FireCalc and SS numbers don't add up

[marko]

Frequenters of this forum will know how skewed my mathematical capacities are, so I just about know I'm off the rails somewhere, but here goes and apologies in advance for once again being a dumba$$.

This may have been covered somewhere but I was unable to find it quickly.

I was goofing with FC this morning and here's what I came up with.

I entered my data including a future date for my and DW's SS. Came out with a portfolio Spending Level of 5.5%. I calculated that 5.5% against my portfolio balance (not counting SS) and yes, 5.5% was the amount.

So then I wanted to see what my Spending Level would be from portfolio withdrawals alone and removed our SS. FC returned a 3.8% Spending Level which again matched my portfolio balance. Yes, the amount was lower by the two SS amounts.

So am I correct that FC includes SS as part of the portfolio spending percentage in it's report even when it is not making the calculation against the actual portfolio balance?

[Gumby]

I am certainly no FIRECalc guru, but it is my understanding that the total spending in dollars that you input on the first page (or the spending allowed for a certain percentage success rate - when you choose that output option) will include social security and any pension income that you input in the second page. And then the percentage of all that spending is calculated against initial portfolio value. I ignore that percentage. The key fact is the actual dollar spending.

Try adding in a pension with inflation adjustment on page 2 that is equal to your expected social security and you should see the same result.

[marko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby And then the percentage of all that spending is calculated against initial portfolio value. .

Thanks Gumby. That's what I figured as well, but sometimes I have trouble conceptualizing things involving numbers (not the numbers themselves) that I begin to doubt myself.

I actually once had a performance appraisal that said "...it is hard to comprehend how someone who's so otherwise gifted can have such a blind spot in this regard...".
As an executive, I was the only one who had a full time accountant on my staff just to keep me out of trouble.