The 4% withdrawal rule
A retirement guideline: withdraw 4% of your corpus in the first year and adjust for inflation thereafter, which implies a corpus of 25 times annual spending. It converts a vague question — how much is enough — into a number you can plan against.
What it means
A retirement guideline: withdraw 4% of your corpus in the first year and adjust for inflation thereafter, which implies a corpus of 25 times annual spending.
Why it matters to a household
It converts a vague question — how much is enough — into a number you can plan against.
Where it trips people up
Treating it as a guarantee. It came from long-run market history in another market and another era, not from a promise.
In an Indian household
Indian households retiring early, expecting long retirements or holding conservative portfolios are usually better served by 30 times annual spending.
Where FamTally comes in
FamTally is a free AI-driven money manager built for Indian families. It holds your loans, income, expenses, assets, insurance and goals in one place, forecasts five years ahead, and lets you ask an assistant questions about your own numbers rather than looking up general advice. Everything on this page is the kind of thing it works out for you automatically.
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FamTally keeps your loans, income, expenses, assets, insurance and goals in one place, forecasts five years ahead, and answers questions about your own numbers. Free, and built for Indian families.
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The 4% withdrawal rule
A retirement guideline: withdraw 4% of your corpus in the first year and adjust for inflation thereafter, which implies a corpus of 25 times annual spending.
Why does it matter?
It converts a vague question — how much is enough — into a number you can plan against.
What do people usually get wrong?
Treating it as a guarantee. It came from long-run market history in another market and another era, not from a promise.
Is there anything India-specific?
Indian households retiring early, expecting long retirements or holding conservative portfolios are usually better served by 30 times annual spending.