A client came to me and said that I was going to be one of their best clients.

I asked them why.

And they said because they have a very healthy portfolio balance north of $5 million and a very low withdrawal rate. And I said, I think you'll be one of my worst clients. They said, what do you mean? I thought a low withdrawal rate was good. I thought that meant I would never come close to running out of money. I go, oh yeah, and I could do you one better. If you want to have the best withdrawal rate, go work 30 more years.

Your withdrawal rate will be very low. And they go, well, then I can't retire and do everything I want to do. I go, exactly. The point in life is not to have the lowest withdrawal rate. It's actually to have the highest withdrawal rate without running the risk of running out of money. That's good planning. So level one, which they're alluding to wisely, is can they retire? I think a lot of you that are reaching out, know you're in a spot to retire. The question is, how much can you take out of your portfolio? You could, of course, take out maybe $6,000 a month if you have $2, $3 million, and be rest assured you won't run out of money. The question is, can you take out eight, can you take out 10, can you take out 12 or 15? And maybe if you're only doing that for a portion of your retirement, call it the first two, three, four, five years, while you're also paying maybe for health insurance and other travel and you name it, well, I want you to do those things

and I want you to do it if you're in a sustainable spot to do it. Now, if you're not, it's a different

story. And that's what we're going to be talking about today. What are the withdrawal rate rules

that you should follow so that you can really have a successful retirement? And too many people

follow the 4% rule. The 4% rule, there's nothing wrong with it inherently when people look at it and it is the foundational aspect of most retirement plans.

Now, of course, I'm recording this on YouTube.

So if you want to actually see me go through this and the thinking and actually watch me explain it, you're more than welcome to do so.

If you're listening just on the podcast application,

that works great with me as well. I am going to go ahead and start with a review of the week.

And this one comes from Angel 2, who says, I love this podcast. Ari does a wonderful job getting into the weeds of finances with early retirement. And I'll tell you why I do that.

He covers any and all topics relating to early retirement. Lots of details you might not have considered

when contemplating an early retirement. Also love his relatable stories of others that are on

the journey. Now with him, he is very genuine smiley face. Angie, thank you very much for that

review. I love that you said I get into the weeds because one person came to me and this is a current client and they might be listening right now. And if you are, this is about you and I will not say your name. But they came to me and they said, already one advisor that we spoke with just told us, don't worry about the weeds. You're fine. meaning you're in a fine spot to retire. Now,

for those of you that don't know me or new to the show, fine is my trigger word. And so what that means is a lot of people there triggered by people that, you know, are bad drivers or, you know, whatever it is. I'm triggered when people say, yeah, it looks like I'm fine. It's like we we don't do fine. We do optimize. You work too hard.

It's not make the most out of what you work so hard for. So people joke at the firm because they go, we know Ari's weekend wasn't fine. It was optimized. And I'm used to it at this point. And then Angie goes on to say, he brings up details you might not have considered when contemplating an early retirement. And that's what really today is all about. I'm talking about the 4%

rule. And that's what really today is all about. I'm talking about the 4% rule. And a lot of people follow this 4% rule. And if they did, would they be fine? A lot of people would be fine. They'd be okay. But most of you are going, no, I want to know, could I do better? Can I retire two years earlier? Can I spend more time with my mother who's

not in the best health? People go, do you love taxes? I go, no. I love the idea that if you're smart with numbers, you can do a whole lot more fun stuff in life. That's what this comes down to. So the challenge as I see it is the 4% rule. It's to surface level. I'm going to walk through a few examples today, but I want to walk through a few notes first. So I like to start with that

basic story, give you a financial example. level. I'm going to walk through a few examples today, but I want to walk through a few notes first.

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