The calculator
Taking $45,000 a year from $800,000, raised 2.0% a year for inflation, at a steady 5.0% return, the money runs out in year 25, around age 89. To make it last exactly 30 years, you could start at $39,348.
How long will $1 million last in retirement?
Years a $1,000,000 portfolio lasts at a steady annual return, with the withdrawal raised 2.0% a year for inflation. At a 5% return, withdrawing $40,000 (4%) lasts about 44 years, $50,000 about 30 and $80,000 about 16. The same table works for $500,000 if you halve every withdrawal.
| Withdrawal a year | 4% return | 5% return | 6% return | 7% return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $40,000 | 34 years | 44 years | 60+ years | 60+ years |
| $50,000 | 26 years | 30 years | 37 years | 57 years |
| $60,000 | 20 years | 23 years | 26 years | 32 years |
| $70,000 | 17 years | 19 years | 21 years | 24 years |
| $80,000 | 15 years | 16 years | 17 years | 19 years |
| $100,000 | 11 years | 12 years | 13 years | 14 years |
How much can I withdraw from my savings?
Turned around, the question is how much you can take each year so the money lasts exactly as long as you need. This is what a retirement withdrawal calculator answers: the first-year amount, raised with inflation every year, that spends the portfolio to zero at the end of the horizon. For $800,000 at 5.0% with 2.0% inflation:
| Must last | First-year withdrawal | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| 20 years | $51,953 | $4,329 |
| 25 years | $44,338 | $3,695 |
| 30 years | $39,348 | $3,279 |
| 35 years | $35,858 | $2,988 |
| 40 years | $33,302 | $2,775 |
Spending the balance to exactly zero leaves no margin for a bad decade or a long life. A rate you expect to hold indefinitely is the safe withdrawal rate calculator, and rules that cut spending after bad years are the Guyton-Klinger calculator and the Vanguard dynamic spending calculator.
Year by year
| Year | Age | Withdrawal | Balance at year end |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 65 | $45,000 | $792,750 |
| 5 | 69 | $48,709 | $749,809 |
| 10 | 74 | $53,779 | $657,523 |
| 15 | 79 | $59,377 | $508,573 |
| 20 | 84 | $65,557 | $284,061 |
| 25 | 89 | $33,836 | $0 |
Why the band exists
A 5% average with a 4% withdrawal can last forever on paper and still fail after a bad first decade. The band is 1,000 seeded paths around the return you typed, over the years it needs to last. The sequence of returns calculator shows why the first decade matters most, and the live demo is the same idea on a full household.
Assumptions
Withdrawals at the start of each year, then the return. Spending and other income both rise with inflation. No fees and no taxes, so treat the withdrawal as gross. Social Security or a pension is treated as starting now; if it starts later, the portfolio carries the full spend until then.
Embed this calculator
You can put this calculator on your own blog, newsletter page or client site for free. Paste the code below where you want it to appear. It runs in your reader's browser and needs no account, no email and no API key. Please keep the credit line under it.
<iframe src="https://killionlabs.com/embed/how-long-will-my-money-last/" title="How long will my money last calculator" width="100%" height="900" style="border:0;max-width:760px" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://killionlabs.com/calculators/how-long-will-my-money-last/">How long will my money last calculator</a> by Killion Labs</p>Preview the embedded How long will my money last calculator.