Falls Church Fall Senior Living

by Kylee Toland Falls Church News-Press

Let’s face it, technology can be confusing, especially for senior citizens. However, technological advancements are being made for people 55 and older; some of them making their lives easier, while others can save their lives altogether.

Nowadays, there are a variety of technological products for senior cit izens to keep them active, as well as ensure safety. Whether it be a mobile scooter, a GPS shoe or an automatic walker, the City of Falls Church and surrounding areas are providing a variety of services, businesses and products for those who are older in age.

Bennet Helfgott is the owner and director of Mobility City in Alexandria. Helfgott stated the tech nological improvements for senior citizens has always “been there,” but rather there has been a lack of educa tion for seniors to understand how this technology can “change their lives on a daily basis.”

Due to some senior citizens not knowing about the technological advancements being made for them, Helfgott said that “the minute they get into one of those technologically

advanced scooters or wheelchairs,” their attitudes change and they often leave the store “with a smile on their face.”

The store offers mobile scooters and transport chairs, lift chairs, rol lators and more, with Helfgott stating it’s a “rewarding feeling” to see senior citizens using and enjoying their new product.

“They’ll look at me and say ‘You just changed my life,’” said Helfgott.

As technology for helping senior citizens is growing, The Kensington Falls Church provides the Insight Memory Care Center, a non-profit adult day health and resource cen ter providing specialized care, sup port and education for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and other memory impairments. Along with this program is innovative technol ogy provided to the patients and their caregivers.

One of these technological inno vations recommended by Kensington is the GPS shoe, which can allow a senior citizen to locate help when lost or a caregiver to find a senior citizen suffering from a memory impair ment.

Another resource the facility provides is the MedicAlert program partnered with Medical Guardian.

Medical Guardian specializes in medical alert devices, which can be set up in one’s home, while they are “on-the-go” and on their mobile phones. If one is having a medical emergency, the push of a button can alert emergency services to respond to the incident. According to their website, 95 percent of customers sur veyed said that Medical Guardian made “aging in place and maintain ing independence easier.”

In Fairfax, two Chantilly High School seniors have designed an automatic walker that helps improve the mobility of people living with Parkinson’s Disease and senior citizens. Kaavya Karthikeyan and Akanksha Tibrewala were inspired to create their product “AutoTrem” after Tibrewala saw her great-grandmoth er suffer paralysis on one side of her body. She said it was “super difficult” for her great-grandmother to walk and “do simple tasks” like eating and sitting down.

Karthikeyan and Tibrewala focused the product on Parkinson’s patients and how it would give them the motivation to exercise. They both state that one of the main symptoms in Parkinson’s patients is the loss of motivation to do things, thus result ing in their muscles degenerating. If

a patient is able to exercise, muscular strength can be restored.

“Our goal is to help [Parkinson’s patients] exercise and motivate them to have that safety net of an automatic walker,” said Karthikeyan.

AutoTrem allows patients to not have to push the walker to get around, but rather “walk with the walker.” There are safety features which ensure that patients will not run into something, such as an ultra sonic sensor. The walker has been tested at multiple rehab centers in the local area, with Tibrewala stat ing that the people using the walker were “impressed by the features that it had” and were “encouraging about the walker” when it made exercising for them “easier and more fun.”

John Bagely, the Interim Director at The View Alexandria by Goodwin Living, said two of their campuses recently completed an upgrade to their health security system that fea tures a motion sensor in independent resident apartments that triggers a daily check-in.

This new upgrade has helped both campuses ensure their residents’ safety as well as provide “psychoso cial comfort” to residents who are ensured someone will check in on them if an emergency arises.

These are just a few of the many examples of technological advance ments being made for senior citizens. As more elderly citizens become aware of these new products, it shows that there is hope for them to live out the rest of their lives being active and staying safe.

AUTOTREM was designed by two Chantilly High School students for patients with Parkinson’s Disease. (Photo Courtesy: Kathleen Miller)

BY KYLEE TOLAND FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS

In 1982, an athletic event for adults over the age of 50 to participate in was created with only 80 competitors. Forty years later, the number of competitors has grown 10 times larger with about 800 participants and more than 70 events.

The Northern Virginia Senior Olympics (NVSO) celebrated its 40th anniversary by hosting hundreds of participants at 25 different venues throughout Northern Virginia. What started out as a small athletic event based in Fairfax County has grown to include nine jurisdictions in the Northern Virginia area, including the City of Falls Church, Arlington, Loudon and more.

This year, the NVSO started on September 10th and ended two weeks later on the 24th, offering participants a chance to become active with both newer and older athletic events, as well as working together and socializing.

In order for one to participate in the NVSO, they must

his wife found an article about it and suggested that he try it out. He said being a part of the Senior Olympics is “contagious” and what started out for him as a “modest” try at the event became something he annually participates in.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Levitan said. “It encourages me in particular to train throughout the year and thereby stay healthy and engaged.”

Over the years, the Senior Olympics have had various

activities participants can compete in. Whether it be track, cycling, swimming, bowling, tennis, scrabble or more, athletes can sign up for any event they deem fit for their abilities. This year, NVSO introduced a new event focused on weight lifting. Back squats, shoulder presses and deadlifts were three of the activities offered in this

new event that athletes could compete in.

This year, the City of Falls Church had 70 individuals participate in the NVSO, with two Falls Church participants breaking records in freestyle swimming and diving.

Jonathan S. Ruskin is a Falls Church resident who has been a competitor in the Senior

Olympics for several years. Ruskin was inspired to take part in the NVSO after retiring from the Federal Government in 2015, wanting to focus “heavily on maintaining both my physical and mental fitness.” He said his longtime personal trainer made him aware of the NVSO.

in

pickleball match.

City Of Falls Church Aging Services

A wide variety of services targeted to senior adults are available, including information and referral, links to resources, advocacy, com munity education, limited case management, counseling / consultation for persons with mul tiple needs, home visits, access to affordable assisted living, dental services, and more.

Fairfax Division of Adult & Aging Services

Through contract arrangements with the Division of Adult and Aging Services, City of Falls Church residents may access home-based care, Meals on Wheels, employment services, insurance counseling, volunteer opportunities, mandated adult protective services, and more.

www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dfs/olderadultservices/

Call the Adult and Aging Services at 703-324-5411, TTY 703-449-1186.

Assisted Living Programs

Through agreements with the City of Falls Church, Sunrise Senior Living offers set-aside beds and The Kensington offers subsidized assisted living to low and moderate-income City residents or members of their immediate families.

Sunrise Senior Living Set-Aside Program

City of Falls Church residents or immediate family members of City residents considering assisted living may be eligible for a program that offer participants 62 and older with low and moderate incomes, a reduced rate for room and board at Sunrise Senior Living, located in the City of Falls Church. Based on needs, different levels of services are available. Any and all costs beyond the basic monthly room and board fee are exclusive of this program and charged at market rate. Person under 62 with disabilities may also be eligible.

Frequently Asked Questions on Sunrise SetAside Program

www.fallschurchva.gov/DocumentCenter/ View/14285/Sunrise-Frequently-Asked-Questions

Policy and Procedures for Assisted Living Programs www.fallschurchva.gov/DocumentCenter/ View/14284/City-Assisted-Living-ProgramsPolicy_Sunrise-and-The-Kensington Interest List Application for Assisted Living Programs

www.fallschurchva.gov/DocumentCenter/View/7464

The Kensington Subsidized Program

Through an agreement between The Kensington and the City, Housing and Human Services is offering eligible seniors the opportu nity to participate in a subsidized assisted living program at this facility. You may qualify if you are a resident of the City or have a family mem

ber who is a resident, are age 62 and older, and meet income eligibility guidelines.

Frequently Asked Questions on The Kensington Program

www.fallschurchva.gov/DocumentCenter/ View/14286/The-Kensington_Frequently-AskedQuestions

Policy and Procedures for Assisted Living Programs

www.fallschurchva.gov/DocumentCenter/ View/14284/City-Assisted-Living-ProgramsPolicy_Sunrise-and-The-Kensington

Interest List Application for Assisted Living Programs

www.fallschurchva.gov/DocumentCenter/ View/7464

Senior Center

The Recreation and Parks Department offers a consolidated program of activities including social activities, recreation programs and trips for area seniors at the Senior Center located in the Community. More information on Senior Center

http://www.fallschurchva.gov/seniorcenter

Need Help

If you are a resident who needs someone to perform a job such as yard work or snow shoveling, contact the Recreation and Parks at 703-248-5307 (TTY 711)

Relief Programs for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities

The City of Falls Church provides Real Estate Tax Relief, Personal Property/Auto Decal Relief and Rent Relief to City resi dents who are either 65 or older, or per manently and totally disable, and meet the income and asset eligibility requirements. Applications are available beginning in midFebruary of each year with a deadline date of April 15th.

Eligibility requirements:

- Applicants must be residents of the City of Falls Church as of December 31st

- Applicants must be 65 year of age, or permanently and totally disabled

- For Rent Relief you cannot be receiv ing a rent subsidy

- Income and asset requirements vary from program to program

Resources

Other City Programs for Seniors

www.fallschurchva.gov/DocumentCenter/ View/5883

Assisted Living Programs and Senior Housing Information

www.fallschurchva.gov/DocumentCenter/ View/7377

Care ID Is Conducting Two New Trials:

Could you be par t of the nex t vaccine break through?

mRNA vaccines have changed the way we f ight infec tious diseases Introducing P f izer ’s phase 3 research s tud y for an inves tigational f lu vaccine using mRNA technolog y.

Research is ongoing to evaluate an investigational mRNA flu vaccine. By participating in this study, you can help us learn if this investigational vaccine is safe and can help the body produce antibodies which may help fight off the flu. When you participate in a study, you’re helping to represent both your community and all people who are affected by the flu and other infectious diseases. Your participation could make a difference. This research study is enrolling people who:

Are at least 18 years of age

Ready to learn more?

Contac t the study team: Clinical Alliance for Research & Education –Infectious Diseases, LLC (CARE-ID) 3289 Woodburn Road, Suite 250Annandale, VA 22003 www.careidresearch.com PHONE: 703-560 4821

Have not received an investigational or licensed f lu vaccine in the last six months

[Or visit [ww w.f luvaccinestudy.com/mrnaphase3] for more information ]

Are generally healthy or have stable chronic conditions

Participation lasts for about six months

There will be other study requirements the study team will discuss with you if you participate in this study.

about a new investigational vaccine called MVA-BN-RSV and whether

protect people from getting seriously ill from Respiratory Syncytial Virus,

RSV. RSV

cause severe or acute respiratory illness

• Are 65 years of age or older

• Are healthy or have one or more chronic medical conditions, including mild to moderate underlying illnesses such as chronic cardiac diseases, lung disease, congestive heart failure, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes mellitus

• Are willing and able to use a smartphone or tablet application to record information during the study

Other criteria will need to be met to con rm your eligibility for this study.

What Baby Boomers Want: Options! Senior Housing Delivers

by Linda Baker New York Times

The pandemic crushed the senior housing market, cutting occupancy rates and stalling construction. Now, as the mar ket begins an uneven rebound, developers are adapting to the coming wave of aging baby boomers with a new crop of liv ing developments.

Specialized housing for older Americans has been around for decades. But shifting demo graphics are forcing the indus try to diversify more rapidly across rates and services, yield ing increasingly lavish residenc es for upper-income Americans as well as a growing number of affordable housing models.

For example, Trillium, a high-rise under construc tion in Northern Virginia near Washington, features restau rants, a wellness spa, and other boutique-hotel-style amenities and finishes. And in the Boston area, Opus Newton, a more modest development, will rely on resident volunteers to help reduce costs.

Developers are also experi

menting with nontraditional models. In Loveland, Colorado, Kallimos Communities is plan ning a multigenerational devel opment featuring 100 subsi dized rental homes clustered around shared green spaces and offering dining, arts and well ness opportunities.

The aging of more and more baby boomers (an estimated 65 million in total) is creating “a big surge,” said Beth Mace, chief economist for the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care, a data ser vice provider for the elder care industry.

Other changes are reshaping housing, from pandemic-fueled safety concerns and labor short ages to trends favoring more personalized and communitybased solutions. Housing for older Americans offers three general options: independent living, for active lifestyles; assisted living, which includes some medical care; and memory care. (Nursing homes provide nursing care and typically do not fall under the category of senior housing.)

“Everybody is trying to fig

ure out the secret sauce — what the senior housing consumer wants,” Mace said. “Bottom line: You’re going to see a lot of options.”

Developers are banking on the fact that if they build enough variety, they will be able to draw the next generation of aging Americans.

“We have to design commu nities that cater to what boom ers want, and that’s a differ ence between senior housing today and housing developed 10 or 20 years ago,” said Bobby Zeiller, vice chair and co-CEO of Silverstone Senior Living, the developer behind the Trillium.

After focusing on subur ban-style senior communities, Silverstone is expanding into urban environments, Zeiller said. The industry, he said, “is evolving very fast.”

The average occupancy rate for the nation’s 31 largest senior housing markets was 81 percent in the first quarter of 2022, up from a low of 78 percent in the first quarter of 2021 but below the prepandemic level of 87 per cent in 2020, Mace said.

The numbers are starting to for example, construction as a share of inventory amounted to

on Page

HIGH END 55+ PROPERTIES offer seniors a lot of luxury. (Photo: News York Times)

The Northern Virginia Senior Olympics Helps Seniors Stay Active

events, such as competitions in board games, jigsaw puzzles, dominoes and more.

Ruskin said his favorite event that the NVSO has to offer is Scrabble, which he won a silver medal in this year. Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded after each event.

The “main impact” the NVSO has had on Ruskin was the “intense training” he went through to prepare for the bas ketball shooting competition. He said he spent “hours every day, both indoors and outdoors, day time and at night, taking hun dreds of shots, breaking only to have a drink of water.” However, Ruskin stated he enjoys partici pating in the events as it presents a “rare opportunity” to test his fitness against his peers.

As for the impact of NVSO on the local senior citizen com munity, Levitan said the event is a “friendly way” of encouraging seniors to stay healthy. The event allows opportunities for those who are more or less mobile to “stay engaged with their fellow senior citizens.” “Mild” activi ties are offered for those unable to participate in more athletic

For former participants in the NVSO, being a part of the event had an impact on both their physical and mental health. Falls Church resident Tom Gittins said taking part in the event kept him “sane” when he first took part in it. He was inspired to get involved with the NVSO due to his love of swimming throughout his youth and adulthood. Not surprisingly, he said his favorite event was the “100 [meter] backstroke.”

Along with the Northern Virginia Senior Olympics, Gittins has also participated in the National Senior Games, which allows senior citizens around the country to take part in athletic events and competi tions. Although he hasn’t par ticipated in the NVSO for a while, he said the health aspect of the event is beneficial for local senior citizens.

Katie Murphy is a first time participant of the NVSO. She first learned about the event while playing pickleball at the Thomas Jefferson Community & Fitness Center in Arlington.

Her love of the sport is what got her involved in the NVSO, and said it impacted her life because she was able to meet people that she now plays pickleball with.

As a Falls Church resident, Murphy recommends other local senior citizens become involved with the NVSO because “it’s a

solid competition without being too intense.” She also gave a shout out to the volunteers who helped with the event, who were “really nice people.” Although at times she got “nervous” when it came to competing against others, she said it was “kind of fun” to put herself “in a harder

situation where it doesn’t really matter.”

“It’s good to continue to chal lenge yourself,” Murphy said. “We’re always asking children to challenge themselves, but for seniors, there’s room for growth, fun and achieving higher excel lence in your life.”

The Kensington’s

Gather with Us in the Heart of the Little City of Falls Church

invited to our Family Forever Neighborhood Fall Fest!

At The Kensington, our promise is “to love and care for your family as we do our own.”

includes our neighbors in and around the Little City of Falls Church. We are grateful to call this charming community our home and hope you’ll join us to celebrate family, friendship and fall fun. Stop by for an afternoon of food trucks seasonal treats, live music, arts and crafts, a petting zoo (until 12 noon) and more!

RSVP or learn more, contact Kayla Peters at kpeters@kensingtonsl.com

NORTHERN VIRGINIA SENIOR OLYMPICS offers activies like scrabble that aren’t physically strenuous. (Photo Courtesy: Tom Urman)

Senior Housing is Growing

of the spectrum is Sacramento, California, where construction fell to about 1 percent, down from 17 percent in 2019.

Even before the pandem ic, only about 11 percent of Americans older than 75 lived in senior housing. Strong pref erences for aging in place is one reason for the low rate.

The high cost of housing is another factor, especially for the 8 million middle-income Americans who do not qual ify for subsidies but cannot afford to pay out of pocket. The national median monthly rate for assisted living was $4,300 in 2021, according to a sur vey by Genworth, an insurance holding company. And the aver age monthly cost of memory care is $7,277, according to the National Investment Center.

Developers of luxury proj ects are betting on larger units, sophisticated design and ameni ties, and a heightened focus on social engagement and active living.

Coterie Cathedral Hill, a 208unit development that opened in San Francisco in April, features five restaurants, an outdoor pool, and landscaped court yards and terraces. Wellness staff receive training through the Mayo Clinic, and an on-site care coordinator helps residents meet a broad range of mental, emotional and physical health goals, including assistance with social and philanthropic objec tives.

A joint venture between real estate developer Related Cos. and Atria Senior Living, one of the nation’s largest senior liv ing providers, Coterie focuses on affluent urban dwellers who

seek “consistency between the lifestyle they were accustomed to when they were living in a traditional high-rise,” said Joanna Mansfield, general man ager of Coterie Hudson Yards, a second development that will open this fall in New York.

At Coterie Cathedral Hill, monthly rental rates range from $7,900 for a studio to $16,660 and up for two-bedroom resi dences.

At Coterie Cathedral Hill, monthly rental rates range from $7,900 for a studio to $16,660 and up for two-bedroom resi dences.

A new spate of thrifty business models focus on middle-income Americans. Opus Newton, for example, will require residents to volunteer 10 hours a week, giving them a stronger sense of purpose and community while “meaningfully reducing staff overhead costs,” said Amy Schectman, president and CEO of 2Life Communities, a non profit organization that is devel oping the project.

Other cost savers include outsourcing care and provid ing discounted memberships at the nearby Jewish Community Center, eliminating the need for in-house recreational facilities. Schectman expressed confidence in the future of congregate senior living, despite lingering pandem ic concerns.

“Coronavirus revealed a pan demic of loneliness and isola tion,” she said. “Aging in place harms society by presenting the choice to live with others as a failure. We are creatures of com munity.”

Upfront costs for Opus Newton’s 174 units start at $391,000, a fee that many of the residents will pay by selling their

homes.

Repurposing existing build ings is the key to solving the middle-market challenge, said Fee Stubblefield, CEO of The Springs Living, a developer in Portland, Oregon, with 18 prop erties serving seniors across the income spectrum.

The Springs Living has two luxu ry high-rises under construction, one on the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington. The properties will include firewalls to cordon off floors in the event of a disease outbreak, and they will be certified to meet new health and wellness standards regarding design and operations.

Starting rents in the new build ings range from $3,700 to $10,000 per month.

There are two types of senior housing residents, Stubblefield said: those who want to live there and

those who have to. Those who want senior living are “a big portion of our society,” he said. “The social and wellness component is underbuilt for that population.”

Labor shortages add to the economic challenges fac ing developers of senior hous ing. Employment in long-term care declined 6.7 percent from February 2020 to December 2021, according to a recent anal ysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

“Work-force stability is the most important factor in the future of housing and service for older adults,” Stubblefield said, adding that operators have an “obligation” to create career pathways for the entry-level staff who sustain the industry.

Bill Thomas, a co-founder of Kallimos Communities, offers

another solution to the vari ous challenges tied to the future of aging and retirement in the United States.

“The very best thing you can have for helping you stay inde pendent is damn good neigh bors,” he said.

The first Kallimos community, a partnership with the Loveland Housing Authority, is rooted in the idea that older Americans can be supported in homes designed for elder living in communityoriented mixed-age neighbor hoods.

“Young people and elders have been living together and support ing each other for many millen nia,” Thomas said. “The idea that we’ve wandered into a cul-desac of history where young peo ple don’t see any merit in being around old people is just wrong.”

SENIORS HAVE NEW OPTIONS where they CAN LIVE in luxury. (Photo: News York Times)

SENIOR LIVING

The Tricky Math of Retiring Into a Downturn

by Tara Siegel Bernard New York Times

Most Americans finance their retirement with a certain amount of faith: Investing will help their savings keep pace with inflation, institutions will continue to work as they always have, it will all work out in the end.

It’s challenging to maintain that optimism in moments like these, when it seems just about everything is at stake and nothing is certain. You could call the American approach to retirement gambling, and you wouldn’t be wrong.

Of course the future has always been uncertain. It was unknowable in 1973, during one of the highestinflation periods; in 2000, when the dot-com bubble burst; and again in 2008, when the housing and financial markets collapsed. And it’s opaque now, when the markets are down about 11.6 percent year to date while inflation remains high, at 8.5 percent in July, although it slowed slightly from the previous month. Bonds usually provide some cushion when stocks plummet, but they haven’t provided much of a buffer, either.

“This year has been unnerving for retirees because it has been a tri ple whammy — falling stock prices, falling bond prices and high infla tion,” said Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning at Morningstar.

Unlike younger workers, retirees don’t have the luxury of waiting it out. Timing matters. Market declines that occur during the first five years of retirement can do significant and permanent damage, making it more likely a portfolio will be depleted — largely because there’s less money left intact for when the market (eventually) recovers. It’s less risky to experience such a decline further into retirement simply because the money no longer has to last quite as long.

T. Rowe Price recently peered into the past half-century to see how people who retired into different downturns fared, even in periods of high inflation. The good news: Their portfolios performed well, or are expected to. The less good: Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

The firm’s research is rooted in the widely known 4 percent rule of thumb, which found that retir ees who withdrew 4 percent of their retirement portfolio balance in the first year, and then adjusted that dol lar amount for inflation each year thereafter, created a paycheck that lasted 30 years.

Using that framework, T. Rowe

Price analyzed how investors with a $500,000 portfolio — 60 percent stocks and 40 percent bonds — would fare over 30 years had they retired at the beginning of the year in 1973, 2000 and 2008. (The latter two periods are still running.) They would all start withdrawing $1,667 each month — or $20,000 annually — and then increase that amount each year by the previous year’s actu al inflation rate.

Let’s rewind to 1973, which, given the oil embargo and high inflation rates, echoes the present. Retirees then would have had to watch their portfolios shrink to $328,000, or nearly 35 percent, by September 1974, and inflation rise by more than 12 percent by the end of the same year, the analysis found. An incred ibly painful one-two punch.

The retirees had no idea at the time that circumstances would turn around, but within a decade into retirement, the portfolio balance had reached $500,000 again. And even after the downturn of 2000, at the end of 30 years, the portfolio had soared to well over $1 million.

“It all kind of pins on starting out with that 4 percent withdrawal rate,” said Judith Ward, a senior finan cial planner and thought leadership director at T. Rowe Price.

She conceded that retirees don’t actually spend in straight lines, and that they tend to spend more ear lier in retirement. But the study, she said, underscores the importance of starting with a conservative spending plan when a portfolio is down.

“That lever of how much you are spending is really a strong lever that works,” she added.

Using the same approach with those who retired into more recent bear markets — in the periods after 2000 and 2008, when the stock mar ket lost roughly half its value — the portfolios were also projected to be sustainable, even though retirees still have roughly eight and 14 years to go before they hit 30 years of retire ment. (Ward’s conclusions also held for other scenarios, including one in which inflation persisted at 9% per cent for the remainder of the 30-year retirement periods.)

“These scenarios assume the investor didn’t adjust their behavior due to the inevitable anxiety steep market losses likely caused,” Ward said. “It’s human nature to adapt and adjust, and retirees would likely want to modify their plans in some way.”

That adds an even stronger mar gin of safety, she said.

Other experts caution retirees not to take too much comfort in the past results because the future — always

uncertain! — might have something else in store.

“Using the past provides false confidence,” said David Blanchett, head of retirement research at PGIM, the asset management firm part of Prudential Financial. “The U.S. and Australia have had two of the best capital markets over the past 100 years. That is useful, but you have to look forward.”

That’s why financial experts sug gest taking a flexible approach to withdrawals, focusing on what you can control in that moment as condi tions change.

Here are some strategies that may help.

Reframing. One approach is to think about your withdrawals in terms of needs, wants and wishes. How much of your basic needs are covered by predictable sources of income like Social Security or pensions, and how much more do you need to withdraw to cover the remainder? Maybe the withdrawal rate to cover your basics is 3 percent to 4 percent, but your wants might be somewhere from 4 percent to 6 percent.

“The most important thing is to have your needs covered,” Blanchett said.

A cash bucket. The big idea here is to keep at least a year’s worth of basic expenses — not covered by predictable income sources, like Social Security — in cash or something equiva lent, so that retirees experienc ing a downturn can spend out of this bucket instead of having to touch their portfolio, giving it more time to recover.

This approach requires some planning, but it can ease anxiety for retirees who find comfort in compartmentalization. Critics have said keeping a meaning ful amount of a portfolio in cash may pose a drag, hurting returns over the long run, but for many retirees it may provide a plan they can stick with — and that’s the most important factor.

Guardrails . This strategy, created by financial planner Jonathan Guyton and com puter scientist William Klinger, encourages retirees to be flex ible, increasing their withdraw als when the market is doing well and pulling back when it is not.

Their research found that retirees are usually safe start ing out with a withdrawal rate of roughly 5 percent for the first year (then adjusting that amount up each year for infla

cent or more, up from 5 percent, retirees would need to cut their withdrawal dollar amount by 10 percent.

For example, consider a retiree who in the first year collects 5 percent, or $25,000, from a $500,000 portfolio. If inflation was 9 percent, the next year’s withdrawal would nor mally rise to $27,250. But if a guardrail was tripped — that is, if the portfolio plummeted to roughly $415,000, making that $25,000 now equivalent to a 6 percent percent withdrawal rate — the amount withdrawn would instead need to decline to $24,525 (or 10 percent less than $27,250).

Conversely, if the portfolio grows, causing the withdrawal rate to shrink to 4%, the retiree can increase the dollar amount withdrawn by 10 percent and adjust for inflation thereafter.

This rule is generally applied until the final 15 years of retire

Let’s say you’re retiring at 70 and you decide you will probably need your money to last until age 95. Divide one by 25 (the number of years you need the money to last): That translates into a 4 percent withdrawal rate for that year. With a $500,000 portfolio, that’s $20,000.

But if you’re on track to pull out $30,000 that year — or 6 percent — you may want to pull back.

“It’s an ongoing gut check,” Blanchett said. “Is this going to work long term? And that is a really simple way to get an answer.”

And if you don’t adjust? Just understand that you may have to make more drastic changes later.

“You are just trading money with yourself over time,” Blanchett added.

By Tara Siegel Bernard © 2022 The New York Times

MARKET DECLINES during the first five years of retirement can have a significant effect on a financial portfolio, but remaining flexible can mitigate the damage. (Photo:New York Times)