Permanent Portfolio: 80-year retirement

Last Update: 30 November 2024

Do you have in mind a 80 years retirement, investing in the Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio?

Worst case scenario so far, over a 80-year time horizon, you could have withdrawn 2.038% of your initial capital each year, kept withdrawing all the time (adjusting for inflation), and you wouldn't have run out of money before 80 years.

With a 4% withdrawal strategy, you would have lived on your investiment for 80 years in the 16.1% of cases. In the 11.94% of cases, you would have preserved your initial inflation adjusted capital.

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

The last 80 years of the Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio

Over the last 80 years (last update: November 2024), the portfolio has returned 6.98% annualized, with a maximum drawdown of -16.38%.

A safe withdrawal rate would have been 2.574%.

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
Swipe left to see all data
Timeframes ending at Nov 2024
Withdrawal Rate (%)
Investment Performances
Timeframe Period from Period to Perpetual Safe Ann.Return(%)
[ Infl.Adj. ]		 Max
Drawdown(%)
80 Years 1 Dec 1944
 30 Nov 2024 2.366 2.574 6.98
[ 3.19 ] 		-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 November 2024

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 Nov 2024)

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

Analyzing the available data source, all the 80-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 - Nov 2024
Period: Dec 1924 - Nov 2024
Swipe left to see all data
WR (%) - Withdrawal Rate, on % Preserved Capital (Infl.Adj)
100%
Preserved		 75%
Preserved		 50%
Preserved		 25%
Preserved		 0%
Preserved
Success 100%
Worst Period (From) 		1.738
Jan 1899 		1.846
Jul 1901 		1.924
Feb 1937 		1.981
Feb 1937 		2.038
Feb 1937
95%
 1.857
 1.961
 2.039
 2.109
 2.189
90%
 1.918
 1.997
 2.083
 2.173
 2.256
80%
 2.031
 2.121
 2.202
 2.283
 2.361
50%
Median WR 		2.399
 2.489
 2.588
 2.694
 2.820
Only 1 case
Best Period (From) 		5.222
Mar 1871 		5.311
Mar 1871 		5.401
Mar 1871 		5.490
Mar 1871 		5.580
Mar 1871
Swipe left to see all data
WR (%) - Withdrawal Rate, on % Preserved Capital (Infl.Adj)
100%
Preserved		 75%
Preserved		 50%
Preserved		 25%
Preserved		 0%
Preserved
Success 100%
Worst Period (From) 		1.811
Feb 1937 		1.868
Feb 1937 		1.924
Feb 1937 		1.981
Feb 1937 		2.038
Feb 1937
95%
 1.901
 1.956
 2.010
 2.065
 2.119
90%
 1.933
 1.984
 2.036
 2.089
 2.145
80%
 2.006
 2.052
 2.098
 2.152
 2.208
50%
Median WR 		2.350
 2.405
 2.459
 2.514
 2.570
Only 1 case
Best Period (From) 		3.548
Apr 1926 		3.618
Dec 1924 		3.688
Dec 1924 		3.759
Dec 1924 		3.829
Dec 1924
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 November 2024

Withdrawals and Success Rate

If you had implemented a specific Withdrawal Strategy with the Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio, over 80 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 80-year timeframes available in the data source. To focus on a specific withdrawal rate, click on the links in the table.

Period: Jan 1871 - Nov 2024
Period: Dec 1924 - Nov 2024
Swipe left to see all data
Withdrawal
Rate
% Success over 80 Years
% Fail
% Success over 80 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
100% Succ.
2.038% 		0.00
99.55
97.41
89.53
83.67
2.50 %
65.32
50% Succ.
2.820% 		34.68
58.56
53.49
49.21
45.72
3.00 %
43.24
56.76
39.30
37.16
35.25
34.23
3.50 %
31.08
68.92
29.50
25.90
23.99
20.95
4.00 %
16.10
83.90
13.96
12.95
12.61
11.94
4.50 %
10.81
89.19
9.91
8.45
7.77
7.21
5.00 %
5.63
94.37
4.62
3.83
2.70
1.58
5.50 %
0.68
99.32
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
6.00 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
6.50 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
7.00 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
7.50 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
8.00 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
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 80 Years
% Fail
% Success over 80 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
100% Succ.
2.038% 		0.00
98.34
95.44
87.14
80.50
2.50 %
56.85
50% Succ.
2.570% 		43.15
54.36
45.64
41.08
40.66
3.00 %
35.68
64.32
29.46
26.97
21.99
20.75
3.50 %
12.03
87.97
11.62
9.54
7.88
4.15
4.00 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
4.50 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
5.00 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
5.50 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
6.00 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
6.50 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
7.00 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
7.50 %
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
8.00 %
0.00
100.00
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 November 2024

Related Pages

Portfolio Main Page:
Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio

For the Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio, 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%   

Website Homepage:
BestRetirementPortfolio.com