About the Variable Percentage Withdrawal Calculator
This variable percentage withdrawal (VPW) calculator tells you how much to take from your retirement portfolio this year. Enter your age, your portfolio balance and your stock/bond allocation, and it returns the VPW percentage, the yearly and monthly withdrawal, and the full table of percentages for every future age.
VPW was developed by members of the Bogleheads forum as a way to spend a portfolio down without running out. Each year you multiply the current balance by a percentage that rises with age, so withdrawals automatically shrink after bad markets and grow after good ones. It suits retirees who can flex their spending and who have Social Security, a pension or an annuity covering essential costs.
The percentage is the payment of an annuity that would empty the portfolio by a final age (100 by default) if it earned the blended expected real return of your allocation. The defaults assume real returns of 5.0% for stocks and 1.9% for bonds, long-run assumptions in the range used for the Bogleheads VPW table; change them to match your own expectations. Results are in today’s dollars, and withdrawals are assumed to happen at the start of each year.
With the default inputs, the vpw withdrawal rate this year is 4.8%. Change any value above to recalculate instantly.
How to use the variable percentage withdrawal calculator
- 1Enter your age, or the younger spouse’s age for a couple.
- 2Enter your current portfolio balance and stock allocation.
- 3Keep the default 5.0% stock and 1.9% bond real returns, or enter your own.
- 4Withdraw the suggested amount this year and rebalance once a year.
- 5Repeat next year with your new age and balance.
Formula and method
VPW treats your portfolio like an annuity that must last until the final age. The percentage is the level start-of-year payment that would exactly use up $1 over n years if it earned the blended real return r — the same as Excel’s PMT function with type = 1. Because n shrinks by one every year, the percentage rises with age and reaches 100% in the final year.
The blended return weights the expected real stock and bond returns by your allocation. Withdrawals are recomputed each year from the actual balance, so if markets beat the assumed return withdrawals rise and if they lag withdrawals fall; the chart shows the path when returns exactly match expectations, which keeps withdrawals level in real terms.
- r
- Blended expected real return of the portfolio
- n
- Years remaining until the final age (default 100)
- VPW%
- Share of the current balance to withdraw this year
Worked examples
Age 65, $1M, 50/50 portfolio
A 50/50 mix has a blended real return of 0.5 × 5.0% + 0.5 × 1.9% = 3.45%. Spreading $1 over 35 start-of-year payments at that rate gives 4.80%, so the first withdrawal is about $47,990 (roughly $4,000 a month).
Age 70, $800k, 70% stocks
With 70% stocks the blended return is 0.7 × 5.0% + 0.3 × 1.9% = 4.07%. Over 30 years that gives a VPW rate of about 5.60%, or roughly $44,830 from an $800,000 portfolio.
Early retiree at 55 with 30% stocks
A conservative 30/70 mix earns a blended 2.83%, and 45 years remain to age 100, so the percentage is only about 3.85% — roughly $23,100 from $600,000. The rate climbs each year as the horizon shortens.
Frequently asked questions
What is variable percentage withdrawal (VPW)?+
VPW is a retirement withdrawal method from the Bogleheads community. Each year you withdraw a percentage of your current portfolio that depends on your age and stock/bond mix. The percentage rises as you age, so the portfolio is spent down by about age 100 but never runs out early.
How is VPW different from the 4% rule?+
The 4% rule fixes a dollar amount in year one and raises it with inflation regardless of markets, which can deplete the portfolio. VPW recalculates from the actual balance every year, so income varies with markets but the portfolio cannot be exhausted before the final age.
What returns should I assume?+
VPW uses long-run expected real (after-inflation) returns, not recent performance. This calculator defaults to 5.0% for stocks and 1.9% for bonds with a final age of 100. Lower assumptions give a smaller withdrawal now and leave more for later; higher ones front-load spending.
What age should a couple use?+
Use the age of the younger spouse. That lengthens the horizon and lowers the withdrawal percentage so the portfolio is likely to last as long as either of you.
How do I handle years of big market drops?+
VPW withdrawals fall automatically after a drop because the percentage is applied to a smaller balance. That is why VPW works best when Social Security, a pension or an annuity covers essential spending and portfolio withdrawals fund flexible spending.
Results are estimates for educational purposes and are not financial advice. Rates, fees and terms vary — confirm with your lender or a licensed advisor before making decisions.