Kyle Prevost, expert on retirement planning in Canada, discusses the applicability of the 4% rule for Canadians, adjustments for inflation, and alternative spending strategies based on market performance. They also explore the value of side income and passion projects in retirement, while highlighting upcoming events and thanking sponsors.
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4% Rule Is A Cautious Historical Baseline
The 4% rule is a cautious, historically-backed rule of thumb for sustainable retirement withdrawals accounting for inflation.
It was designed to survive severe downturns like the Great Depression and assumes fee-efficient, rebalanced portfolios with at least 50% bonds.
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Diversification Makes 4% Work For Canada
A diversified portfolio makes the 4% rule broadly applicable across countries, including Canada.
Wade Pfau's country-level analysis shows the 4% rule would have worked for Canadian stocks and bonds over long historical periods.
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Adjust Withdrawals For Actual Inflation
When using the 4% rule, treat it as 4% plus inflation: increase withdrawals each year by that year's CPI.
That preserves purchasing power and aligns the rule with real-life price changes, even during high inflation years.
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In this episode, our guest Kyle Prevost is going to take us through how much we need to retire, as Canadians, and how much can we sustainably withdraw from our portfolio to not run out of money once we retire.
If you are a long-time listener of the show, then by now you would have definitely heard of the 4% rule, which helps answer these two questions. But, the 4% rule was created by Americans, for Americans, so how do all those findings and statistics apply to us Canadians?
(If you are new to the show, then don't worry, we'll go through what the 4% rule is, and the many caveats that exist with it, that we should keep in mind as Canadians.)
You're also going to learn:
By how much can you increase the amount that you withdraw from your portfolio when you retire, so that you can keep up with inflation.
For those (like myself) who don't like how rigid the 4% Rule is and would rather adjust their spending year-to-year depending on how the markets perform (i.e. taking out more during the good times, and less when the markets are down), Kyle discusses what sort of structures he has found to work well for that.
About Our Guest:
Kyle is founder of the Canadian Financial Summit and he and I have been co-hosting the summit together for the past 2 years. He is also a longtime personal finance columnist and you've probably seen a lot of his work over at MoneySense, and he's been in the National Post, CBC News, The Globe and Mail, and many others. Most recently he is also the creator of 4 Steps to a Worry-Free Retirement - the first online course for Canadian retirement planning.
Questions Covered:
When it comes to figuring out how much we need to retire, we often hear about the 4% Rule. Yet, a lot of the research out there on the 4% Rule was created by Americans, for Americans. In the research and interviews that you've done, how well have you found the 4% Rule to apply to Canadians? (and please briefly define the 4% Rule for anybody that is new to all this). Follow-up question: Are there any caveats that you've found in your research that are different for Canadians using the 4% Rule vs the Americans using it?
If somebody decides to use the 4% Rule, one of the rules/guides that they are supposed to follow is to increase the amount of money that they withdraw every year by inflation. For us Canadians, where have you found to be the best place to get that number?
For those that don't like how rigid the 4% Rule is and would rather adjust their spending year-to-year depending on how the markets perform, what sort of structures have you found to work well for that? (ex. variable percentage withdrawal rules)
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