Investment Withdrawal Calculator

The 4% rule states that withdrawing 4% of your initial portfolio value in year one — then increasing that dollar amount by inflation annually — has historically sustained a 30-year retirement in most market scenarios. It was introduced by financial planner William Bengen in 1994 using U.S. historical return data going back to 1926.

It depends on your withdrawal rate and portfolio return. At a 4% withdrawal rate ($40,000 per year, or about $3,333 per month) with a 6% average return, a $1 million portfolio can last 30+ years. At a 6% withdrawal rate ($60,000 per year), the same portfolio may deplete in roughly 24 years. Use the calculator above to model your specific numbers.

It remains a useful starting point, but many researchers suggest adjusting it based on your circumstances. For a 30-year retirement with a balanced portfolio, 4% has held up historically. For a 40-year retirement or a period of low expected returns, 3–3.5% is more conservative. Flexible spending — reducing withdrawals in bad market years — can make a higher rate viable.

For a 40-year retirement horizon (retiring in your 50s), researchers such as Wade Pfau suggest a safe withdrawal rate closer to 3.3–3.5%. A 30-year horizon supports the traditional 4%. The longer the horizon, the more compound inflation and sequence-of-returns risk matter, both of which push the safe rate down.

Yes, significantly. Social Security income reduces how much you need to draw from your portfolio each month, which extends its longevity. For example, $2,000 per month in Social Security means you need $2,000 less per month from your investments — the equivalent of having an additional $600,000 in a portfolio earning 4%. Always model Social Security separately when planning retirement withdrawals.

Yes — "drawdown" is another common term for the same thing this calculator does: modeling how a portfolio balance shrinks (or grows) as you take regular withdrawals from it. Whether you search for "withdrawal calculator" or "drawdown calculator," you're looking for the same projection — enter your balance, your withdrawal amount, and an expected return, and see how many years the money lasts.

"Income withdrawal calculator" is another common name for this same tool, usually used by people planning retirement paycheck income rather than a one-time payout. The math is identical either way: enter your balance, your planned withdrawal amount, and an expected return, and the projection shows how many years that income holds up — the same numbers work whether you think of the output as "years remaining" or as a monthly retirement paycheck.

A common approach is to withdraw from taxable brokerage accounts first, then traditional (tax-deferred) accounts, and save Roth accounts for last. This order lets tax-free Roth growth continue the longest and can help control which tax bracket your withdrawals land in each year. Required minimum distributions can force an earlier withdrawal from traditional accounts regardless of this order, so check those rules before finalizing your sequence.

Running out means your withdrawals outpaced your portfolio's growth for too long, and you're left relying on other income like Social Security. Catching the problem early gives you options: cut the monthly withdrawal, delay retirement a few years, or add part-time income to reduce how much you draw. Run a few withdrawal amounts through the calculator above to find one that keeps a cushion instead of draining to zero.

No. The balance and withdrawal figures shown are gross, before any income tax you owe on traditional IRA or 401(k) withdrawals. Build in a buffer for your tax bracket, or reduce your monthly withdrawal amount by your estimated tax rate, so the after-tax cash you actually keep matches your budget.