Retirement Withdrawal Calculator
How long your savings last, and how much you can take
At your current withdrawal
23.8 years
$39,011 first year for a 30-year drawdown
Constant-return estimate, before tax; not a success probability.
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Your savings last
23.8 years
Withdrawal rate
6.0%
Runs out at
Age 88
Per month
$3,750
Taking $45,000 in the first year and raising it with inflation, your $750,000 runs out after about 23.8 years, around age 88.
Constant-return estimate: the drawdown amount targets a zero balance at the chosen horizon, before tax. It is not a success probability or a market-tested safe rate. See timing, formula and limits.
First-year amount for 30 years
$39,011 a year
Then rises with your inflation rate; modelled end balance $0
Left after 30 years
$0
No positive balance at this horizon
4% of your savings
$30,000 a year
The first-year amount under the 4% rule
Balance year by year
Selected years from the 60-year model. The final row may cover only part of a year. “60+ years” means the model has not run out within its calculation limit, not that the balance must increase.
| Year | Age | Withdrawal | End balance | In today's dollars |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 65 | $45,000 | $747,300 | $729,073 |
| 5 | 69 | $49,672 | $721,807 | $637,972 |
| 10 | 74 | $56,199 | $647,039 | $505,465 |
| 15 | 79 | $63,584 | $505,076 | $348,737 |
| 20 | 84 | $71,939 | $267,684 | $163,360 |
| 24 | 88 | $63,951 | $0 | $0 |
Each withdrawal comes out at the start of the year and the rest earns the annual return. Amounts are before tax.
By the Coast FIRE Calculator editorial team · Methodology · Official sources: IRS owner/beneficiary guidance; SEC annuity guidance · Sources checked 10 October 2026 · Corrections: hello@coastfirecalculator.io
How the withdrawal model works
Each year's withdrawal comes out at the start of the year, and what is left earns the annual return. If you tick the inflation box, the withdrawal goes up by the inflation rate every year, so it buys the same amount as in year one.
The money runs out in the year the balance can no longer cover the full withdrawal; the part of a year it still covers is counted too. The first-year drawdown amount targets a zero balance at the end of the years you choose, using the same fixed return and inflation assumptions each year. It is not a guaranteed income or a historical success rate.
It uses one average return for every year. Real returns go up and down, and the order they come in matters once you are withdrawing, so treat the result as a guide and try a lower return for a cautious plan.
Reproduce the first two years
With an illustrative $100,000 balance, a $5,000 first-year withdrawal, 6% annual return and 2.5% inflation: year 1 ends at ($100,000 − $5,000) × 1.06 = $100,700. Year 2 starts with a $5,125 withdrawal and ends at ($100,700 − $5,125) × 1.06 = $101,309.50. These are model inputs, not a recommended return or withdrawal.
The recurrence is end balance = (start balance − that year's withdrawal) × (1 + return). For an N-year horizon, the first-year drawdown is B divided by the sum of q raised to each power from 0 to N − 1, where B is savings and q = (1 + withdrawal growth) ÷ (1 + return). Withdrawal growth is your inflation rate when indexing is on, and zero when it is off. With zero return and zero growth, this reduces to B ÷ N.
A dollar rule is not a balance-percentage rule
Starting with 4% of the initial balance and increasing that dollar amount with inflation is different from taking 4% of the remaining balance every year. This tool models a chosen dollar withdrawal, with optional inflation increases; it does not model a changing percentage of the portfolio, variable annual returns or investment fees. Taxes are not deducted, so the withdrawal is not your after-tax spending budget.
How long $1 million lasts at each withdrawal rate
First-year withdrawal as a share of savings, raised with 2.5% inflation every year, at four average returns:
| Withdrawal rate | First year | 4% return | 5% return | 6% return | 7% return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.0% | $30,000 | 45.1 years | 60+ years | 60+ years | 60+ years |
| 3.5% | $35,000 | 36.6 years | 47.3 years | 60+ years | 60+ years |
| 4.0% | $40,000 | 30.8 years | 37.5 years | 52.0 years | 60+ years |
| 4.5% | $45,000 | 26.6 years | 31.3 years | 39.4 years | 60+ years |
| 5.0% | $50,000 | 23.4 years | 26.8 years | 32.2 years | 42.8 years |
| 6.0% | $60,000 | 18.9 years | 21.0 years | 23.8 years | 28.1 years |
Worked out with the calculator above. "60+ years" means the money had not run out after 60 years.
Start with the income gap, then check the account rules
Annual Withdrawal is the amount leaving the portfolio, not all your household spending. With illustrative annual spending of $48,000 and $18,000 Social Security plus $6,000 pension income already available on a comparable after-tax basis, the spending gap is $24,000. If that gap comes from a taxable account withdrawal, gross withdrawals may need to be higher: this tool does not calculate the tax gross-up.
Benefits start later
Do not subtract later Social Security, pension or annuity income from every year. This calculator does not schedule benefit start dates or switch the withdrawal at a future age. A $48,000 pre-benefit run and a $24,000 later-gap run are separate sensitivity checks, not a combined bridge plan.
Compare a fixed payment
The annuity calculator models level payments over a chosen fixed term. It is not an insurer quote or a lifetime-income guarantee. Do not subtract its hypothetical payment while also leaving the purchase money in this portfolio balance.
Separate owners from beneficiaries
For your own account, check the owner RMD calculator. For an account inherited from someone else, use the inherited IRA calculator within its supported beneficiary cases. Spending needs and legal distribution requirements are different checks, not additive spending targets.
Keep the timing, tax basis and inflation assumptions consistent across the tools. A fixed payment is not automatically inflation-adjusted. Account requirements and insurance contracts are not enforced by this portfolio drawdown model. These routing boundaries were checked on 10 October 2026 against the existing tool inputs, IRS owner/beneficiary guidance and SEC annuity guidance.
Planning around your withdrawals
To find the savings you need in the first place, use the FIRE calculator, which turns your spending into a target at your chosen withdrawal rate, or the Coast FIRE calculator to see when you can stop saving and let growth do the rest.
If you retire before 59½, the order you draw on accounts matters: see Can I retire at 55? and the Roth conversion ladder. The Roth conversion calculator and the capital gains tax calculator show the federal tax on converting or selling in a given year. Federal employees can check their pension and TSP with the FERS and TSP calculators.
Sources and account limits
Schwab's explanation of the 4% rule describes an initial percentage followed by inflation-adjusted dollar withdrawals. Its historical and portfolio assumptions are not a success-rate calculation performed by this tool.
Schwab's sequence-of-returns examples explain why early losses can alter retirement outcomes even when average returns look similar. Changing the fixed return here is a sensitivity check, not a simulation of that risk.
IRS distribution guidance distinguishes taxable withdrawals, basis and tax-free qualified distributions. This spending model does not enforce account-specific required minimum distributions. Check the separate RMD calculator when planning withdrawals from an account subject to those rules.
These sources and the model explanation were checked on 7 October 2026. The numerical examples use this page's calculation functions and annual start-of-year withdrawals.