Warren Buffett Portfolio: 70-year retirement

Last Update: 30 April 2023

Do you have in mind a 70 years retirement, investing in the Warren Buffett 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Worst case scenario so far, over a 70-year time horizon, you could have withdrawn 2.838% of your initial capital each year, kept withdrawing all the time (adjusting for inflation), and you wouldn't have run out of money before 70 years.

With a 4% withdrawal strategy, you would have lived on your investiment for 70 years in the 92.32% of cases. In the 89.48% of cases, you would have preserved your initial inflation adjusted capital.

The last 70 years of the Warren Buffett Portfolio

Over the last 70 years (last update: April 2023), the portfolio has returned 10.27% annualized, with a maximum drawdown of -46.52%.

A safe withdrawal rate would have been 7.953%.

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 Apr 2023
Withdrawal Rate (%)
Investment Performances
Timeframe Period from Period to Perpetual Safe Ann.Return(%)
[ Infl.Adj. ]		 Max
Drawdown(%)
70 Years 1 May 1953
 30 Apr 2023 7.856 7.953 10.27
[ 6.50 ] 		-46.52
Nov 2007 - Feb 2009
Simulations are calculated with actual returns of Warren Buffett 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 Warren Buffett Portfolio page.

Withdrawal Rates Simulation (updated at Apr 2023)

How much would it be an acceptable withdrawal rate, for the Warren Buffett Portfolio?

Analyzing the available data source, all the 70-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
Swipe left to see all data
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) 		2.792
Sep 1929 		2.804
Sep 1929 		2.815
Sep 1929 		2.827
Sep 1929 		2.838
Sep 1929 		3.873
95% Succ. 		4.073
90% Succ. 		4.593
80% Succ. 		5.830
50% Succ.
Median 5.749
 5.766
 5.783
 5.807
 5.830
Average 6.134
 6.157
 6.180
 6.203
 6.226
Maximum
Best Period (from) 		12.588
Jul 1932 		12.606
Jul 1932 		12.623
Jul 1932 		12.641
Jul 1932 		12.659
Jul 1932
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Key
Withdrawal
Rates (%) 		Success Rate
100% 95% 90% 80% 50%
Preserved Capital 100% 2.792
 3.787
 3.967
 4.518
 5.749
75% 2.804
 3.813
 3.988
 4.537
 5.766
50% 2.815
 3.835
 4.006
 4.557
 5.783
25% 2.827
 3.855
 4.039
 4.576
 5.807
0% 2.838
 3.873
 4.073
 4.593
 5.830
Period: May 1923 - Apr 2023
Swipe left to see all data
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) 		2.792
Sep 1929 		2.804
Sep 1929 		2.815
Sep 1929 		2.827
Sep 1929 		2.838
Sep 1929 		3.829
95% Succ. 		4.354
90% Succ. 		5.263
80% Succ. 		7.002
50% Succ.
Median 6.926
 6.945
 6.964
 6.983
 7.002
Average 6.796
 6.816
 6.836
 6.856
 6.876
Maximum
Best Period (from) 		12.588
Jul 1932 		12.606
Jul 1932 		12.623
Jul 1932 		12.641
Jul 1932 		12.659
Jul 1932
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Key
Withdrawal
Rates (%) 		Success Rate
100% 95% 90% 80% 50%
Preserved Capital 100% 2.792
 3.784
 4.302
 5.206
 6.926
75% 2.804
 3.796
 4.315
 5.220
 6.945
50% 2.815
 3.807
 4.328
 5.234
 6.964
25% 2.827
 3.818
 4.341
 5.249
 6.983
0% 2.838
 3.829
 4.354
 5.263
 7.002
Simulations are calculated with actual returns of Warren Buffett 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 Warren Buffett Portfolio, over 70 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 70-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
Swipe left to see all data
Withdrawal
Rate
70 Years
% Fail
% Success over 70 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
100.00
100.00
100.00
2.50 %
100.00
100% Succ.
2.838% 		0.00
100.00
100.00
100.00
100.00
100.00
3.00 %
99.80
0.20
99.80
99.80
99.80
99.80
99.80
3.50 %
98.79
95% Succ.
3.873% 		1.21
98.79
98.79
98.69
98.58
98.48
4.00 %
92.32
90% Succ.
4.073% 		7.68
92.32
91.61
90.39
89.69
89.48
4.50 %
81.90
80% Succ.
4.593% 		18.10
81.90
81.80
81.09
80.79
80.49
5.00 %
70.98
29.02
70.98
70.58
70.17
69.57
68.76
5.50 %
57.94
50% Succ.
5.830% 		42.06
57.94
57.53
57.13
56.72
56.52
6.00 %
47.02
52.98
47.02
46.81
46.51
45.90
45.50
6.50 %
39.74
60.26
39.74
39.23
38.83
38.73
38.52
7.00 %
34.48
65.52
34.48
34.28
34.18
33.77
33.57
7.50 %
28.01
71.99
28.01
27.70
26.69
26.09
25.18
8.00 %
16.28
83.72
16.28
15.87
15.57
15.47
15.27
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
70 Years
% Fail
% Success over 70 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
100.00
100.00
100.00
2.50 %
100.00
100% Succ.
2.838% 		0.00
100.00
100.00
100.00
100.00
100.00
3.00 %
99.45
0.55
99.45
99.45
99.45
99.45
99.45
3.50 %
96.68
95% Succ.
3.829% 		3.32
96.68
96.68
96.68
96.68
96.68
4.00 %
93.91
90% Succ.
4.354% 		6.09
93.91
93.91
93.35
93.07
93.07
4.50 %
87.53
12.47
87.53
87.53
87.53
87.53
87.53
5.00 %
82.27
80% Succ.
5.263% 		17.73
82.27
82.27
82.27
81.99
81.72
5.50 %
77.01
22.99
77.01
76.45
76.18
75.90
75.90
6.00 %
67.87
32.13
67.87
67.59
67.31
66.76
66.20
6.50 %
59.28
40.72
59.28
58.17
57.89
57.89
57.62
7.00 %
50.14
50% Succ.
7.002% 		49.86
50.14
49.58
49.31
48.75
48.20
7.50 %
39.89
60.11
39.89
39.89
38.50
37.95
37.40
8.00 %
27.98
72.02
27.98
27.70
27.15
26.87
26.32
Legend: Min% of Protected Capital
Min 0%
Min 25%
Min 50%
Min 75%
Min 100%
Simulations are calculated with actual returns of Warren Buffett 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:
Warren Buffett Portfolio

For the Warren Buffett 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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