Drawing Retirement Income is a Science

It seems to me that there's the issue of too many variables to contend with. Market return, both over that projected 30 years total, but also the order of returns, life expectancy, future budget. For those of us in the US who have retired early, we also have the unknown of whether we will collect the Social Security payments we were promised. In my case, my wife is 60, and I am 54. Our current spending runs 5%. But, looking ahead, we have the likelyhood that our housing cost drops by half after a downsize, the lower cost and addition funds to savings would put us at under 4%. As we approach 70, SS payments would cover almost half that budget. You note required distributions at age 70 in Canada, we have the same requirement, starting at 70-1/2. If the funds aren't needed for spending, they can just remain invested, only in non-tax-favored accounts. Nice article, overall.