A $1.1 million portfolio supports between $3,200 and $3,700 per month at a withdrawal rate of 3.5% to 4%, with lower starting withdrawals helping to protect against early market losses.
Many financial professionals are salespeople paid on what they push, not whether you end up wealthier. A fiduciary is the opposite. The SEC legally requires them to put your interests first. Advisor.com’s free matching tool pairs you with vetted fiduciaries from firms like Vanguard, Empower, and Edelman — in under three minutes. See who you match with today.
You are 60, you have built up roughly $1.1 million across retirement accounts, and you want to stop working before Social Security kicks in. The question is simple: what monthly check can that pile actually support without running dry?
This scenario shows up constantly. Suze Orman, who built her career on retirement planning, has fielded versions of it for years on her podcast, often returning to the same anchor: “if you just withdraw 4% of the money that you have in your account, it should last you a lifetime.” That rule of thumb is the right starting point. It is also slightly too optimistic for a 60-year-old, and the gap between the optimistic answer and the durable one is the entire article.
Why this matters: the first five to seven years of retirement do more to determine whether your money lasts than any other stretch. Withdraw too much into a weak market early, and no future rally fully repairs the damage.
At the classic Bengen/Trinity rate of 4%, $1.1 million produces $44,000 a year, or about $3,667 a month, indexed to inflation. That figure assumes a 30-year horizon, which is the bare minimum for someone retiring at 60.
Stretch the horizon to 30+ years and most updated safe-withdrawal research (including Morningstar’s annual refresh) pushes the starting rate down. A more durable 3.5% gives $38,500 a year, or roughly $3,208 a month.
Most Americans suspect they’re behind on retirement and never find out. Advisor.com’s free matching tool pairs you in about three minutes with a vetted fiduciary advisor who can help you with investing, taxes, retirement, estate planning, and more. No minimums. No sales call. Find out where you stand.
The honest, defensible range is $3,200 to $3,700 per month before Social Security, with annual inflation adjustments on top. Core PCE, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, sits at a percentile rank of 90.9 versus its recent history, and the index has climbed every month since June 2025. A flat $3,500 check today is a smaller check in real terms next year.
Bonds are finally paying. The 10-year Treasury yields about 5% and the 30-year is at about 5%, with the Fed funds rate held near 4% since December 2025. A 60/40 portfolio has a working fixed-income engine for the first time in over a decade.
Start lower, not higher. Anchor closer to 3% to 3.5% rather than 4%. On $1.1 million that is closer to $36,000 to $38,500 in year one. The lower starting figure lets you raise withdrawals later if markets cooperate. Cutting after you have already gotten used to a bigger lifestyle is what blows up retirements.
Use guardrails instead of a fixed percentage. Raise spending modestly after strong market years and trim it after bad ones. A guardrail system, often a 10% raise or cut when the portfolio drifts past set bands, lets you start near 4% with the discipline to pull back when needed.
Delay Social Security to 70 if you can. Stanford economists note that benefits drop up to 30% for claiming at 62, and rise by about 8% for each year you defer past full retirement age up to 70. Bridging from 60 to 70 with portfolio withdrawals is expensive in the early years and powerful later: you are effectively buying a larger inflation-adjusted annuity from the federal government, the cheapest one available.
What to do this week
Set a realistic starting number. Build the budget around $3,200 to $3,500 a month, not $3,700. If your essential expenses do not fit, work part-time for two or three more years rather than raising the withdrawal rate.
Carve out one to two years of cash. Hold 12 to 24 months of spending in T-bills or a money market fund yielding near the roughly 4% 3-month Treasury. This is the single best defense against being forced to sell stocks in a down market, and it is especially important now: consumer sentiment is at 49.8, recessionary territory.
Write down your Social Security claiming plan. The default mistake at 60 is drifting toward a 62 claim because the portfolio feels stretched. Decide now whether your bridge strategy targets 67 or 70, and let that decision drive the withdrawal rate.
The math gives you a range. At $1.1 million the honest range is roughly $3,200 to $3,700 a month, inflation-adjusted, with Social Security as a powerful second layer waiting in the wings.
Are You Ready To Retire, Or Years Behind?
Most Americans have no idea where they actually stand. Most guess, or hope Social Security and a 401(k) will work out. Advisor.com’s new matching tool gives you a real answer, free.
They pair you with a fiduciary (required by law to put YOUR interest first) with questions related to taxes, estate planning, retirement, insurance analysis, and more. See you who you match with today, and get the answers you need.
