Friday, March 20, 2015

Budgeting for a retiree, after solving for the safe withdrawal percentage incorporating health care costs- what is different?



Some retirees use a safe withdrawal rate to determine how much they can withdrawal from their portfolio each year.  This is done so that the retiree will not outlive his/her assets.  A budget for the retiree can be done in accordance with the safe withdrawal to give guidance to the client.

How does budgeting differ for a retiree when health care costs are separately calculated (as they are in PDRP Plus)?

Budgeting for retirees has traditionally involved projecting the expenses for the retiree for the upcoming period of time, usually one calendar year.  Typical expenses would include food (at home and at restaurants), utilities, car expenses, vacations, real estate taxes,gifts to charities and many other items. This budgeting generally includes health care costs.  Of course, that is a problem with budgets, since the healthcare costs can vary a lot (due to the uncertain risks of long-term care, hospital and doctor visits and drug costs), and the budget will not always predict the costs accurately.

BUT:

Because PDRP Plus includes health care costs separately, there is no need to budget for these unpredictable costs.  By living within the safe withdrawal rate computed by PDRP Plus, there is much more certainty that the goal of not outliving assets will be met than by budgeting some fixed amount of healthcare expenses and hoping for the best.

TO REALLY BE TECHNICAL:

The following expenses are “built in” to the safe withdrawal rate computed by PDRP Plus.  The retiree does not have to budget the following items:

Health care costs, other than dental and eye care
Federal and state income taxes
Federal estate tax
State estate and/or inheritance tax

This simplifies the budgeting process and reduces guesswork!

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