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Decumulation · nothing saved

Path to Zero calculator

Sketch a real monthly spend that aims at zero, or at a legacy you type. Peak, golden, and comfort are energy bands. They are not a date anyone is promised. The form stays in your browser. Nothing is saved. Not advice.

Pick a fictional life from Lives in Season. Choosing one fills the calculator. The portfolio at drawdown start is a round sketch so you can see a spend.

* required · # number · % percent

Real ROI = (1+blended)/(1+inflation)−1 · constant real spend each year.

Optimal real spend

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Enter your figures, or try the example, to see how much you can spend each month while drawing down to zero or a legacy.

Illustrative only — not financial, tax, or legal advice. The signed-in Path to Zero report uses Decimal math on your ledgers and FIRE sleeve at start age.

How much can I spend each month in retirement?

Path to Zero spreads the portfolio into one level real spend each year, sized to reach zero — or the legacy you type — at your mortality age. That is a spend-down, not a withdrawal meant to last forever.

Worked example: Avery Tan, the fictional 40s household in the rail above, is 42. The round sketch is 1,200,000 at drawdown start, age 50. Drawing down to 85 is 35 years. A 6.5% return and 3% inflation give a real return of 3.40%. The level spend is 59,140 a year — 4,928 a month — in today’s money, in any one currency. Choose 40s above to see the same figures.

How the spend-down is calculated

  1. Take inflation out first. Real return = (1 + return) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1.
  2. Count the years. Drawdown years = mortality age − start age.
  3. Find the level spend. The yearly spend is the one amount that takes the portfolio to the legacy at the mortality age. Each year the portfolio grows by the real return, then that year’s spend comes out.
  4. Divide by twelve. Monthly spend = yearly spend ÷ 12.

Amounts are in today’s money, so the spend keeps the same buying power every year. A legacy lowers it: the same inputs with a 200,000 legacy give 4,673 a month. Current age only sets the life-stage years; the calculator does not project today’s savings forward to the start age.

Peak, golden and comfort years

The ages are fixed: peak runs through 50, golden is 51–65, comfort runs from 66 to your mortality age. They are energy bands, not a health forecast and not a promised date. Years count from your current age. Each band’s amount is the drawdown years inside it times the yearly spend.

The spend is the same in every band. The bands show where the money lands; they do not change the amount. For Avery, peak is 9 years (42–50), but only age 50 is a drawdown year, so 59,140. Golden is 15 years, 887,097. Comfort is 19 years, 1,123,657. That is 2,069,894 in all.

Path to Zero and the 4% rule

The 4% line in the result is 4% of the portfolio at drawdown start, divided by 12: 4,000 a month for Avery. The two answer different questions. The 4% rule is a rule of thumb for a withdrawal meant to keep a portfolio going. Path to Zero sizes the spend to reach zero, or the legacy, at the age you chose.

Over 35 years at a 3.40% real return, Path to Zero pays 4.93% of the portfolio a year, above the 4% line. Over 60 years at the same return it pays 3.93%, below it. A shorter horizon or a higher real return raises the Path to Zero figure; a longer one lowers it.

What this calculator does not do

  • It uses one fixed return every year. No market swings, so no sequence-of-returns risk.
  • It does not take tax off withdrawals.
  • It has no state pension, Social Security, annuity, or other income.
  • It uses one mortality age, not the odds of living longer. Spending at this level past that age leaves nothing to draw.
  • It spends the same real amount every year. It does not spend more in peak years.
  • It does not project today’s savings forward to the start age.
  • The real return must be above inflation, or the form will not estimate.
  • The examples are fictional. Nothing is saved. Not advice.