I’ve had four careers, so far. It’s been an interesting life.
I was born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and was raised there till age 12. I attended P.S. 102, just a block away. My dad operated a record/appliance store on the first floor of our apartment building. I helped at the store, doing odd tasks like taking inventory and playing records for customers. It was a great early experience in business; I learned a lot about people. Some of it was admirable, some not.
We moved to Brentwood, NY in 1959. It was a booming young community in the “wilds” of Long Island. After attending junior and high school there, I was accepted at MIT. Like Matt Damon in “The Martian” movie, I dreamed of doing planetary exploration. Never mind that I could barely see the walls in front of me without my glasses, which precluded me from ever being selected as an astronaut.
I graduated from MIT in 1969 with a BS in Aeronautics and Astronautics, just a few months before the first moon landing. I didn’t see much likelihood of using that degree, as the lunar landing program had a limited life, and there didn’t seem to be much excitement beyond it. What happened to all the manned missions to Mars and other planets people had talked about? Here we are, more than half a century later, and though we finally seem to be moving in that direction, no one has red Mars dust on their boots yet.
I had to make a career move, and I decided to join the family soft drink business, which I had previously sworn never to do. It had been started by a non-blood family member in Brooklyn in 1885, and fortuitously acquired the 7up brand in the 1930s. I had been immersed in the business since I was a kid, working there during summers off from school. It was a constant staple of conversation at family gatherings. Coke and Pepsi were dirty words in my family circle. If I cut myself, I bled 7up green.
I started off on a low rung and eventually ended up running the business. Again, it was a great experience; I helped computerize the company, and added brands like RC Cola, Crush, and A&W Root Beer. However, I developed the sense that we had fallen irrevocably behind our competition in the NY Metro area, and I recommended that the family sell the business. They did so, in its 100th year.
This turned out to be a great decision, from a personal and business perspective. 7up, which had been the #3 soft drink in America for many years, fell out of grace shortly thereafter. Today, it’s hard to find it on the shelves. What a shame. It still hurts to walk down the beverage aisle in the supermarket and witness how far 7up has fallen.
Once again, I needed a new career. In 1987 I moved my family, including my two daughters, to El Cajon, California, about twenty miles inland from San Diego. I decided to become a fee-only financial advisor and set up shop in an office attached to my home. I jump-started my practice through friends, neighbors, and family, but I grew strictly by referral after that. I joined NAPFA, got my CFP® designation, and then an MS from the College for Financial Planning.
I loved the financial advisory business. Let’s face it: financial matters are complex. Estate planning, investment management, tax preparation, college and retirement planning, insurance planning- these can overwhelm many folks. With my detailed knowledge, I found I was able to help people. I was able to make a difference in their lives, every single day. It was very rewarding. I miss the relationships I had with my clients.
In the early 1990s, my clients, primarily baby boomers, began asking me detailed questions about their retirement, even though it was decades off. I couldn’t answer all their questions, and that troubled me. How much money could they withdraw from their IRA accounts without running out of money? How should they set up their investments, now and in retirement?
At first, I sought answers in my CFP® course books. Surprisingly, there was no help there. I turned to my public library and read many financial publications (No internet then!) No answers there, either. I then resorted to asking the more experienced financial advisors in the San Diego area. Although they sought to be helpful, their answers were all over the lot.
Then it dawned on me. Nobody knew the answers to those questions! I resolved to determine them for myself. Like a well-trained MIT engineer, I sat down at my computer, fired up my spreadsheet software, opened up a book of historical investment returns, and set to work. The result was the “4% Rule,” discussed in detail on another page of this website. This led to my receiving a number of awards, including NAPFA’s Robert J. Underwood Distinguished Service Award (2014) the InvestmentNews Innovators Award (2017), and the Inside Information Iconoclast Award (2023).
Thirty years later, I’m still doing this research, and enjoying the heck out of it. I published a book on the subject in 2006, and am awaiting the release of my new book, “A Richer Retirement: Supercharging the 4% Rule to Spend More and Enjoy More” (see another page on this website). I retired as a financial advisor in 2013. I’ve moved to SaddleBrooke, Arizona, a wonderful active adult community north of Tucson. My kids have grown up; I lost my first wife of 46 years, remarried, and thank my lucky stars for good health and a great new life companion.
If I’ve learned anything on this journey, you need family, friends, and a passionate interest in something to fully enjoy life. Cultivate all three. They will not fail you.
Yours for a great retirement,
Bill Bengen
