Kitces.com Suggests Advisors Include an Actuarial Approach in their Consulting Toolbelt

In its Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (June 7-8), Kitces.com and Adam Van Deusen included a link to and summary of our April 28, 2025 Advisor Perspectives article, “Advising a Retired Client Who Wants to Buy a Second Home (or Other Big-Ticket Item)”.
Mr. Van Deusen did an excellent job summarizing the article and
pointing out the benefits of using the Actuarial Approach and its
Funding Status metric to measure and communicate the impact of a
client’s financial decisions on the sustainability of their plan.In his summary, Mr. Van Deusen says,“In
sum, financial advisors have more than one tool in their toolbelt when
it comes to analyzing the impact of large purchases by their retired
clients. And while advisors might not consider themselves to be
actuaries, taking an actuarial approach could provide clients with a
metric that allows clients to better understand the impact of potential
purchases on the sustainability of their financial plan!”Of
course, we like to think that the Actuarial Approach advocated in this
website and its Funded Status metric can easily be applied more broadly
to all significant financial decisions in retirement, not just potential
purchases. We strongly agree with Mr. Van Deusen that the Actuarial
Approach would be a good tool to add to the toolbelt of a financial
advisor, and we are happy to assist financial advisors who may have
questions about the Actuarial Financial Planner Excel workbooks or the
Actuarial Approach discussed in our website.