Safe Withdrawal
Work out the income a savings pot can safely provide each year.
About Safe Withdrawal
The safe withdrawal approach takes a fixed percentage of the portfolio each year, so a million-dollar pot at four percent provides forty thousand dollars of income. Withdrawal rates near four percent are designed to last decades. The withdrawn percentage determines both income and how long savings last, making it the central retirement planning lever.
Formula
Safe Withdrawal
Income = nest egg x withdrawal rate
- nest egg
- total retirement portfolio value
Worked example
With the default values below, Safe Withdrawal returns Annual Income of $40,000.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Nest egg
- 1,000,000
- Withdrawal rateaccepts 0.1–100 %
- 4 %
Results
- Annual Income
- $40,000.00
- Monthly Income
- $3,333.33
- Years of Income
- 25.0
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Safe Withdrawal
- 3Annual Income= 40,000.00
- 4Monthly Income= 3,333.33
- 5Years of Income= 25.0
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 2 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
- This is an estimate for general information and not professional financial, tax or legal advice. See the full disclaimer for the limits that apply to this kind of calculator.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Safe Withdrawal calculated?
Income = nest egg x withdrawal rate The safe withdrawal approach takes a fixed percentage of the portfolio each year, so a million-dollar pot at four percent provides forty thousand dollars of income. Withdrawal rates near four percent are designed to last decades.
Why does Safe Withdrawal matter?
The withdrawn percentage determines both income and how long savings last, making it the central retirement planning lever.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 2 inputs: Nest egg, Withdrawal rate. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.