Transcription
You know, I think about retirement differently than most people. And I think that's because I've spent the last 40 years managing money for retirees. Pension funds, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, individual investors planning for their golden years. BlackRock manages over $10 trillion dollars in assets. And a huge portion of that is retirement money. Money that people have worked their entire lives to save. Money they're counting on to support them when they stop working.
And here's what I've learned. Most people are doing retirement planning completely wrong. They're making the same mistakes over and over again. They're taking too much risk or not enough risk. They're chasing yield in all the wrong places. They're not thinking about longevity. They're not thinking about inflation. They're not thinking about sequence of returns risk. And the consequences, they're devastating.
We have a retirement crisis in this country. In most developed countries, actually, people are living longer than ever, but they haven't saved enough. They don't have pensions anymore. Social Security isn't enough, and they're terrified they're going to run out of money before they run out of life.
I write about this every year in my annual letter to CEOs. I talk about the retirement crisis. I talk about longevity risk. I talk about the need for structural solutions, but today I want to talk about something more practical, something you can actually do right now. I want to tell you about the four assets you absolutely must own for retirement. Not should own, must own. These four assets form the foundation of every successful retirement portfolio I've ever seen. Whether you're managing $100,000 or $100 million, these principles apply. And I'm not going to give you generic advice like buy stocks and bonds. Everyone says that. I'm going to be specific. I'm going to tell you exactly what to own, why to own it, and how to think about it. Because after four decades of doing this, I know what works and what doesn't.
All right, let's start with the first asset you must own for retirement. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, or TIPS. Now, I know what you're thinking. TIPS? That's boring. That's safe. That's for old people who don't want to take any risk. And you're right, TIPS are boring. They're safe. But let me tell you something. Boring and safe are exactly what you need when you're planning for a 30-year retirement. Because the biggest risk you face in retirement isn't market volatility. It's not stock market crashes, it's inflation.
When I started in this business in the '70s and early '80s, inflation was running at 10%, 12%, sometimes even 14% a year. I watched people's savings get decimated. You'd have $100,000 in the bank and five years later it would still be $100,000 nominally, but in terms of what you could actually buy, what economists call purchasing power, it was worth maybe $60,000 or $70,000. Your money lost 30% to 40% of its value just sitting there.
And here's the scary part. We're seeing inflation come back after 40 years of relatively low inflation. 2%, 3% a year, suddenly we're back to 7%, 8%, 9%. And even if it comes back down, even if we get back to the Fed's 2% target, that 2% compounds over a 30-year retirement. 2% annual inflation means prices double. What costs $100 today will cost $200 in 30 years. So if you're planning to retire on a fixed income, if you think you need $50,000 a year to live on today, you're actually going to need $100,000 a year 30 years from now just to maintain the same standard of living. And most people don't plan for this. They save up some money. They think they're set. And then inflation slowly, silently erodes their purchasing power until they're in trouble.
That's where TIPS come in. TIPS are issued by the US Treasury. So, they're backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. Safest investment in the world. But unlike regular Treasury bonds, TIPS have a special feature. The principal adjusts for inflation. Here's how it works. Let's say you buy a TIPS bond with a $10,000 face value and a 2% real yield. If inflation is 3% that year, your principal adjusts up to $10,300. And you get 2% interest on that adjusted amount. So you're getting $206 in interest instead of $200. And this happens every year. If inflation is 5%, your principal goes up 5%. If inflation is 2%, it goes up 2%. The beautiful thing is your purchasing power is protected. You're guaranteed a real return, a return above inflation. You're not losing ground. You're not watching your savings get eroded.
Now, let me tell you how I think about TIPS in a retirement portfolio. TIPS should be your foundation, your bedrock. They should represent the portion of your portfolio that covers your non-negotiable expenses, your must-haves: food, housing, health care, utilities, the things you absolutely need, no matter what happens to the stock market. I generally recommend that retirees have 5 to 10 years of these essential expenses covered by TIPS or similar inflation-protected assets. So, if you need $40,000 a year for essentials, you should have $200,000 to $400,000 in TIPS. That gives you a cushion. It gives you security. It means that no matter what happens to stocks, no matter what happens to the economy, you can cover your basic needs.
And this is psychologically crucial because when you know your basics are covered, when you know you're not going to run out of money for food and shelter, you can take more risk with the rest of your portfolio. You can invest in stocks for growth. You can pursue higher returns because you have that safety net. I've seen so many retirees make the mistake of having all their money in stocks because they're chasing returns and then the market drops 30%, 40% like it did in 2008, like it did in 2020, and they panic. They sell at the bottom. They lock in their losses and they never recover. But if you have your essentials covered with TIPS, you don't have to sell. You can ride out the storm. You can wait for the recovery. That's the power of having that inflation-protected foundation.
Now, how do you actually buy TIPS? It's pretty straightforward. You can buy them directly from the US Treasury through treasurydirect.gov, or you can buy them through a broker. Or, and this is what I usually recommend for most people, you can buy a TIPS mutual fund or ETF. At BlackRock, we have several TIPS funds through iShares. The biggest one is TIP, the iShares TIPS Bond ETF. It holds a diversified portfolio of TIPS across different maturities. You get instant diversification, professional management, and you can buy and sell it like a stock. Very simple.
One thing to watch out for with TIPS: they're sensitive to changes in real interest rates. If real rates go up, TIPS prices go down, at least in the short term. But if you're holding them to maturity, if you're buying them for that inflation protection, the price fluctuations don't really matter. You're going to get your principal back adjusted for inflation plus your real yield.
So that's asset number one: TIPS. The inflation fighter, the foundation of your retirement portfolio, boring, safe, and absolutely essential.
All right, let's talk about asset number two. Low-cost equity index funds. And I want to be very specific about this. Not actively managed stock funds, not individual stocks, not the hot tech stock your neighbor is talking about. I'm talking about broad-based, low-cost index funds that give you exposure to the entire stock market.
Here's why this matters. When you're in retirement, you need your money to last 30 years, maybe 40 years. People are living longer. Medical advances are extending lifespans. If you retire at 65, there's a good chance you're going to live to 95, maybe even 100. That's a long time. And, and here's the math problem. If all your money is in bonds and cash, even inflation-protected bonds like TIPS, you're probably earning 2%, 3%, maybe 4% real return. But you're also withdrawing money every year to live on. And between the low returns and the withdrawals, your principal is shrinking. You're drawing down your capital. And there's a real risk you run out of money before you run out of life.
That's why you need stocks. You need that growth engine. Because over long periods, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, stocks have historically returned about 7% to 10% annually after inflation. That's two to three times what bonds returned. And that growth potential is what allows your portfolio to sustain withdrawals while still growing.
Now, let me be clear about something. I'm not saying you should have all your money in stocks in retirement. That would be crazy. Stocks are volatile. They go up and down. Sometimes they go down a lot. In 2008, stocks fell 50%. In 2020, they fell 34% in five weeks. If you need to withdraw money during one of those downturns, you're selling at the bottom, locking in losses, and that's devastating to a retirement portfolio. But you do need meaningful stock exposure. How much? That depends on your age, your risk tolerance, your other sources of income. But as a general rule, I think retirees should have at least 40% to 60% of their portfolio in stocks, maybe even more if they're younger or have other sources of guaranteed income like a pension or Social Security.
Now, here's where most people make a mistake. They try to pick individual stocks or they hire an expensive active manager who promises to beat the market. And the data is overwhelming. Most active managers don't beat the market over long periods. They underperform after fees. Study after study shows this. At BlackRock, we've done extensive research on this. We have a team that analyzes manager performance across every asset class. And what we find consistently is that low-cost index funds outperform the majority of active managers over 10-year, 15-year, 20-year periods. Why? Three reasons.
First, fees. Active managers charge 1%, sometimes 2% or more. Index funds charge 0.03%, 0.05%, 0.1%. That difference compounds over time. Over 30 years, a 1% fee difference can reduce your final portfolio value by 25% to 30%.
Second, taxes. Active managers trade a lot, generating capital gains, which are taxable. Index funds have very low turnover, so they're much more tax-efficient.
Third, and this is subtle, active managers tend to deviate from the market at the wrong times. They get scared and go to cash during downturns. They get greedy and take too much risk during booms. They're human. They make behavioral mistakes. An index fund doesn't have emotions. It just owns the market.
So, what specifically should you own? I recommend a mix of three core index funds.
First, a total US stock market index fund. This gives you exposure to every publicly traded company in America: large caps, mid caps, small caps, technology, healthcare, financials, consumer goods, everything. You own the entire US economy. At BlackRock, this would be something like ITOT, the iShares Core S&P Total US Stock Market ETF.
Second, a total international stock market index fund. This gives you exposure to developed markets like Europe, Japan, Australia, and emerging markets like China, India, Brazil. You're diversifying globally. You're not putting all your eggs in the US basket. At BlackRock, this would be something like IXUS, the iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF.
And third, consider adding a small allocation to dividend-focused equity funds. Companies that pay consistent, growing dividends tend to be more stable, more mature, and they provide income that can help fund your retirement withdrawals. Something like DVY, the iShares Select Dividend ETF, or SCHD, which is from another provider, but is excellent.
Now, how do you allocate between US and international? I generally recommend about 60% to 70% US, 30% to 40% international for US investors. That roughly mirrors global market capitalization. And for dividends, maybe 10% to 20% of your equity allocation.
Here's the key. Keep it simple. Three or four funds, low cost, broad diversification. Don't try to time the market. Don't try to pick winners. Just own the market and let it do its work. Because here's what I know. After 40 years, the market works. It goes up over time. There are down years. Absolutely. Uh, there are scary periods. But over decades, the trajectory is up. The US economy grows. Innovation continues. Productivity improves. Companies create value. And stockholders get rewarded. If you'd invested $10,000 in a US stock index fund in 1980, it would be worth over $1 million today with dividends reinvested. That's the power of equity index investing over long periods.
So that's asset number two, low-cost equity index funds, your growth engine, the part of your portfolio that ensures your money lasts as long as you do.
All right, now let's talk about asset number three. And this is one that I think is often overlooked: Real Estate Investment Trusts, or REITs. And I want to explain why real estate, specifically through REITs, is so valuable in a retirement portfolio.
First, let's talk about what REITs are. A REIT is a company that owns, operates, or finances income-producing real estate. It could be apartment buildings, office buildings, shopping malls, warehouses, data centers, cell phone towers, you name it. And by law, REITs have to distribute at least 90% of their taxable income to shareholders as dividends. So when you own REITs, you're essentially owning a diversified portfolio of real estate, and you're getting steady income from the rents that those properties generate. You get the benefits of real estate ownership without the headaches of being a landlord. No tenants calling you at 2 AM about a leaky faucet. No property taxes, no maintenance. You just own shares and collect dividends.
Now, why is this important for retirement? Three big reasons.
First, income. REITs typically have dividend yields of 3%, 4%, sometimes 5% or more. That's significantly higher than what you get from most stocks. And that income is crucial when you're retired. You can use those dividends to fund your living expenses without having to sell shares. I've always believed that a retirement portfolio should be structured to generate as much sustainable income as possible. Because if you can live off the income your portfolio generates, you never have to touch the principal. Your capital can keep growing while you live off the distributions. That's the ideal scenario.
Second, inflation protection. Real estate tends to keep pace with inflation over time. When inflation goes up, rents go up. And when rents go up, the value of real estate goes up and REIT dividends go up. So REITs give you another layer of inflation protection, complementing your TIPS. I saw this firsthand during the inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s. Real estate was one of the few assets that held its value. And I'm seeing it again now with inflation elevated, rents are rising, property values are rising, and REITs are increasing their dividends.
Third, diversification. Real estate has a low correlation to stocks and bonds. It doesn't move in lockstep with the stock market. So adding REITs to your portfolio reduces overall volatility and improves risk-adjusted returns. At BlackRock, when we construct portfolios for institutional clients, we almost always include a real estate allocation. It's a core asset class. And I think individual retirees should approach it the same way.
Now, how much should you allocate to REITs? I generally recommend 5% to 15% of your total portfolio. So, if you have a $1 million portfolio, maybe $50,000 to $150,000 in REITs, enough to get the benefits of income and diversification, but not so much that you're overexposed to real estate risk. And here's how I think about it within the overall portfolio structure. Remember, we talked about having 40% to 60% in stocks? Well, I count REITs as part of that equity allocation, but as a separate, distinct component. So, you might have 30% to 40% in regular stock index funds and then 10% to 15% in REITs.
Now, what kind of REITs should you own? Just like with stocks, I recommend broad diversification through REIT index funds rather than trying to pick individual properties or property types. At BlackRock, we have the iShares US Real Estate ETF, ticker IYR. It holds a diversified portfolio of the largest US REITs across all property types: residential, commercial, industrial, retail, healthcare, data centers. You get exposure to the entire US real estate market in a single fund. You can also consider adding some international real estate exposure through something like IFGL, the iShares International Developed Real Estate ETF. This gives you exposure to real estate markets in Europe, Japan, Australia, and other developed countries.
One thing to understand about REITs: they're sensitive to interest rates. When interest rates go up, REIT prices tend to go down, at least initially. That's because higher rates make REITs less attractive compared to bonds, and they also increase REITs' borrowing costs. But here's the thing. Over the long term, as long as the underlying properties are generating income and that income is growing, REITs do fine even in rising rate environments. The short-term price fluctuations don't matter if you're holding for income and you're focused on the long term. I remember in 2022 when the Fed started raising rates aggressively, REITs got hammered. They were down 25%, 30%, and a lot of investors panicked and sold. But we told our clients to hold on because the fundamentals were still solid. Occupancy rates were strong, rents were rising, and by 2023, 2024, rates had recovered, and we're paying even higher dividends. That's the discipline you need. Don't react to short-term volatility. Focus on the income. Focus on the long-term fundamentals.
Another consideration with REITs: taxes. REIT dividends are generally taxed as ordinary income, not qualified dividends. So, they're less tax-efficient than regular stock dividends. For this reason, if you're investing in a taxable account, you might want to hold REITs in your IRA or 401(k) where they can grow tax-deferred. But even with the tax considerations, REITs are too valuable to ignore. That steady income, that inflation protection, that diversification, they're essential components of a well-constructed retirement portfolio.
So, that's asset number three, REITs, your income generator. The asset that helps you live off your portfolio without depleting it.
All right, let's talk about the fourth and final must-have asset for retirement: short-term, high-quality bonds. And I want to be very specific about this because not all bonds are created equal. I'm talking about short-term, meaning maturities of 1 to 5 years, and high-quality, meaning investment-grade corporate bonds or government bonds.
Now you might be thinking, wait, didn't we already cover bonds with TIPS? Why do we need more bonds? And the answer is that TIPS and short-term bonds serve different purposes in your portfolio. TIPS are your inflation protection. They're your long-term, hold-forever assets that ensure your purchasing power doesn't erode. Short-term, high-quality bonds are your stabilizer, your liquidity, your buffer against volatility. They're the money you might need to tap in the next few years, and they're the part of your portfolio that smooths out the ride when stocks are volatile.
Let me explain why this matters. In retirement, you have what's called sequence of returns risk. This is the risk that you experience poor investment returns early in your retirement, which can have a devastating impact on your portfolio's longevity. Here's how it works. Let's say you retire with $1 million. You plan to withdraw $40,000 a year, 4% initially, adjusting for inflation. If the market is up in the early years of your retirement, great. Your portfolio grows. You make your withdrawals and you're fine. But what if the market crashes in year 1 or year 2? Suddenly your $1 million is down to $700,000, and you're still withdrawing $40,000. Now you're withdrawing almost 6% of your portfolio. And that higher withdrawal rate combined with the market losses, it can create a death spiral where your portfolio never recovers. This happened to a lot of people who retired in 2007 or 2008. They retired right into the financial crisis. Stocks fell 50%. And many of those people had to dramatically reduce their standard of living or go back to work because their portfolios got decimated.
That's where short-term bonds come in. They're your defense against sequence of returns risk. Here's the strategy: You keep one to three years of living expenses in short-term bonds. High quality, low volatility, stable value. And when the stock market is down, when stocks have a bad year, you don't sell stocks to fund your withdrawals. You tap your bond allocation instead. This gives your stocks time to recover. You're not forced to sell at the bottom. You're not locking in losses. You wait for the recovery and then you can replenish your bond allocation from your stock gains. This is called bucketing or time segmentation, and it's one of the most effective retirement income strategies I know. You have different buckets of money for different time horizons. Short-term needs come from bonds. Long-term growth comes from stocks. And you manage the flows between them strategically.
Now, what kind of short-term bonds should you own? I recommend a mix of Treasury bills, short-term Treasury bonds, and short-term investment-grade corporate bonds. You want high quality. You don't want to be reaching for yield. You don't want to be in junk bonds or long-term bonds that are sensitive to interest rate changes. At BlackRock, we have several funds that fit this profile. SHV, the iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF, gives you exposure to Treasury bills and bonds with maturities of less than one year. Super safe, super liquid. IGSB, the iShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF, gives you exposure to short-term corporate bonds from solid investment-grade companies. These funds have very low volatility. They don't fluctuate much in value, and they provide a small but steady return, usually 2% to 4% depending on interest rates. They're not going to make you rich, but that's not the point. The point is stability and liquidity.
How much should you allocate to short-term bonds? As I mentioned, I like to have one to three years of living expenses here. So, if you need $50,000 a year, you'd have $50,000 to $150,000 in short-term bonds. The exact amount depends on your risk tolerance and your other sources of income. If you have a pension or Social Security covering most of your expenses, you might not need as much in bonds. But if you're relying entirely on your portfolio, you want that larger cushion.
One other thing I want to mention about bonds in general. Interest rates matter a lot. When I started BlackRock in 1988, interest rates were coming down from their highs in the early 1980s. Treasury bonds were yielding 8%, 9%, 10%. You could build an entire retirement portfolio around bonds and be fine. Then for the next 30 years, from 1990 to 2020, interest rates kept falling. They had eventually hit zero during the pandemic, and bonds became much less attractive for retirees. The income just wasn't there. But now, in 2024, 2025, interest rates have come back up. The Fed has raised rates to fight inflation, and suddenly bonds are attractive again. You can get 4%, 5%, sometimes more on high-quality bonds. This is a significant development for retirees. It means the traditional 60/40 portfolio (60% stocks and 40% bonds), which had struggled in the low-rate environment, is viable again. That bond allocation can actually contribute meaningful income and stability. So, my advice: take advantage of these higher rates. Lock in some yield with short- and intermediate-term bonds. Build that stabilizer into your portfolio because we don't know how long these rates will last. The Fed could cut rates again if the economy slows. And when they do, bond yields will fall again.
That's asset number four: short-term, high-quality bonds, your stabilizer, your liquidity buffer, your defense against sequence of returns risk.
All right, so let me bring all of this together for you. We've talked about four must-have assets for retirement: TIPS for inflation protection, low-cost equity index funds for growth, REITs for income and diversification, and short-term, high-quality bonds for stability and liquidity.
Now, how do you combine these into a complete portfolio? Here's how I think about it. Let's say you're a typical retiree. You're 65 years old. You've saved $1 million. You need about $40,000 a year to live on in addition to Social Security. You expect to live another 30 years. How should you allocate that $1 million?
Here's what I would recommend:
* **30% in TIPS.** That's $300,000. At current yields, that's generating about $9,000 to $12,000 a year in real, inflation-adjusted income. This covers a good chunk of your essential expenses.
* **35% in equity index funds.** That's $350,000. Split this maybe 25% in US Total Market, 10% international, and 5% in dividend funds. This is your growth engine. Over 30 years, this could grow to $1 million or more, even after withdrawals.
* **15% in REITs.** That's $150,000. At a 4% dividend yield, that's $6,000 a year in income. More income to fund your lifestyle.
* **20% in short-term bonds.** That's $200,000. This covers four to five years of expenses, your stability and liquidity.
So you've got 50% in stocks and REITs for growth and income, and 50% in TIPS and bonds for stability and inflation protection. That's a balanced approach. Not too aggressive, not too conservative, appropriate for someone in retirement.
Now, this allocation isn't static. It should change as you age. In your 60s and early 70s, you can afford to be a bit more aggressive because you have time. But in your 80s and 90s, you probably want to shift more towards safety. Maybe 60% or 70% in bonds and TIPS, less in stocks. This is called a glide path, and it's how target-date retirement funds work. Your allocation gets more conservative as you age. At BlackRock, we manage hundreds of billions in target-date funds, and this is exactly the approach we use.
Let me also talk about the withdrawal strategy because how you withdraw money is just as important as how you invest it. The traditional rule is the 4% rule. You withdraw 4% of your portfolio in year 1, then adjust that amount for inflation each year. So with $1 million, you'd withdraw $40,000 in year one, $41,000 in year two if inflation's 2.5%, and so on. The 4% rule has been shown to have about a 90% to 95% success rate over 30-year retirements based on historical returns. It's a good starting point, but I think you can be smarter than just following a rigid rule.
Here's what I recommend: Use a dynamic withdrawal strategy. In years when your portfolio is up, when stocks have done well, take a little more, maybe 4.5% or 5%. Enjoy life. Take that extra vacation. But in years when your portfolio is down, tighten your belt a little, withdraw less, maybe 3% or 3.5%. This flexibility, this ability to adjust your spending based on market conditions, it dramatically improves your portfolio's longevity. Studies show that dynamic strategies can increase success rates to 98% or 99%. And remember the bucketing strategy I mentioned. When stocks are down, withdraw from your bond bucket. When stocks are up, replenish your bond bucket and take your spending from stock gains. This way, you're never forced to sell stocks at the bottom.
One more thing I want to address: health care costs. This is the wild card in retirement planning. Health care is expensive and getting more expensive. And if you retire before 65, before you're eligible for Medicare, it's really expensive. I generally tell people to budget an extra $300,000 to $500,000 for health care over the course of retirement. That includes premiums, deductibles, co-pays, long-term care, everything. It's a big number, but it's realistic. And this is another reason why you need that growth component in your portfolio. You need your money to grow to keep pace, not just with general inflation, but with health care inflation, which historically runs higher. You might also consider long-term care insurance, though, I'll be honest, it's gotten very expensive and the coverage has gotten worse. An alternative is to self-insure. Set aside a chunk of your portfolio specifically for potential long-term care needs, maybe $200,000 to $300,000. If you need it, it's there. If you don't, it goes to your heirs.
All right, before we wrap up, let me tell you about the biggest mistakes I see retirees make. Because you can have the right assets, the right allocation, but if you make these mistakes, you can still get into trouble.
* **Mistake number one: Underestimating longevity.** People think they'll live to 80, maybe 85. But if you're 65 and healthy, there's a 50% chance you or your spouse will live past 90. A 25% chance one of you lives past 95. You need to plan for a 30-year retirement, maybe longer.
* **Mistake number two: Chasing yield.** When interest rates were at zero, I saw so many retirees reaching for yield, buying junk bonds, preferred stocks, master limited partnerships, weird dividend stocks, and they got crushed when these risky assets blew up. Don't chase yield. Stick with quality.
* **Mistake number three: Panicking during downturns.** 2008, 2020. Every time there's a market crash, retirees panic and sell. They lock in losses. They miss the recovery. You have to have the discipline to stick with your plan even when it's scary.
* **Mistake number four: Not adjusting over time.** Your asset allocation at 65 should be different from your allocation at 85. You need to gradually get more conservative as you age. Don't be static.
* **Mistake number five: Ignoring taxes.** Where you hold assets matters. TIPS and REITs are better in an IRA. Stocks are more tax-efficient in taxable accounts. Plan for required minimum distributions. Think about Roth conversions. Taxes can eat up a huge chunk of your retirement income if you're not careful.
Look, retirement planning is not easy. It's probably the most complex financial challenge most people will ever face. You're planning for 30 years. You're dealing with uncertainty about returns, inflation, health care costs, longevity. Uh, there are a lot of moving parts. But if you focus on these four core assets: TIPS for inflation protection, equity index funds for growth, REITs for income, and short-term bonds for stability, you'll have a solid foundation. You'll be positioned to generate the income you need, to grow your capital, to protect against inflation, and to weather the inevitable storms.
And remember, keep it simple, low cost, broad diversification, discipline. Don't try to be fancy. Don't try to time the market. Don't chase the latest hot investment. Just own these four core assets. Rebalance periodically and let time do its work.
At BlackRock, we've helped millions of people retire successfully. And the ones who do best are the ones who follow these principles. They're not trying to get rich quick. They're not taking crazy risks. They're just being smart, patient, and disciplined. You can do the same. You can build a retirement portfolio that lasts, that gives you security, that allows you to live the retirement you've earned. The four assets we talked about today, they're not sexy, they're not exciting, but they work. And after 40 years in this business, I'll take what works over what's exciting every single time.