The 4% Guideline for Retirement Portfolio Withdrawals

Sally Kohn: You've written critically about the 4% guideline or sometimes called the rule for retirement portfolio withdrawals. She says it is fundamentally based on the idea that all of your expenses will keep up with inflation and get cheaper over time. "We live in a world in which that's no longer true, primarily for one reason and that's healthcare," she says. 'I do think we're expecting to see some inflationary effects from the stimulus package'

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Episode notes

Our guest this week is Tanja Hester, whom The New York Times referred to as the matriarch of the FIRE movement. For the uninitiated, FIRE stands for financial independence/retire early. Tanja is the author of the Our Next Life blog, and she is also author of the book Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way. Tanja and her husband Mark retired in 2017 at the ages of 38 and 41. Her blog is devoted to chronicling their journey and sharing guidance for others who might be considering an early retirement.

Background

Tanja Hester’s blog “Our Next Life”

Tanja Hester’s bio and backstory

Tanja Hester’s twitter handle @ournextlife

Tanja Hester’s author/speaker page

Tanja Hester’s book, “Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way”

“For These Women, a FIRE That Burns Too Male and Too White” by Charlotte Cowles; The New York Times; June 7, 2019

Early Retirement/Sequence-of-Return Risk

Tanja Hester’s writings on sequence-of-return risk

Karsten Jaske’s “Early Retirement Now” blog

Tanja Hester’s multi-phase retirement financial plan

Savings and Withdrawal Rates