"When Social Security covers only half your retirement spending, the other half must come from somewhere. How you manage that gap determines whether your money lasts 15 years or 30. For someone receiving the 2026 average benefit of $2,071 per month, that means finding another $2,071 each month, or about $25,000 per year, from savings and investments. This isn't about pinching pennies. It's about understanding which decisions protect your income stream and which ones quietly erode it."
"The most consequential choice isn't how much you have saved, it's how you withdraw from those savings. A retiree with $500,000 in investments might feel comfortable taking 5% annually ($25,000) to cover the gap. But over 20 years, a portfolio split between stocks and bonds historically weathers market swings better at a 4% withdrawal rate. That difference, just a single percentage point, can mean the difference between running out of money at 82 or maintaining income through your 90s."
Social Security often covers about half of typical retirement spending, leaving retirees to replace the remainder from savings and investments. For the 2026 average benefit of $2,071 per month, a retiree must generate another $2,071 monthly - roughly $25,000 annually - from personal assets. Withdrawal strategy, not only account size, critically determines portfolio longevity. A $500,000 portfolio withdrawn at 5% ($25,000) may exhaust sooner than one managed to sustain a 4% withdrawal rate. Historically, a balanced stock-and-bond portfolio supports a 4% rate over 20 years, and a single percentage point can shift survival from age 82 into the 90s.
Read at 24/7 Wall St.
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