What was your WR YTD

[audreyh1]

In reading all these extremely low WR's it's very obvious, barring a 1930s style economic and financial markets meltdown, nobody here is going to run out of money

Yes, lucky heirs!

 

[Gumby]

0.1% Would have been negative just with spending, but I did a Roth conversion and had to pay taxes.

 

[Retired Expat]

I am of the school that your WR is spending of principal or income generating capital. If you spend the interest a bond pays that is spending Income and not a withdrawal. If the bond comes due and you use the money for anything other than reinvestment it is a withdrawal.

Now stocks and other appreciating assets are different for me. Interest and dividends, rentals net of expenses are income. Fluctuating asset values of property or shares of stock may impact my Net Worth but I don’t consider that in my Withdrawals. Although I do consider it in my budgeting and financial planning.

All that said our WR is zero after 12 years in Retirement! And life is Good!

 

[karen1972]

I assume spent/ investments as of 12/31/2022

4.66% SWR as I bought a new car
3.08% SWR once you factor in the sinking fund I have for replacements

That excludes my long term BF who is still working. Household is more like 0.3%

Investment return in 2023 covers nearly 4 years of expenses.

 

[Koolau]

Withdrawal rate?? I have no idea! I remember tracking it carely during my first 8-9 years of retirement in order to have a good picture of of our finances and to control the spending rate.

But after making it through the great recession, seeing my sons through college, and 24 years of retirement from my main career, it is an exercise that no longer has any value. The value of the portfolio, keeps increasing (thank you for a ten-year bull market and recent Fed interest rates). I have a steady pension, I'm good.

Congratulations onf 24 years! That's quite a milestone.



Yeah, with 18 years of FIRE, I only do a back of the envelope calculation of WDR. (The numerator is easy while the denominator can be tricky and variable.)

All I REALLY want to know is "Do I have enough?" So far, the answer keeps coming up (a resounding) "Yes." (Financially) all is good in FIRE land. YMMV

 

[sengsational]

4.2% in 2023, using my retirement year (ten years ago!) as a base.

3.0% in 2023 using 1/1/2023 as a base.

3.3% is the average over the 10 years.

These numbers include gifting to the kids. What's cool is that I've pulled well over 1/3 of the balance at retirement, yet I have 50% more now (ignoring inflation). Even inflation adjusted, I'm well ahead of where I started, despite the intervening spending. Where's BTD Bobby? I need some inspiration to get moving!

 

[pb4uski]

4.16% including the outgo for the new truck that I bought... excluding that purchase 2.79%.

No SS for me yet. Once I start SS it will be closer to nil.

Numerator is 2023 spending. Denominator is 12/31/22 retirement portfolio. IOW what I had as of the beginning fo the year that I spent during the following 12 months.

 

[flyingaway]

Looking at the posted super low withdraw rates, I am thinking that I might have to go back to work in order to reduce my withdraw rate of 3.57% (to 0.1% to be safe).

 

[GravitySucks]

In reading all these extremely low WR's it's very obvious, barring a 1930s style economic and financial markets meltdown, nobody here is going to run out of money

lol. Bet most of us also have 10+ years of Govvies that would easily gotten us through the Great Depression.

 

[Winemaker]

1% last year but this year's just went to 2.14% after this morning's withdrawal.

 

[MarieIG]

4.16% including the outgo for the new truck that I bought... excluding that purchase 2.79%.

No SS for me yet. Once I start SS it will be closer to nil.

Numerator is 2023 spending. Denominator is 12/31/22 retirement portfolio. IOW what I had as of the beginning fo the year that I spent during the following 12 months.

Back of envelope with this formula 2.5 - 2.6.

 

[Koolau]

4.2% in 2023, using my retirement year (ten years ago!) as a base.

3.0% in 2023 using 1/1/2023 as a base.

3.3% is the average over the 10 years.

These numbers include gifting to the kids. What's cool is that I've pulled well over 1/3 of the balance at retirement, yet I have 50% more now (ignoring inflation). Even inflation adjusted, I'm well ahead of where I started, despite the intervening spending. Where's BTD Bobby? I need some inspiration to get moving!

4.16% including the outgo for the new truck that I bought... excluding that purchase 2.79%.

No SS for me yet. Once I start SS it will be closer to nil.

Numerator is 2023 spending. Denominator is 12/31/22 retirement portfolio. IOW what I had as of the beginning fo the year that I spent during the following 12 months.

I had never even considered calculating WDR in terms of my initial stash. It's always been vs what I had at the end of the previous year. After 18 years of retirement and favorable increases in the stash, I guess my most recent WDR vs my original stash would be on the order of 8%. I've never actually used the original WDR formula (nor adjusted it for inflation.) But apparently, I HAVE adjusted for inflation without calculating it.

It's amazing to me how much more I'm spending now than I did 18 years ago. And yet the stash has grown. This year's BOE WDR is less than 3% as nearly as I can figure it.

Now, I'm pondering such things as "What is my realistic time frame?" Clearly, its no longer 30 years. Even though I've arbitrarily assumed my expiry as age 99, that's only 23 years. I think I need to start BTD if I'm ever gonna get rid of my stash. YMMV

 

[bbbamI]

WR for 2023 was 0.

 

[Koolau]

WR for 2023 was 0.

Now, that is amazing!



I do recall my mom and dad living on just their SS. They had a small paid off house, paid for car and they had not hobbies or significant expenses. Of course, that all changed when they went into the nursing home. Their stash disappeared pretty quickly.


Congratulations on "0."

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Now, that is amazing!

I do recall my mom and dad living on just their SS. They had a small paid off house, paid for car and they had not hobbies or significant expenses. Of course, that all changed when they went into the nursing home. Their stash disappeared pretty quickly.

Congratulations on "0."

Ours is Zero also, SS + Canadian Pension + UK Pension + Interest on CDs actually adds to the stash.

 

[Koolau]

Ours is Zero also, SS + Canadian Pension + UK Pension + Interest on CDs actually adds to the stash.

Congratulations. That's quite a feat!



I suppose I could have a "0" year by really tightening the belt. But I've become addicted to spending more. And, of course, I have to take RMDs (though, I understand I don't have to spend that money.)



I'm actually beginning to "fear" that I'll leave a big pile when I could have done some good with it while I'm still living. YMMV

 

[53anddone]

my WDR was 3% for 2023 - just about where it has been every year since I stopped working in 2018.

More important to me is my Net Worth has increased 19.2% since I stopped working 6 years ago. Tells me I definitely made the right decision. But I definitely need to spend more or come up with a plan to give it away. I'm only 61 so hopefully have plenty of time to noodle over it.

 

[Pointby2]

Our withdrawal rate was 3.04%. Since that number included an $18k unplanned HVAC replacement and $25k in travel this year, I'm happy with it.

 

[Dufferin]

What does WR stand for?

 

[MichaelB]

What does WR stand for?

Withdrawal Rate.

 

[zippy2020]

Our WR was 3%, but a meeting with our CFP firm convinced us to up it another couple of grand, monthly. With the increase in the std deduction and being the last 2 yrs of the Trump tax cuts, it was suggested we front-load our cash withdrawals since Spouse doesn't have to take an RMD until 2025.

Our choices are to spend it or give it away. We do both, LOL!

 

[geezee1957]

5%. 66 and 68. Not taking ss until 70. Projected to be around 2% after that also we put new windows in our house and bought a camp trailer.

 

[TheWizard]

4.16% including the outgo for the new truck that I bought... excluding that purchase 2.79%.

No SS for me yet. Once I start SS it will be closer to nil.

Numerator is 2023 spending. Denominator is 12/31/22 retirement portfolio. IOW what I had as of the beginning fo the year that I spent during the following 12 months.

New truck, nice!
Was it an F150 similar to what I bought eight years ago?

My approximate plan is to buy a new one, a King Ranch model, in four or five years...

 

[Surewhitey]

Looking at the posted super low withdraw rates, I am thinking that I might have to go back to work in order to reduce my withdraw rate of 3.57% (to 0.1% to be safe).

It's definitely overrated... We added 4.5 years spending to the NW even after living one of our biggest travel years. Been a good year, but I'd rather be with you fellas. I'm just winding down the hours / wk as much as DW allows.

 

[steady saver]

Honestly hadn't thought about all the ways you could interpret how to calculate WD. I was lazy, I guess. I just divided our last year's spend with ending portfolio balance and got .03

At first it seemed low but in reality it sounds about right, we aren't big spenders though we did buy a new car this past year. Our big spending thus far has been in renovating a guest house and we didn't have that expense this year. That said, we're about to renovate the main old farmhouse to a degree and that will amp things up in 2024.

Edit: As I'm thinking about this, I guess my number really reflects my spend rate. Because it includes pension and dividends (no SS yet) and is simply looking at how much I took out and how much I ended the year with. Probably a pretty sloppy calculation but at any rate, I don't think we'll run out of money and that's what I really want to know anyway...