What is a reasonable per cent to withdraw from mutual funds per year for income?

Question

No weasel factors allowed, just a simple answer. I can't pick the
return to use in calculations -- that's the informed, educated answer needed. Planners ask clients for the assumed return and
length of time needed. Duh. With that info., it becomes a "no brainer." That is the needed advice.

Answer 1

broad brush rule of thumb is to earn 5% and withdraw 4% to not outlive the funds. if you have a great year and make a killing then take out more. if you have a bad year tighten up if possible.

5% of 1 mill is 50,000 plus Soc Security plus whatever else you have stashed.

Answer 2

You have a couple of good but incomplete answers. You are not going to live for ever, so depending on how old you are and I assume you are retired you can also draw down some of the principle. Let's assume you are 65. Lets also assume you will probably live to be 85. Most people croke about that age. So If on average your mutual fund earns 7%, you should be able to withdraw about 8% annually. The monkey wrench is inflation. And it is going to get worse.

Answer 3

Long-term, you can expect stock mutual funds to yield 7% and bond mutual funds to yield 5-6%. So if you want to make annual withdrawls and NEVER run out of money, draw 7% from any stock funds and 5% from any bond funds. You can take more if you don't mind "drawing down" your total savings, but too many people that do this suddenly discover they are living much longer than they thought they would and start to run out of money.

Answer 4

It really depends on what it is invested in and how long it is needed and do you want 0 left in the account at some point in the future.

Your question is too vague to really be able to give an intelligent answer