If you’ve been diligently saving money throughout your career, hopefully you’ve built up a nice nest egg to draw down from throughout your golden years. But your retirement savings are finite — you want to make sure your funds are able to support you throughout your whole retirement, not run out within the first few years. So for many people, a very pressing first question following retirement is, “How much should I take out each year?”
Each situation is different, but I’ve got some pointers to help you figure out a wise approach for yourself.
Watch the video below and set yourself up for future success today.
Transcript
So now I’ve saved all of this money for retirement. Now I’ve decided to retire. How much should I pull out?
And for years and years and years, there has been something called the 4% rule. If I can withdraw 4% of my savings in general, I should be able to live on that amount of savings.
Unfortunately, with the fluctuations in the stock market and where interest rates are currently, that 4% rule really doesn’t hold up anymore.
So again, the best way to determine how much you need is to sit down and literally make a T chart. How much income are you bringing in from all of your sources? How much expenses am I taking? What is it costing me to live and what’s left over?
So the best way again, is to really determine how much you need and start withdrawing just a small amount, and you can increase that over time.
For more answers to common retirement planning questions, check out the rest of the Question Mark: Retirement Planning series.