Permanent Portfolio: 30-year retirement

Last Update: 30 April 2023

Do you have in mind a 30 years retirement, investing in the Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio?

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

Key Points

Worst case scenario so far, over a 30-year time horizon, you could have withdrawn 3.304% of your initial capital each year, kept withdrawing all the time (adjusting for inflation), and you wouldn't have run out of money before 30 years.

With a 4% withdrawal strategy, you would have lived on your investiment for 30 years in the 77.33% of cases. In the 27.03% of cases, you would have preserved your initial inflation adjusted capital.

The last 30 years of the Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio

Over the last 30 years (last update: April 2023), the portfolio has returned 6.39% annualized, with a maximum drawdown of -16.38%.

A safe withdrawal rate would have been 5.873%.

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 portfolio didn't run out of money during retirement. The portfolio went to zero exaclty at the end of the retirement period.

Learn more about Withdrawal Rate simulation
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Timeframes ending at Apr 2023
Withdrawal Rate (%)
Investment Performances
Timeframe Period from Period to Perpetual Safe Ann.Return(%)
[ Infl.Adj. ]		 Max
Drawdown(%)
30 Years 1 May 1993
 30 Apr 2023 3.945 5.873 6.39
[ 3.78 ] 		-16.38
Jan 2022 - Sep 2022
Simulations are calculated with actual returns of Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio | Preserved capital and withdrawals are considered adjusted for inflation | Withdrawals happen monthly | Performances are calculated in USD dollars, considering reinvestment of dividends when applicable | Portfolio is rebalanced each month | Inflation is updated at April 2023

For a complete view of the portfolio and all the possible strategies, please refer to Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio page.

Withdrawal Rates Simulation (updated at Apr 2023)

How much would it be an acceptable withdrawal rate, for the Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio?

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 - Apr 2023
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PWR (%) - Perpetual Withdrawal Rate
SWR (%) - Safe Withdrawal Rate
Preserved Capital 100% 75% 50% 25% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Success Rate 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 95% 90% 80% 50%
Minimum
Worst Period (from) 		0.327
Jul 1890 		1.184
May 1940 		1.910
May 1940 		2.637
May 1940 		3.304
Feb 1937 		3.538
95% Succ. 		3.703
90% Succ. 		3.926
80% Succ. 		5.006
50% Succ.
Median 2.941
 3.425
 3.926
 4.428
 5.006
Average 3.067
 3.592
 4.118
 4.643
 5.168
Maximum
Best Period (from) 		6.927
Apr 1873 		7.317
Apr 1873 		7.707
Apr 1873 		8.097
Apr 1873 		8.530
Jun 1920
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Key
Withdrawal
Rates (%) 		Success Rate
100% 95% 90% 80% 50%
Preserved Capital 100% 0.327
 1.014
 1.202
 1.701
 2.941
75% 1.184
 1.732
 1.886
 2.298
 3.425
50% 1.910
 2.375
 2.545
 2.873
 3.926
25% 2.637
 2.964
 3.161
 3.410
 4.428
0% 3.304
 3.538
 3.703
 3.926
 5.006
Period: May 1923 - Apr 2023
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PWR (%) - Perpetual Withdrawal Rate
SWR (%) - Safe Withdrawal Rate
Preserved Capital 100% 75% 50% 25% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Success Rate 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 95% 90% 80% 50%
Minimum
Worst Period (from) 		0.458
May 1940 		1.184
May 1940 		1.910
May 1940 		2.637
May 1940 		3.304
Feb 1937 		3.482
95% Succ. 		3.713
90% Succ. 		4.291
80% Succ. 		5.032
50% Succ.
Median 3.086
 3.533
 4.014
 4.509
 5.032
Average 3.047
 3.553
 4.060
 4.567
 5.074
Maximum
Best Period (from) 		6.038
Jul 1982 		6.403
Jul 1982 		6.769
Jul 1982 		7.134
Jul 1982 		7.499
Jul 1982
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Key
Withdrawal
Rates (%) 		Success Rate
100% 95% 90% 80% 50%
Preserved Capital 100% 0.458
 0.950
 1.230
 1.934
 3.086
75% 1.184
 1.571
 1.866
 2.511
 3.533
50% 1.910
 2.206
 2.499
 3.126
 4.014
25% 2.637
 2.842
 3.126
 3.718
 4.509
0% 3.304
 3.482
 3.713
 4.291
 5.032
Simulations are calculated with actual returns of Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio | Preserved capital and withdrawals are considered adjusted for inflation | Withdrawals happen monthly | Performances are calculated in USD dollars, considering reinvestment of dividends when applicable | Portfolio is rebalanced each month | Inflation is updated at April 2023

Withdrawals and Success Rate

If you had implemented a specific Withdrawal Strategy with the Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio, 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 - Apr 2023
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Withdrawal
Rate
30 Years
% Fail
% Success over 30 Years - on % Preserved Capital
% Success Percentile No Capital
Preserved		 0%
Preserved 		25%
Preserved 		50%
Preserved 		75%
Preserved 		100%
Preserved
2.00 %
100.00
0.00
100.00
100.00
99.32
85.57
75.97
2.50 %
100.00
0.00
100.00
100.00
91.63
75.63
61.13
3.00 %
100.00
100% Succ.
3.304% 		0.00
100.00
94.28
75.83
62.29
48.26
3.50 %
96.39
95% Succ.
3.538% 		3.61
96.39
76.04
63.58
47.24
37.85
4.00 %
77.33
22.67
77.33
65.35
46.70
36.96
27.03
4.50 %
67.26
32.74
67.26
48.40
37.03
28.32
14.70
5.00 %
50.17
50% Succ.
5.006% 		49.83
50.17
36.69
28.25
13.61
8.78
5.50 %
36.69
63.31
36.69
27.09
12.93
8.51
6.26
6.00 %
25.66
74.34
25.66
12.87
7.96
6.19
4.08
6.50 %
13.89
86.11
13.89
7.83
6.06
3.68
1.91
7.00 %
7.90
92.10
7.90
5.85
3.27
1.16
0.00
7.50 %
5.58
94.42
5.58
3.06
0.68
0.00
0.00
8.00 %
2.52
97.48
2.52
0.20
0.00
0.00
0.00
Legend: Min% of Protected Capital
Min 0%
Min 25%
Min 50%
Min 75%
Min 100%
Period: May 1923 - Apr 2023
Swipe left to see all data
Withdrawal
Rate
30 Years
% Fail
% Success over 30 Years - on % Preserved Capital
% Success Percentile No Capital
Preserved		 0%
Preserved 		25%
Preserved 		50%
Preserved 		75%
Preserved 		100%
Preserved
2.00 %
100.00
0.00
100.00
100.00
98.81
87.28
79.31
2.50 %
100.00
0.00
100.00
100.00
89.89
80.02
71.22
3.00 %
100.00
100% Succ.
3.304% 		0.00
100.00
91.68
80.50
74.20
54.22
3.50 %
94.29
90% Succ.
3.713% 		5.71
94.29
81.09
76.34
52.32
38.17
4.00 %
82.28
80% Succ.
4.291% 		17.72
82.28
76.69
50.30
36.50
22.71
4.50 %
76.81
23.19
76.81
50.54
36.03
24.14
9.16
5.00 %
51.49
50% Succ.
5.032% 		48.51
51.49
35.20
23.54
6.78
2.85
5.50 %
33.77
66.23
33.77
21.17
5.23
2.14
0.71
6.00 %
18.19
81.81
18.19
4.64
1.07
0.48
0.12
6.50 %
5.35
94.65
5.35
0.83
0.48
0.00
0.00
7.00 %
0.59
99.41
0.59
0.12
0.00
0.00
0.00
7.50 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
8.00 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
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 Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio | Preserved capital and withdrawals are considered adjusted for inflation | Withdrawals happen monthly | Performances are calculated in USD dollars, considering reinvestment of dividends when applicable | Portfolio is rebalanced each month | Inflation is updated at April 2023

Related Pages

Portfolio Main Page:
Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio

For the Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio, we have prepared a report for each available timeframe:
20-Year    30-Year    40-Year    50-Year    60-Year    70-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%   

Website Homepage:
BestRetirementPortfolio.com

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