Retirement Withdrawal Calculator | TIAA (2024)

FAQs

How do I calculate my retirement withdrawal? ›

As a rule of thumb, many retirees use 4% as their safe withdrawal rate—the so-called 4% rule. The 4% rule states that you withdraw no more than 4% of your starting balance each year in retirement, adjusted each year for inflation.

Many experts maintain that retirement income should be about 80% of a couple's final pre-retirement annual earnings. Fidelity Investments recommends that you should save 10 times your annual income by age 67.

The 4% rule for retirement budgeting suggests that a retiree withdraw 4% of the balance in their retirement account(s) in the first year after retiring, and then withdraw the same dollar amount, adjusted for inflation, every year thereafter.

One frequently used rule of thumb for retirement spending is known as the 4% rule. It's relatively simple: You add up all of your investments, and withdraw 4% of that total during your first year of retirement.

The 7% rule in retirement refers to a strategy where retirees withdraw 7% of their retirement savings annually to fund their retirement lifestyle. This approach aims to balance providing sufficient income while preserving the principal for as long as possible.

Calculating the safe withdrawal rate can be as simple as using the 4 percent rule, a classic rule of thumb for financial planners. The 4 percent rule refers to withdrawing 4 percent of your portfolio's balance the first year of retirement, using the portfolio's balance when you retire to calculate your withdrawals.

The retirement calculation:

When you retire, calculate 4% of your total retirement savings; this is what you can draw down during your first year. The second year, adjust for inflation by adding 3% to your first-year figure. This is your new 4%. Continue every year by adding 3% more.

The $1,000 per month rule is designed to help you estimate the amount of savings required to generate a steady monthly income during retirement. According to this rule, for every $240,000 you save, you can withdraw $1,000 per month if you stick to a 5% annual withdrawal rate.

The 25x rule entails saving 25 times an investor's planned annual expenses for retirement. Originating from the 4% rule, the 25x rule simplifies retirement planning by focusing on portfolio size.

The 4% rule is a strategy that says you should withdraw 4% of your retirement savings in your first year of retirement. In subsequent years, tack on an additional 2% to adjust for inflation. For example, if you have $1 million saved under this strategy, you would withdraw $40,000 during your first year in retirement.

How many people have $1,000,000 in retirement savings? ›

As of June, there were roughly 497,000 so-called retirement-created millionaires in the U.S., according to the wealth management firm, which analyzed balances across 26,000 of its customers' accounts. Nearly 399,000 Americans also have a least $1 million in an individual retirement account.

This money will need to last around 40 years to comfortably ensure that you won't outlive your savings. This means you can probably boost your total withdrawals (principal and yield) to around $20,000 per year. This will give you a pre-tax income of almost $36,000 per year.

Deferring Social Security payments, rolling over old 401(k)s, setting up IRAs to avoid the mandatory 20% federal income tax, and keeping your capital gains taxes low are among the best strategies for reducing taxes on your 401(k) withdrawal.

For example, if you have retirement savings of $1 million, the 4% rule says that you can safely withdraw $40,000 per year during the first year — increasing this number for inflation each subsequent year — without running out of money within the next 30 years. Of course, the 4% rule isn't perfect.

The ideal monthly retirement income for a couple differs for everyone. It depends on your personal preferences, past accomplishments, and retirement plans. Some valuable perspective can be found in the 2022 US Census Bureau's median income for couples 65 and over: $76,490 annually or about $6,374 monthly.

You can take distributions from your IRA (including your SEP-IRA or SIMPLE-IRA) at any time. There is no need to show a hardship to take a distribution. However, your distribution will be includible in your taxable income and it may be subject to a 10% additional tax if you're under age 59 1/2.

Multiply your final income by 10 to 12

One way to calculate your retirement savings goal is by multiplying the income you'll have at retirement age by 10 to 12 times. For example, if your annual income is $80,000 at 67 years old, you'll need $800,000 to $1.2 million to retire comfortably.

Generally, a RMD is calculated for each account by dividing the prior December 31 balance of that IRA or retirement plan account by a life expectancy factor that the IRS publishes in Tables in Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs).