Designing a portfolio for maximizing consistent retirement income presents new and unique challenges even to experienced investors.  Here you can study the evolving history of retirement research and take a fresh look at withdrawal rates that may leave you thinking about your retirement portfolio in a whole new light.

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Recommended Reading

Determining Withdrawal Rates Using Historical Data — This is the original paper published by William Bengen in 1994 on safe withdrawal rates.  Short and easy to read, I recommend it for anyone interested in the topic.

Retirement Savings: Choosing a Withdrawal Rate That Is Sustainable — Colloquially known as the Trinity Study (the authors were professors of finance at Trinity University), this paper published in 1998 is perhaps the most well-known study on withdrawal rates.

An International Perspective on Safe Withdrawal Rates — Wade Pfau takes the original Bengen study to the logical next step by using data for international markets.  Not surprisingly, the results change quite a bit.

What Returns Are Safe Withdrawal Rates REALLY Based Upon? — Michael Kitces explores the specific historical situations that caused retirement portfolios to fail and illustrates how they represent the worst outcomes, not the average.

How To Calculate Perpetual Withdrawal Rates — Jim Otar discusses the limitations of typical safe withdrawal rates and proposes a perpetual alternative.