Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Links to posts in chronological order -- use browser back arrow to return to this post

Plans for this blog

Why Scratch?

Longevity Graphs

Retirement Income Scenarios

Video on Longevity

Savings and Income Scenario Settings

The X% Rule

Investment Returns and Inflation

RMD Accounts

Analyzing Multiple Scenarios

Year/Year Incomes

Present Values

Pricing Kernels 

The RISMAT E-book and Software

Using the Scratch Software

     Go to scratch.mit.edu/projects/20867413


    Notes:
         To put Scratch in turbo mode, hold the shift key then click the green flag
         To see the program full-screen, click the icon in the upper left corner
         To select an item from the main menu, click the corresponding screen button
         To turn context-sensitive help on or off, press the keyboard up arrow key
         To return to the main menu, press the keyboard left arrow key
         The release date of the software will be included in the title (RIS-yyyymmdd)

The RISMAT E-book and Software

The astute reader of this blog will note that this post was written more than three years after its predecessor. This was not due to lethargy on the part of the author. Rather, for the last three years I have devoted my research and writing to a project titled:


            Retirement Income Scenario Matrices (RISMAT)




The project has produced both an e-book and a suite of software written in the MATLAB language. Both are available at:


      www.stanford.edu/~wfsharpe/RISMAT


A compressed (.zip) file with the matlab software is available at:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GTrNOkDrKnbE4kdmVJ95GKrhjUKD44FM/view?usp=sharing 

A compressed (.zip) file with the ebook chapters is also available at:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14sTIRbzfCF0ChyXo8lQJeJTs8DX361cB/view?usp=sharing

The material may be used for any purpose without the payment of any fees, subject to the terms of the Create Commons Attribution 4.0 License, for which a link is provided on the RISMAT table of contents page.



The overall approach is similar to that taken in the previous chapters of this blog, which can be considered a precursor for RISMAT. However, the MATLAB software can handle many more scenarios at speeds that are orders of magnitude faster than those of the Scratch software used for this blog. Moreover, the RISMAT e-book covers many more topics, each in considerable depth.



My hope is that this new material and the accompanying programs will be utilized by financial engineers and financial advisors who offer their services to retirees. I believe the RISMAT e-book and software can provide a useful base for comprehensive analyses of alternative approaches for providing retirement income.



It seems fitting to conclude this blog with the last sentence from the RISMAT e-book:



Following tradition, we conclude with the admonition that more research is needed (and probably more programming) -- tasks that the author, having reviewed actuarial tables, chooses to leave to others.