Hi, Shrewd!        Login  
Shrewd'm.com 
A merry & shrewd investing community
Best Of RIBest OfAll BoardsThe Shrewd’m WeeklyLearn to InvestHow to Become Shrewd
Search
Shrewd'm.com Merry shrewd investors
Search
Best Of RIBest OfAll BoardsThe Shrewd’m WeeklyLearn to InvestHow to Become Shrewd


The week's question
In December 2024, in the thread "Re: BRK: Why Not XOM?", BreckHutHigh asked the members: "What about the long road trips with kids?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
Answer this questionContinue to Shrewd'mThis note won't appear again
Personal Finance / Retirement Investing
Unthreaded | Threaded | Whole Thread (10) |
Author: rayvt 🐝  😊 😞
Number: of 1282 
Subject: Re: Total Portfolio Allocation and Withdrawal
Date: 01/30/25 12:32 PM
Post New | Post Reply | Report Post | Recommend It!
No. of Recommendations: 9
I have considered another option. Divide my portfolio into two parts. 70/30 division. Spend down the 70 percent part over seventeen years starting at one seventeenth of the total, next year one sixteenth, etc.

That's just playing mind games about your money. Look up "mental accounting bias".

And it doesn't really work, you are assuming that the 70% you've carved out will continue to grow---which is not guaranteed. What happens if at year 5 the market takes a huge dump like it did in 2008/2009? In year 4 you took, say, 1 twelveth of $500,000 = $41,700. Then year 5 you would take 1 eleventh of the remaining $300,000 = $27,300.
That's a HUGE hit to spending. Kinda hard on your budget.

Where the declining percentage withdrawals do work out is in cases where you must empty the account in X years. For example an inherited IRA, which must be emptied in 10 years. 1/10 the first year, then 1/9, 1/8 ... 1/1 in year 10. The goal here is to stretch out the withdrawals while minimizing the tax hit in any one year.



After seventeen years the second part should grow into enough to repeat.

That word "should" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

Post New | Post Reply | Report Post | Recommend It!
Print the post
Members reply directly to rayvt here — and replies get answered. Reading is free; so is joining the conversation. Join Shrewd'm »
This community has written 1,215 posts about Retirement Investing. The article-length ones it recommended most:
The Case for Long-Term Buy and Hold Investing · 49 recs · 2025
Transferring assets to the next generation · 20 recs · 2025
Retirement Year 8 · 17 recs · 2025
(nearly) year one of retirement has been good · 11 recs · 2026
Buying Treasuries Via Vanguard · 10 recs · 2023
Unthreaded | Threaded | Whole Thread (10) |


Announcements
Retirement Investing FAQ
Contact Shrewd'm
Contact the developer of these message boards.

Best Of RI | Best Of | Favourites & Replies | All Boards | Followed Shrewds | Open Questions | Moving a community