Safe Withdrawal Rate
Why it matters for your retirement paycheck
A safe withdrawal rate is a useful starting estimate, not a personalized plan. It's a single fixed percentage that doesn't know your actual account mix, your tax situation, or what the market does the year after you retire. Two retirees with identical balances but different account types (taxable vs. tax-deferred vs. Roth) or different retirement start dates can have very different real safe spending levels, even at the same textbook percentage.
An example
Take a $1,000,000 portfolio and a 4% rate. In year one you withdraw $40,000. If inflation runs 3%, year two’s withdrawal rises to $41,200, whatever the market did. The rule never asks whether the money comes from taxable, tax-deferred or Roth accounts, so what you can actually spend after tax may be noticeably less than $40,000. Illustrative figures only.
Related terms
See this in your own numbers
Build a Blueprint sized to your own accounts and spending.
Explore the Retirement Paycheck Planner →Blueprint Tomorrow provides educational planning tools, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to take any specific action with your accounts.