You will see lots of pontification on the internet about safe withdrawal rates from a wealth reserve over the course of retirement.  Bla, bla, bla.  Most of them reference the 4% withdrawal rate  and then debate it’s use.  But they don’t reference the  originator of this groundbreaking paper.

William Bengen wrote the paper that has led to the 4% safe withdrawal rate discusssion.  I get the feeling that many of his detractors haven’t even read it.   It makes alot of sense if one reads it.

The paper has a pdf link here: www.retailinvestor.org/pdf/Bengen1  .

The upshot for the Independent Penguin is that if the iceberg is equal to 25X (annual expenses) then he will never have to work for cash again.

As an independent thinker you will appreciate the chance to read the original paper.