{"id":10276,"date":"2025-08-23T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riverbend.objectivebrand.com\/?p=10276"},"modified":"2025-08-22T18:37:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T18:37:10","slug":"cross-the-retirement-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riverbend.objectivebrand.com\/?p=10276","title":{"rendered":"From 4% to 4.7%_ A Safer Way to Cross the Retirement Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\u201cThe bridge between hope and reality is built with preparation.\u201d\n\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \u2013 Unknown<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTweet<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201cGuardrails, Not Guesswork: Why 4% Is Looking More Like 4.7%<\/strong><\/h2>

About 35 years ago, I used to white\u2011knuckle my way across the old Cooper River bridges in Charleston. Narrow lanes, little room for error, and a lot of praying when you shared the bridge with a big truck. Today it\u2019s a different story: the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge carries you over the same water with eight wide lanes and modern barriers. Same crossing; completely different feeling. Solid wide clear roads and guardrails don\u2019t make you reckless\u2014they make you confident and responsive.<\/p>

Retirement income works the same way. When you set guardrails\u2014clear rules for when to dial spending back (or allow a little more)\u2014you don\u2019t have to white\u2011knuckle it. In fact, with guardrails, many retirees can start a bit higher and still feel safe.<\/p>

And that\u2019s the headline: Bill Bengen, the \u201c4% rule\u201d guy, has updated his research. His guidance points to roughly 4.7% as a conservative baseline safe withdrawal rate\u2014and in today\u2019s environment, he argues many retirees could justify ~5.25%\u20135.5% if<\/em> they\u2019re willing to adjust as conditions change. (Barron’s<\/a>, MarketWatch<\/a>)<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cWait\u2026what about Morningstar\u2019s 3.7%?\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>

Both can be true. Morningstar\u2019s 2025 work pegs 3.7% as a prudent static<\/em> starting rate for a 30\u2011year retirement if you want a high (90%) success standard and no adjustments beyond inflation\u2014think \u201cvery sturdy speed limit when you never change lanes.\u201d Morningstar<\/a><\/p>

Bengen\u2019s update and guardrail research says, \u201cuse a sensible speed limit and respond to traffic.\u201d The well\u2011known Guyton\u2011Klinger rules show how simple, pre\u2011agreed adjustments can support higher initial rates\u2014because you promise to steer when markets misbehave (freeze raises after down years, trim if withdrawals drift too high, allow modest bumps when things are unusually good). In their testing, those rules supported initial rates around 5.8%\u20136.2% depending on allocation during a tough historical start. Financial Planning Association<\/a><\/p>

So the choice isn\u2019t \u201cright vs. wrong\u201d\u2014it\u2019s static baseline (3.7%) vs. dynamic guardrails (often allowing ~4.7%+). Your comfort, flexibility, and goals decide the lane. Morningstar<\/a>Barron’s<\/a><\/p>

What does 4.7% look like?<\/strong><\/h2>

On $1,000,000, a 4.0% start is $40,000. A 4.7% start is $47,000. That extra $7,000 might fund a grandkid trip, build a healthcare cushion, or just reduce the number of \u201cDo we really need this?\u201d conversations\u2014as long as you actually use your guardrails when the road gets slick. Barron’s<\/a><\/p>

Bottom line<\/strong><\/h3>

Rules of thumb are helpful. Guardrails are better. If you\u2019re willing to adjust as you go, starting around 4.7% is now a defensible conversation\u2014not a myth\u2014especially with a written Riverbend Bridge Method that tells you how<\/em> to adjust. If you prefer ultra\u2011simple and ultra\u2011conservative, 3.7% remains a solid baseline. Either way, let your money serve your life, not the other way around. Barron’s<\/a>Morningstar<\/a><\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

In the News<\/strong><\/h2>

I was recently featured in MarketWatch<\/em> in an article titled \u201cAmerica has 5 wealth classes. See where you fit in \u2014 and how much it takes to reach the upper echelons.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

They highlighted my perspective that while being in the top 25% of wealth is certainly a privilege, it often takes far more than the $714,000 benchmark to truly enjoy an above-average lifestyle in many parts of the U.S. \u2014 especially for retirees or those whose wealth is mostly tied up in their home.<\/p>

You can read the full article here: MarketWatch Feature<\/a><\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe bridge between hope and reality is built with preparation.\u201d \u2013 Unknown Tweet \u201cGuardrails, Not Guesswork: Why 4% Is Looking More Like 4.7% About 35 years ago, I used to white\u2011knuckle my way across the… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":10278,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[86],"class_list":{"0":"post-10276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-finger-financial-five","8":"tag-retirement","9":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverbend.objectivebrand.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverbend.objectivebrand.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverbend.objectivebrand.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverbend.objectivebrand.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverbend.objectivebrand.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10276"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/riverbend.objectivebrand.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10286,"href":"https:\/\/riverbend.objectivebrand.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10276\/revisions\/10286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverbend.objectivebrand.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverbend.objectivebrand.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverbend.objectivebrand.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverbend.objectivebrand.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}