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 portfolio and immediately suffers a 23% market decline, while Retiree B immediately enjoys a 25% gain although retiree B started with a smaller ($77,526) portfolio due to the market decline prior to retirement. I believe it would be helpful to show a corresponding chart that illustrates the remaining account balances each year. Since the two retirees share 117 of 120 quarters of data, Retiree A also enjoyed the 25% recovery and Retiree A’s absolute dollar withdrawals are also significantly less than Retiree B in Figure 13.5.
Thanks, T.

A. You requested a companion chart to Figure 13.5 in my book, showing annual portfolio balances. The chart, 13.5A, is below. Note the large gap between the two retirees which opened up between 7/1/1932 and 7/1/1933. This is explained by the timing of annual rebalancing. Retiree B gained a big advantage from this, having a much higher stock allocation than Retiree A, when it really mattered.Chart 13.5A (NEW)

Yours for a retirement,

Bill Bengen