Drawing an Income
Dividends are not free money
A dividend reduces the value of the holding by roughly the amount paid. Treating it as income separate from capital leads to bad…
Drawing an Income
Withdrawal, dividends and turning a pot back into money to live on.
20 articles · updated August 11, 2026 · page 1 of 2
Drawing an Income
Sequence risk is the retirement problem nobody plans for
Two portfolios with identical average returns can produce very different outcomes depending on when the bad years arrive.
More in Drawing an Income
Drawing an Income
Spending a portfolio is harder than building one
Decades of practice at saving produce exactly the wrong instincts for the day you are supposed to start spending.
Drawing an Income
Why retirees underspend the money they saved
Research across several countries has generally found retirees drawing down more slowly than expected, and often not at all.
Drawing an Income
The mental line between capital and income
Many retirees will spend interest and dividends freely while treating the capital as untouchable. The distinction is psychological…
Drawing an Income
Write the withdrawal rule before you need it
Deciding how much to take while you are living on it is deciding under exactly the pressure the decision cannot survive.
Drawing an Income
The first bad year tests the plan, not the portfolio
A decline early in drawdown is the scenario every retirement plan is supposedly built for. Very few have a written instruction for…
Drawing an Income
Flexibility only works if the trigger is decided in advance
Every drawdown plan claims to be flexible. Without a stated trigger and a stated adjustment, flexibility means improvising under…
Drawing an Income
When the balance stops being a number and becomes groceries
In drawdown the portfolio funds this month, and that changes how every market movement feels.
Drawing an Income
Who manages this if you cannot?
A portfolio that only one person understands is a problem waiting for a specific and predictable moment.
Drawing an Income
Guaranteed income is bought for how it makes you behave
Income that does not depend on markets is usually compared on rates. Its largest effect is on what you do during a crash.
Drawing an Income
Buckets are a psychological device that happens to work
Splitting a portfolio into near, medium and long-term pots changes nothing about the total. It changes almost everything about how…