William Lako: Building a sell strategy: Balancing risk, tax efficiency, and retirement needs

Savers and investors are generally in a “buy” mindset — saving as much as they can and purchasing investments to help fund their future financial goals. However, there comes a time when they reach their financial goal, and the focus shifts from accumulation to spending. How do you know what to sell?

The Ten Year Rule philosophy states that any money needed from your portfolio within the next 10 years should be allocated to high-quality, fixed-income investments like U.S. Treasury bonds, FDIC-insured CDs, or municipal bonds — investments generally regarded as “safe” to protect the money for when it’s needed. However, this doesn’t fully answer “what to sell, when to sell, and how much to sell.”