Safe withdrawal rates in a low yield environment

Michael Kitces | Pinnacle Advisory | 15 March 2013

The inspiration for this blog post was the recent release of a 'draft' study on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) by retirement researchers Michael Finke, Wade Pfau, and David Blanchett, entitled "The 4 Percent Rule is Not Safe in a Low-Yield World" which concludes that in today's low-yield environment, the risk of failure for a 4% safe withdrawal rate may be upwards of 50% if rates stay this low indefinitely. Granted, most planners seem to be more con...