Posts by Bill Bengen

Q. Bill, Very informative book! In section 13.7 you discuss whether it makes sense to wait for a higher SAFEMAX to retire. Figure 13.5 illustrates the first 10 years of withdrawals for two retirees with widely divergent SAFEMAX rates when the proximity of retirement was only 9 months apart. Retiree A starts with a $100,000…

Q. Loved your book. Given current 40 SC ratio and the early retirement years being a critical variable to SAFEMAX number might it be prudent to at retirement reduce stocks from 55% to 45% (increase bonds). Then in year 5 of retirement begin increasing stock allocation % again ?  T. A. Excellent question. As you…

Hi Bill, So many retirees use the services of a financial advisor these days. Would I be correct in assuming that your 4% rule, now revised to 4.7%, does not take into account fees charged by a financial planner? Thanks, M. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for your note and your interest in my research. You are correct…

Dear Bill, I have the audiobook. I have listened to it, and now I want to go back and re-listen to various topics. Is there an index that gives the time/location in the audio version for various topics? Hi J, I just got in contact with our audiobook representative, and it seems like there is…

Hi Bill! Does one’s personal inflation rate matter vs CPI when calculating SAFEMAX? I was curious whether one’s personal inflation matters more than CPI for the inflation bucket to lookup SAFEMAX. As an example, our personal inflation rate based on tracked spending has been close to 1% total over the last 5 years. This is…

Dear Bill, Thank you for your invaluable work and accessible writing style! I understand that a Safemax changes over a portfolio life given changing underlying returns. However, what’s unclear to me is whether one changes their withdrawal percentage away from the 4.7% (assuming the standard configuration plus COLA adjustment to the original percentage notional)?  J.…

Love your book! One clarification, on page 142 (hard cover) you state that retires that did not encounter a large bear market early in their retirement improved their safemax by more frequent rebalancing, but Figure 9.3 shows the opposite, can you explain? Thanks.  M,   Dear M., Thanks for your note and your interest in…

Hi. I enjoyed reading your book but I remain confused as to how to calculate my individual SAFEMAX. Tables 2.2-2.4 show SAFEMAX rates base on CPI and Shiller Cape for “standard configuration.” Later in chapter 12, table 12.7 demonstrates the SAFEMAX finder for a specific configuration (different asset allocation, different legacy, and planning horizon). Are…

Do you have tables for the Cape-Schiller past 23.99 or do we just assume anything past that is 4.7%? The current ratio is 38.94, so not really sure what to do. Also, do you have a simple worksheet or webpage that people input their own numbers and computer things based on your book (without holding…

Thanks Bill for all your research, I loved the new book. Did you analyze how investing in Gold would impact the 4.7% safemax. My hypothesis is if you adjusted the 40% intermediate bond allocation to 20% with the remaining 20% going in a gold etf like GLDM, that safemax would improve. Historically, I believe gold…