Timeline with Abraham Okusanya | E166

Elegant retirement income and decumulation planning.

In this 166th episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host interviews Abraham Okusanya, CEO and Founder of Timeline. Timeline is an online platform that allows people to stress test the decumulation phase of their life and come up with a plan to deal with it!

Episode Highlights:

  • 0:34 – Abraham Okusanya introduces Timeline.

  • 1:18 – Jason discusses the conflicting aspects and uncertainty of decumulation.

  • 1:52 – What was Abraham’s journey that led him to start Timeline?

  • 5:47 – Jason explains his biggest problems with financial plans.

  • 6:27 – What are the client inputs and outputs involved when working with Timeline?

  • 10:36 – Abraham explains how Timeline compares client expectations to reality.

  • 12:31 – What are the various spending rules that Timeline uses to adjust based on reality?

  • 16:54 – How does Timeline’s Floor and Ceiling rule work?

  • 18:39 – Abraham compares Timeline’s Floor and Ceiling rule to Michael Kitces’s Ratcheting rule.

  • 22:13 – Jason and Abraham discuss the benefits of discussing the realities of volatility with the client.

  • 23:02 – What is a withdrawal policy statement and what does it tell people?

  • 25:42 – If Abraham could change one thing about his industry, what would it be?

  • 26:32 – What has been the biggest challenge in getting Timeline to where it is today?

  • 27:51 – Abraham shares what excites him the most about his industry.

3 Key Points

  1. Timeline is a retirement income platform that helps financial planners and enterprises create simple withdrawal strategies for their clients by applying extensive data.

  2. Right now, most people are expected to run out of money ten years short of the average life expectancy.

  3. Timeline’s Floor and Ceiling rule affects how you increase your withdrawal based on inflation and portfolio performance.

Tweetable Quotes:

  • “Ultimately, our mission is to create retirement income plans where the money outlives the people.” – Abraham Okusanya

  • “The Law of Gravity is a law because it’s an observed law and we know it’s going to work. The 4% rule is not a law, it’s an observation.” – Jason Pereira

  • “That’s the worst thing, an academic or a researcher will create something that a marketing department will run rampant with.” – Jason Pereira

  • “All we can do is to bring the reality of volatility straight in front of them because they are far better prepared for it.” – Abraham Okusanya

 

Resources Mentioned:

Fintech ImpactJason PereiraFinancial Planning, Retirement