Your retirement may not survive its first bad year. This number could help

Your retirement may not survive its first bad year. This number could help

May 3, 2026 · 10 min · Episode 741

About this episode

The episode discusses the impact of market shocks on retirees and the importance of careful planning using the safe withdrawal rate.

Market shocks hit retirees harder than anyone else. For those just retired or on the verge of it, a sharp early drop in portfolio value can cause damage that compounds quietly over decades, long after markets recover. The American war in Iran is the latest trigger. And it may not be the last. The good news: careful planning can offset the risk. A concept called the safe withdrawal rate, used correctly, can be the difference between a corpus that lasts 30 years and one that runs out in 20. Tune in. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

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