Safe Withdrawal Rate Debate: How Much Can You REALLY Spend in Early Retirement? - 582
Your Money, Your Wealth
Your Money, Your Wealth
4.6 • 790 Ratings
🗓️ 19 May 2026
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Financial Assessment (Meet with an experienced professional):
https://bit.ly/PureFreeAssessment
Today on Your Money, Your Wealth® podcast number 582, Joe Anderson, CFP® and Big Al Clopine, CPA address something a not-insignificant portion of this audience has been complaining about for years: their so-called 'absurdly conservative' safe withdrawal rates for early retirement. Rand and Elayne from Ohio are here to gripe about it directly with a thought experiment: a million bucks at age 36 and a three-year sabbatical in France. When, if ever, would Joe and Big Al say they should cut it short and go back to work if the markets turned ugly? Mike2me17 piles on, with his own SWR take about AUM fees in his Apple Podcasts review. But first, a real world example: Ron and Harry from Florida are elite performers with a high-risk specialty job. Can they safely pull off moving to Portugal and living on $38,000 a year in their early 40s? If you’re one of the people yelling at your podcast app every time Joe or Al mentions a 2% withdrawal rate, today's your day, and we welcome you to leave more of your thoughts on the topic in Apple Podcasts, YouTube, on Reddit, in our inboxes - like everyone else has.
Free Financial Resources in This Episode:
https://bit.ly/ymyw-582 (full show notes & episode transcript)
Withdrawal Strategy Guide - YMYW TV:
https://purefinancial.com/white-papers/withdrawal-strategy-guide/?utm_source=captivate&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=whitepaper-withdrawal-strategy-guide&utm_content=ymyw-pod-ep582-description-whitepaper
Financial Blueprint (free, self-guided):
https://purefinancial.com/financialblueprint/?utm_source=captivate&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=financial-blueprint&utm_content=ymyw-pod-ep582-description-blueprint
Retirement Pop Quiz: 18 Questions to Get You Ready to Retire - YMYW TV
https://purefinancial.com/ymyw/episodes/retirement-pop-quiz-18-questions-ready-to-retire/?utm_source=captivate&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ymyw-tv&utm_content=ymyw-pod-ep582-description-tv-s10e10
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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro: This Week on the YMYW Podcast
01:14 - Elite Performers Semi-Retiring at 43 and Moving to Portugal. Can We Pull It Off? (Ron & Harry, FL)
16:16 - YMYW Safe Withdrawal Rate Assumptions Are Absurd. At What Point Do You Go Back to Work If Markets Crash? (Rand & Elayne, ID)
34:13 - YMW Safe Withdrawal Rates to Protect AUM Fee (Comment from mike2me17, Apple Podcasts)
41:46 - Outro: Next Week on the YMYW Podcast
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Today on Your Money, Your Wealth podcast number 582, |
| 0:03.6 | Joe and Big Al, addressed something a not insignificant portion of this audience has been complaining about for years. |
| 0:10.7 | Their so-called absurdly conservative safe withdrawal rates for early retirement. |
| 0:15.9 | Rand and Elaine from Ohio are here to gripe about it directly with a thought experiment. |
| 0:20.1 | A million bucks at age 36 and a three-year sabbatical in France. |
| 0:24.3 | When, if ever, would Joe and Big Al say they should cut it short and go back to work if the |
| 0:28.6 | market's turned ugly? |
| 0:30.4 | Mike to me 17 piles on with his own SWR take about AUM fees in his Apple Podcasts |
| 0:36.3 | review. |
| 0:37.4 | But first, a real- world example. Ron and Harry |
| 0:40.2 | from Florida are elite performers with a high-risk specialty job. Can they safely pull off moving |
| 0:46.0 | to Portugal and living on $38,000 a year in their early 40s? If you're one of the people |
| 0:52.2 | yelling at your podcast app every time Joe or Al mentions a 2% |
| 0:55.7 | withdrawal rate, today's your day. And we welcome you to leave more of your thoughts on the topic |
| 1:00.1 | in Apple Podcasts, YouTube, on Reddit, in our inboxes like everyone else has. I'm executive producer |
| 1:07.5 | Andy Last and here are the hosts of Your Money, Your Wealth, |
| 1:13.8 | Joe Anderson, CFP, and Big Al Clopine CPA. |
| 1:20.7 | Hey, Joe, Big Al, Andy, I'm Ron, 38. In my husband is Harry, 35. We are both European, |
| 1:29.4 | both working in the U.S. since 2020. I found your podcast two years ago, and I listened to it every Tuesday on my way to work. |
| 1:39.1 | I am sure. We are not your typical listeners. We are elite performers with a high-risk specialty job. |
| 2:01.3 | Elite performers, Al. That's kind of like you and I. Elite. Very elite in our performance. Well, I'll put it this way. We try. So what do you think? I think they're stunt man, maybe? High-risk specialty job. If you're an elite performer, high-risk specialty job. Keep reading. There's more here. They might give us some clues. Okay. Evil, Knievel. Yeah. Like it. |
| 2:01.7 | Because we depend entirely on our bodies to do this job, and it's very high-risk career, |
... |
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