By Dr. Jim Dahle, WCI Founder

My general recommendation for retirees spending from their portfolio is to start withdrawing at something around 4% and adjust as you go. I gave Karsten Jeske (aka Big ERN) a hard time in a previous blog post about it, and he challenged me to read his work on an important point in my argument.

He pointed out that flexibility allows people to spend a little more if risk doesn’t show up but that when Sequence of Returns Risk (SORR) does show up, you have to be flexible—more flexible than most people are willing to be. This is clearly a big pet peeve for him, as documented in Part 58 (yes, you read that right) of his popular Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR) series of blog posts called Flexibility is Overrated. By the way, if this is all over your head, I suggest you first

Keep reading this article on The White Coat Investor.

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