Summary
Much of the retirement planning advice that individuals receive over the course of their lifetimes focuses on issues related to accumulating wealth, such as how much to save, how to allocate one's portfolio across different assets, the advantages of using tax-deferred accounts, and so on. Such advice is important because without wealth accumulation, most individuals would not be able to sustain their living standards after they exit the labor force. A downside of this emphasis on wealth accumulation is that many consumers have a difficult time transitioning from a mindset of "I need my portfolio to grow" to the mindset of "I need to convert my wealth to a stream of income."
