Start With The Audio
Then Start The Video
Note: I noticed that I wrote the number “12” rather than “6” at the 23:35 mark [minute:second].
True Viola: The Harmony of CORE Income
Introduction – Dr. Tinstaffl and the Truth About Trade-Offs
“Have you heard of the world-famous Dr. Tinstaffl?” The joke always lands with a chuckle. “No, who is he?” The answer: There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. Milton Friedman turned this simple truth into a timeless economic principle. Over the years, it has been shortened into the acronym TINSTAAFL, but the message is as sharp as ever.
To get something, you must give something. That is the reality of economics, life, and investing. Any claim of free income, effortless growth, or risk-free opportunity is carefully staged marketing at best, and misleading at worst. The cost is always hidden somewhere: higher taxes, steeper fees, lost opportunity, or inflation eating away at purchasing power.
The genius of Friedman’s reminder is that it sets the tone for everything that follows in planning for retirement. If you understand there are no free lunches, you begin to view the markets and your income plan with sober clarity. You begin to see that stocks are volatile, bonds often feel broken, real estate is stuck and slow, and every so-called “safe” choice comes with trade-offs. That is the mindset required for building a structured retirement income plan — one that does not collapse in the face of massive market moves, paranoia-driven selloffs, or tectonic shifts in the global economy.
And this is where True Viola comes in.
CORE: The Foundation of Stability
At the center of True Viola are the CORE principles:
Common Sense – Practical judgment rooted in lived experience, not delusions of grandeur or promises of effortless wealth.
Organized – Structured systems that keep spending, investing, and planning in order, even when markets resemble a financial mosh pit.
Resourceful – The ability to adapt, to fix it when markets shift, to stay nimble instead of being stuck.
Efficient – Achieving more with less waste; cutting costs, taxes, and unnecessary products that undermine performance.
These four principles are not just virtues; they are indispensable traits for financial survival. They are what turn chaos into music. Without them, retirement planning can quickly descend into confusion, leaving investors vulnerable to FOMO, YOLO, and every other emotional trap that Wall Street has learned to exploit.
TRUE VIOLA: Harmony in Structure
If CORE provides the personality, TRUE VIOLA provides the framework. The acronym is more than clever wordplay; it is the structural backbone of a disciplined income plan.
Traditional – Built on proven methods, not on speculative fads.
Regulated – Operates within clear rules, avoiding gray areas and hidden risks.
Understandable – If you cannot explain it in plain English, you should not own it.
Efficient – Same word, same importance: avoid waste, strip out excess, maximize clarity.
And the VIOLA:
Verified – Trust, but verify; income claims must be backed by evidence, not salesmanship.
Income – Retirement is not about paper wealth; it is about dependable cash flow.
Objective – Decisions must be rational, free from emotional bias and hype.
Longevity – Plans must endure, not just in good years but across decades and downturns.
Agreement – A clear, mutual understanding between advisor and client, between plan and reality.
Taken together, TRUE VIOLA is not a slogan; it is the sheet music for a lifetime of structured income.
Music as a Metaphor
Why music? Because income planning is not about one loud instrument drowning out the others. It is about creating balance.
The violin plays the melody — these are your stocks. They rise and fall, they command attention, they can soar, and they can screech. They are volatile, but they bring life to the music.
The bass keeps the rhythm — these are your bonds or steady instruments of fixed income. They provide a heartbeat, a steady beat to follow, even when they feel broken by inflation or interest rate shocks.
The viola and cello create harmony — these represent the CORE principles and the TRUE VIOLA framework. They are not flashy. They are not headline-grabbing. But they provide the indispensable middle tones that give the music structure, warmth, and depth.
Too many investors focus only on the violin (growth) and the bass (security), ignoring the viola and cello. The result is noise, not harmony. True Viola is about blending them together.
History as the Teacher
To understand why structure matters, you must take a brief history of expected returns. Stocks, over the last 100 years, have averaged about 7.1 percent real return per year. That means, after adjusting for inflation, they double in real spending power roughly every decade. Bonds, by comparison, average 2.3 percent real return per year — doubling only every 30 years.
But averages are misleading. A point-in-time expected return can disguise the danger of sequence. Retire in 1973 with $750,000 and take out $35,000 a year, and on average you might think you are fine. But the markets do not pay in averages — they pay in sequences. And the sequence that began in January 1969 remains the most harmful in history. It was a sinker, a sequence so punishing that portfolios never fully recovered.
This is the essence of sequence-of-returns risk: it does not matter what the average is over 30 years if the first five years are devastating. The early mosh pit of losses can overwhelm everything that follows.
The Planning Puzzle
Every retiree faces four uncertainties:
How much they spend.
How they invest.
What the market returns will be.
How long they will live.
We control the first two. The last two are beyond us. That is the puzzle.
To solve it, disciplined planning assumes the worst. It assumes we will face the most harmful sequence ever seen. It assumes markets will deliver jaw-dropping revelations of volatility. It assumes tectonic movements that shake portfolios. In other words, it assumes paranoia is justified.
But that is the trick — by assuming the worst, you build a plan that can only improve. If your strategy survives the worst sequence in history, then every other outcome is better. That is how you create a Safe Income with No Guesswork, the ability to pay yourself a steady, predictable income you can trust, month after month, like clockwork.
Avoiding Delusions
The danger today is not just volatility. It is delusions. Delusions that stocks only go up. Delusions that bonds are always safe. Delusions that real estate cannot decline. Delusions that working smarter, not harder, is enough — when in reality, smarter approaches are contextual insights built only through sustained hard work and patience.
This is why YOLO and FOMO are so dangerous. The culture tells us to act now, to grab what we can, to live only in the present. But retirement requires long-term thinking, not impulsive risk. Those who ignore history become pariahs of their own making — isolated, unenthusiastic, and trapped in plans that collapse under pressure.
A sober plan does not look glamorous. Success often looks boring until suddenly it is not. Building income stability is slow, methodical, and carefully staged. It is not a get-together or a mosh pit; it is incremental progress, day by day, note by note.
The Math and the Music
Over 1,600 historical 20-year return sequences exist since 1871. By studying them all, we can see how portfolios withstand different market conditions. The patterns are clear:
Stocks, despite volatility, are long-term winners.
Bonds offer stability, but at the cost of growth.
A heavy mix of bonds may slightly extend safety in the single worst scenario but destroys wealth in nearly every other.
Fees and inefficiency are killers; high expenses and advisor costs amplify harm during downturns.
The conclusion is not complex. It is common sense: minimize costs, respect history, prepare for the worst, and create harmony between instruments.
Timing In - Time In - Timing Out
Taxes, Timing, and Real-World Risks
Even the best sequence can be undermined by taxes. Distributions from IRAs, the taxation of Social Security, Medicare surcharges (IRMAA), and NIIT can easily push effective tax rates above 26 percent. That is why Roth conversions, done at the right time, are powerful tools. Pay taxes when rates are low. Do not procrastinate until they are high.
The planning process is not just about markets; it is about timing, taxes, and reserves. Without cash reserves, retirees risk forced sales at market lows. Without efficiency, they pay more to advisors and funds than they should. Without structure, they stumble into the mosh pit of unpredictable returns with no guardrails.
Bringing It All Together
True Viola is not just a catchy name. It is a philosophy.
CORE ensures every plan is grounded in common sense, organized, resourceful, and efficient behavior.
TRUE VIOLA ensures every strategy is traditional, regulated, understandable, efficient, verified, income-driven, objective, built for longevity, and based on clear agreement.
The music metaphor ensures no instrument overwhelms the others — stocks provide melody, bonds provide rhythm, and CORE principles (the viola and cello) provide harmony.
TINSTAAFL ensures discipline — nothing is free, everything has a cost, and pretending otherwise is dangerous.
With this structure, retirees can face volatility without fear, enjoy income without delusion, and navigate even the most harmful sequences without panic.
Conclusion – Singing Through Retirement
The final test of a retirement plan is simple: Can you sing? Can you live with confidence, knowing you have a Safe Income with No Guesswork?
In the end, the lesson is clear. Retirement income is not about chasing YOLO returns or fearing FOMO opportunities. It is not about paranoia or jaw-dropping revelations from Wall Street headlines. It is about discipline, harmony, and balance.
Friedman was right. There is no free lunch. But with CORE principles, TRUE VIOLA structure, and the music of stocks, bonds, and balance, you can build something better than free: you can build certainty. And in a world that often feels like a mosh pit of confusion, that certainty is indispensable.
Stocks, Bonds, Real Estate, etc.
Data: 1871 Broad – Markets 1926
Allocations: 0 to 100 Stock/Bonds
95% Success Rate
Many Tens of Thousands of Runs
3.82% With “Cash” Rules
3.82% Is Not Enough
12 Months of Contractual Income Shortfall Cash – 3.82% for 95% Success Rate
24 Months of Contractual Income Shortfall Cash – 4.32% for 95% Success Rate
36 Months of Contractual Income Shortfall Cash – 4.82% for 95% Success Rate
48 Months of Contractual Income Shortfall Cash – 5.32% for 95% Success Rate
60 Months of Contractual Income Shortfall Cash – 5.82% for 95% Success Rate
