trend toward individuals having to assume responsibility for a significant portion of their retirement income is relatively new, and we are still in the early stages of this experiment. But for the sake of those who are already retired or getting close, and to provide some insight into the full scope of our retirement planning responsibilities, let's take a moment to discuss the hatching phase . It turns our that sitting on the nest egg is the easy part. The real work comes when we need to use it to provide steady and dependable retirement income.