Commodities: 30-year retirement

Last Update: 31 March 2025

Do you have in mind a 30 years retirement, investing in the Commodities asset class?

According to the historical returns and stats of the asset class, which has been a sustainable withdrawal rate to live off your investiment?

Worst case scenario so far, over a 30-year time horizon, you could have withdrawn 1.259% of your initial capital each year, kept withdrawing all the time (adjusting for inflation), and you wouldn't have run out of money before 30 years.

Considering the last 30 years (last update: March 2025), a safe withdrawal rate would have been 3.842%.

The last 30 years of the Commodities asset class

Over the last 30 years (last update: March 2025), the asset class has returned 2.04% annualized, with a maximum drawdown of -88.68%.

The Withdrawal Rates calculated here are annualized and refer to the initial capital (not the current!). The first month withdrawal is 1/12 of that annualized withdrawal and it's adjusted for inflation for each subsequent month.

A Perpetual Withdrawal Rate (PWR) protected the original inflation adjusted capital.

A Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR) didn't protect the original capital, but the investment didn't run out of money during retirement. The capital went to zero exaclty at the end of the retirement period.

Learn more about Withdrawal Rate simulation
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Timeframes ending at Mar 2025
Withdrawal Rate (%)
Investment Performances
Timeframe Period from Period to Perpetual Safe Ann.Return(%)
[ Infl.Adj. ]		 Max
Drawdown(%)
30 Years 1 Apr 1995
 31 Mar 2025 0.000 3.842 2.04
[ -0.47 ] 		-88.68
Jul 2008 - Apr 2020
Simulations are calculated with actual returns of Commodities Asset Class | Preserved capital and withdrawals are considered adjusted for inflation | Withdrawals happen monthly | Performances are calculated in USD dollars, considering reinvestment of dividends when applicable | Inflation is updated at March 2025

For a complete view of the asset class and all the possible strategies, please refer to Commodities page.

Withdrawal Rates Simulation (updated at Mar 2025)

How much would it be an acceptable withdrawal rate, for the Commodities asset class?

Analyzing the available data source, all the 30-years timeframes have been considered to calculate the withdrawal rates and their success percentage.

Legend:
SWR 100% Success
PWR 100% Capital Protection
Period: Jan 1871 - Mar 2025
Period: Apr 1925 - Mar 2025
Period: Apr 1975 - Mar 2025
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WR (%) - Withdrawal Rate, on % Preserved Capital (Infl.Adj)
100%
Preserved		 75%
Preserved		 50%
Preserved		 25%
Preserved		 0%
Preserved
Success 100%
Worst Period (From) 		0.000
Feb 1878 		0.000
May 1888 		0.000
Sep 1889 		0.223
May 1901 		1.259
Feb 1916
95%
 0.000
 0.000
 0.000
 0.431
 1.664
90%
 0.000
 0.000
 0.000
 0.642
 1.782
80%
 0.000
 0.000
 0.000
 0.800
 1.984
50%
Median WR 		0.000
 0.534
 1.325
 2.332
 3.306
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WR (%) - Withdrawal Rate, on % Preserved Capital (Infl.Adj)
100%
Preserved		 75%
Preserved		 50%
Preserved		 25%
Preserved		 0%
Preserved
Success 100%
Worst Period (From) 		0.000
Apr 1925 		0.000
Apr 1925 		0.000
Apr 1933 		0.614
Mar 1941 		1.784
Feb 1941
95%
 0.000
 0.000
 0.000
 0.776
 1.989
90%
 0.000
 0.000
 0.000
 0.962
 2.068
80%
 0.000
 0.000
 0.762
 1.718
 2.416
50%
Median WR 		1.277
 1.877
 2.402
 2.931
 3.650
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WR (%) - Withdrawal Rate, on % Preserved Capital (Infl.Adj)
100%
Preserved		 75%
Preserved		 50%
Preserved		 25%
Preserved		 0%
Preserved
Success 100%
Worst Period (From) 		0.000
Jan 1989 		0.000
Jan 1990 		0.000
Apr 1990 		0.762
Oct 1990 		2.816
Oct 1990
95%
 0.000
 0.000
 0.387
 1.870
 3.277
90%
 0.000
 0.000
 0.862
 2.142
 3.396
80%
 0.000
 0.216
 1.364
 2.527
 3.795
50%
Median WR 		3.145
 3.833
 4.497
 5.051
 5.768
Simulations are calculated with actual returns of Commodities Asset Class | Preserved capital and withdrawals are considered adjusted for inflation | Withdrawals happen monthly | Performances are calculated in USD dollars, considering reinvestment of dividends when applicable | Inflation is updated at March 2025

Withdrawals and Success Rate

If you had implemented a specific Withdrawal Strategy with the Commodities asset class, over 30 years, which would have been the success rate so far?

Simulations follow the same rules mentioned before. Withdrawals are expressed as yearly rates and refer to the initial capital. After that, withdrawal amount is monthly adjusted for inflation.

Success rates are calculated over all 30-year timeframes available in the data source. To focus on a specific withdrawal rate, click on the links in the table.

Period: Jan 1871 - Mar 2025
Period: Apr 1925 - Mar 2025
Period: Apr 1975 - Mar 2025
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Withdrawal
Rate
% Success over 30 Years
% Fail
% Success over 30 Years - on % Preserved Capital (Infl.Adj)
At least 0%
Capital Preserved		 Percentile No Capital
Preserved		 25%
Preserved 		50%
Preserved 		75%
Preserved 		100%
Preserved
2.00 %
79.16
20.84
58.51
37.33
27.61
23.93
2.50 %
66.49
33.51
44.30
28.82
24.40
22.79
3.00 %
60.19
50% Succ.
3.306% 		39.81
31.50
25.27
23.26
20.51
3.50 %
41.42
58.58
26.81
23.39
20.31
17.90
4.00 %
28.75
71.25
22.45
20.17
17.49
14.54
4.50 %
23.66
76.34
20.44
16.96
12.73
10.86
5.00 %
19.71
80.29
15.55
13.07
10.86
9.25
5.50 %
15.68
84.32
12.67
10.79
8.85
6.30
6.00 %
13.07
86.93
11.06
8.65
5.29
4.22
6.50 %
11.06
88.94
8.51
4.89
3.89
2.82
7.00 %
8.78
91.22
5.36
3.28
2.75
2.28
7.50 %
6.37
93.63
3.22
2.75
2.14
1.74
8.00 %
3.95
96.05
2.75
2.14
1.61
1.41
Legend: Min% of Protected Capital
Min 0%
Min 25%
Min 50%
Min 75%
Min 100%
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Withdrawal
Rate
% Success over 30 Years
% Fail
% Success over 30 Years - on % Preserved Capital (Infl.Adj)
At least 0%
Capital Preserved		 Percentile No Capital
Preserved		 25%
Preserved 		50%
Preserved 		75%
Preserved 		100%
Preserved
2.00 %
94.41
90% Succ.
2.068% 		5.59
73.37
56.12
47.21
42.45
2.50 %
78.72
21.28
57.67
47.56
43.28
40.43
3.00 %
73.01
26.99
48.99
44.47
41.26
36.39
3.50 %
54.93
50% Succ.
3.650% 		45.07
44.35
41.50
36.03
31.75
4.00 %
45.90
54.10
39.83
35.79
31.03
25.80
4.50 %
39.95
60.05
36.27
30.08
22.59
19.26
5.00 %
34.96
65.04
27.59
23.19
19.26
16.41
5.50 %
27.82
72.18
22.47
19.14
15.70
11.18
6.00 %
23.19
76.81
19.62
15.34
9.39
7.49
6.50 %
19.62
80.38
15.10
8.68
6.90
4.99
7.00 %
15.58
84.42
9.51
5.83
4.88
4.04
7.50 %
11.30
88.70
5.71
4.88
3.80
3.09
8.00 %
7.02
92.98
4.88
3.80
2.85
2.50
Legend: Min% of Protected Capital
Min 0%
Min 25%
Min 50%
Min 75%
Min 100%
Swipe left to see all data
Withdrawal
Rate
% Success over 30 Years
% Fail
% Success over 30 Years - on % Preserved Capital (Infl.Adj)
At least 0%
Capital Preserved		 Percentile No Capital
Preserved		 25%
Preserved 		50%
Preserved 		75%
Preserved 		100%
Preserved
2.00 %
100.00
0.00
92.95
70.95
67.63
59.34
2.50 %
100.00
100% Succ.
2.816% 		0.00
80.50
68.88
62.66
56.43
3.00 %
99.17
95% Succ.
3.277% 		0.83
73.44
68.05
60.17
51.87
3.50 %
86.72
80% Succ.
3.795% 		13.28
70.12
67.63
56.43
44.40
4.00 %
76.76
23.24
68.88
58.51
47.72
39.00
4.50 %
72.20
27.80
65.56
49.38
36.10
29.88
5.00 %
65.56
34.44
51.87
40.25
30.71
22.82
5.50 %
54.77
50% Succ.
5.768% 		45.23
41.08
32.37
22.41
8.71
6.00 %
46.06
53.94
36.10
22.41
5.81
1.66
6.50 %
37.34
62.66
24.48
5.81
0.83
0.00
7.00 %
28.22
71.78
8.71
0.00
0.00
0.00
7.50 %
15.77
84.23
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
8.00 %
4.98
95.02
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
Legend: Min% of Protected Capital
Min 0%
Min 25%
Min 50%
Min 75%
Min 100%
Simulations are calculated with actual returns of Commodities Asset Class | Preserved capital and withdrawals are considered adjusted for inflation | Withdrawals happen monthly | Performances are calculated in USD dollars, considering reinvestment of dividends when applicable | Inflation is updated at March 2025

Related Pages

Asset Class Main Page:
Commodities Asset Class

For the Commodities Asset Class, we have prepared a report for each available timeframe:
10-Year    20-Year    30-Year    40-Year    50-Year    60-Year    70-Year    80-Year   

if you want to learn more about the statistics of a specific withdrawal rate, we suggest these in particular:
2%    2.5%    3%    3.5%    4%    4.5%    5%   

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