Nearly a year ago, we published the first in a new series of posts that explains how those in the WCI community think about retirement.

You can find every reader retirement withdrawal post in this series here (including six additional posts from Dr. Jim Dahle), where readers who are in their post-career phase discuss everything from withdrawal strategies to how they live their lives without work. So far, more than 150 readers have responded to our survey, filling us in on their most intimate financial details, strategies, and worries so they could pay it forward to the next generation of retirees. If you’re retired and interested in contributing your own game plan to those of us who are still working, you can find the questionnaire here (and don’t worry, we’ll keep you anonymous).

Something to note: we originally asked how old the survey-taker was when they retired, but we didn’t ask how old they were when they filled out our survey. From here on out, we’ll do our best to add both data points to these posts. We’ve also added a question from a reader that wasn’t originally on the questionnaire: along with asking about their net worth at its highest point and their current net worth, we also want to know what their net worth was when they decided to retire.

And thanks to another reader suggestion, we’re going to add some more data at the end of this post, where we take the average, the highest, the lowest, and the median numbers from those readers we have included thus far in this series when it comes to the following categories:

  • Annual spending during peak earning years
  • Annual spending in retirement
  • Peak net worth
  • Current net worth
  • Net worth when you decided to retire
  • Age at retirement

Today, we’re unveiling part 5 of our reader retirement withdrawal series. Here’s how four white coat investors are managing their retirement.

#1 The OB-GYN Who Retired at 54 Years, 9 Months Old

  • What was your approximate asset allocation when you were a wealth accumulator? 60% stocks (with 35% international and 5% emerging)/32% bonds/5% real estate/3% cash and alternatives.
  • What is your approximate asset allocation now in retirement? I just rebalanced to 55% (35% international and 5% emerging)/35%/2%/8%.
  • How did your asset allocations change over time as you got closer to retirement? They didn’t; I think the biggest mistake is to overvalue bonds with current life expectancy.
  • How old were you when you retired, and how old are you now? 54 years, 9 months old then.
  • At what age did you begin taking Social Security, and why? If you haven’t yet, at what age do you plan on taking Social Security? SSDI at 55.
  • How much did you spend per year in your prime earning years? How much do you spend now? Less than 75% of earnings.
  • At its highest point, what was your net worth? What is your net worth now? What was your net worth when you decided to retire? It’s still at the apex I reached a few years ago; it’s about $7.5 million.
  • What, if anything, are you doing (or what did you already do) to prepare for Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)? How worried are you (or were you) about the tax bill associated with RMDs? I NEVER took any IRA distribution until forced to do so at 70 1/2: simple math yields that the multiple factor of time makes up for a possible higher tax bill. I hope every year my only “problem” is excess income. Prior to RMDs, I used any other income source. Now that RMDs are delayed, it seems even wiser.
  • Did you do any Roth conversions? When and how much? I did the math via a Monte Carlo analysis; while I would have a larger estate at 30 years ( if I lived), the difference wasn’t worth the value of current assets to me.
  • How are you drawing down your accounts to fund your lifestyle? How are you creating your monthly paycheck? Three sources: 1) RMDs, 2) Social Security, 3) monthly trust payments.
  • How are you managing your money differently now than what you had planned to do? Slightly more stocks, but the only real change is helping to fund a daughter and her three daughters after a divorce. Two of my granddaughters are now in college, and I will not allow them to accumulate school debt. The youngest is a junior in high school, and she will matriculate in less than two years. I would rather they receive help from my wife and me now than later in their lives after we’re gone. We’ll probably be funding their education and lifestyle around $100,000 per year for the next six years. It really hasn’t decreased our worth, and we recently downsized our domicile (still extremely nice) and moved to a much lower-cost state.
  • What does your typical day look like now compared to when you were working? Eighteen-hour active days were not uncommon when I was working. My spirit animal is now the 🦥 sloth!
  • What did you not think about before retirement that you wish you had thought of? Making a more detailed plan for timing and the locale of a relocation.
  • What’s the best thing about retirement? What’s the worst? The best thing is the relief of the overwhelming pressure of being responsible for the well-being of my patients. My partner retired before me, and we discussed this when he brought it up. I’d always considered him unflappable until he volunteered this to me. It rings true, especially to a perfectionist in OB. The worst thing is not seeing my long-time patients every day and never delivering another baby.

My observation: I love the idea of giving to their granddaughters with warm hands. What a gift to have no student loan debt, thanks to wealthy and generous grandparents.

#2 The Orthopedic Surgeon Who Retired at 60 Years Old

  • What was your approximate asset allocation when you were a wealth accumulator? 80% US stocks, 20% cash. That doesn’t include my primary home.
  • What is your approximate asset allocation now in retirement? 25% US stocks, 70% bonds, 5% cash.
  • How did your asset allocations change over time as you got closer to retirement? Less stocks, more bonds.
  • How old were you when you retired, and how old are you now? 60 then, 61 now.
  • At what age did you begin taking Social Security, and why? If you haven’t yet, at what age do you plan on taking Social Security? I plan on taking it at 65. But perhaps it’ll be later, depending on my cash flow.
  • How much did you spend per year in your prime earning years? How much do you spend now? I started at a $200,000 salary in 2002, and I maxed out at $650,000 for four years. As a part-timer for the last two years, I made $300,000. I spent $300,000 a year then. Now, I spend $120,000-$150,000.
  • At its highest point, what was your net worth? What is your net worth now? What was your net worth when you decided to retire? It’s at its highest now at $7.8 million. When I retired, I was at approximately $5.5 million.
  • What, if anything, are you doing (or what did you already do) to prepare for Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)? How worried are you (or were you) about the tax bill associated with RMDs? I contributed to a Roth 401(k) when it was offered approximately 10 years ago. I am in the process of converting the remainder of my 401(k) to the Roth 401(k) now. We will have RMDs on an IRA, but I’m not really worried about it. I should be able to keep the tax rate at 22%, but if the bracket rate changes, then I may have to adjust. People should realize that once you reach RMD age at 75, then your lifespan is down to 3-10 years in most cases. You shouldn’t worry about many things at that age.
  • How are you drawing down your accounts to fund your lifestyle? How are you creating your monthly paycheck? I’m using cash first, and I plan on using an IRA next. The 401(k) will be all Roth in five years, so I will transfer the Roth 401(k) to the Roth IRA then. Maybe I’ll pass that on if I don’t spend it.
  • How are you managing your money differently now than what you had planned to do? I thought I would do 50% stocks in retirement, but it made me anxious. Maybe I could work on it still.
  • What does your typical day look like now compared to when you were working? Better quality sleep and regular exercise. I don’t eat late. I lost 15 pounds by pure lifestyle choices. I’m taking history and philosophy classes at a local college. Too bad I only have approximately 200,000 hours of life left.
  • What did you not think about before retirement that you wish you had thought of? Thanks to WCI, I had no surprises.
  • What’s the best thing about retirement? What’s the worst? The worst: 1) death is that much closer, 2) life issues. The best: the freedom to pursue most (reasonable) things.

My observation: For the record, 200,000 hours equals 8,333 days, which equals 22.8 years.

#3 The Pediatric Dentist Who Retired at 67 Years Old

  • What was your approximate asset allocation when you were a wealth accumulator? Not counting my residence, it was 65% US stocks, 15% international, 10% precious metals, and 10% cash. 
  • What is your approximate asset allocation now in retirement? It’s the same.
  • How did your asset allocations change over time as you got closer to retirement? There’s been no change.
  • How old were you when you retired, and how old are you now? 67 then, 68 now.
  • At what age did you begin taking Social Security, and why? If you haven’t yet, at what age do you plan on taking Social Security? 70
  • How much did you spend per year in your prime earning years? How much do you spend now? I spend less now that the kids are grown and there are no debts.
  • At its highest point, what was your net worth? What is your net worth now? What was your net worth when you decided to retire? Now, it’s more than ever.
  • What, if anything, are you doing (or what did you already do) to prepare for Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)? How worried are you (or were you) about the tax bill associated with RMDs? RMDs will all be donated to charity.
  • Did you do any Roth conversions? When and how much? Yes, several years ago, it was about $350,000. It has grown a lot.
  • How are you drawing down your accounts to fund your lifestyle? How are you creating your monthly paycheck? I’m dollar-cost averaging out of a segment of assets that is 75% stocks and 25% bonds. If stock prices fall a lot, I can just live off the bond segment for 6-7 years. The regular IRAs will be donated over time. The other taxable and Roth IRA money is just sitting there. When Social Security starts in 16 months, I will be drawing much less out of assets or perhaps giving more away. We have always tried to give away 20% or more of income. Really, it all belongs to God. I am not an owner, just a manager. I have to remind myself of that, as that is important.
  • How are you managing your money differently now than what you had planned to do? It is what I planned. I retired 10 months ago.
  • What does your typical day look like now compared to when you were working? I sleep a little later and travel and read more. I can volunteer a little more. I am still figuring out the details.
  • What did you not think about before retirement that you wish you had thought of? I can’t think of anything. I did plenty of reading and thinking before I retired. I got to the point that I wondered why I was still working. I still do a very small number of PRN days (seven so far this year) and volunteer days (10 so far this year) in pediatric dentistry.
  • What’s the best thing about retirement? What’s the worst? The best is not getting in a rush about much of anything and having plenty of time for whatever I want to do. The worst is getting used to not being so conscious of maximizing my time/productivity and deciding that it is OK. I also try not to be selfish and think now that I am retired that life is all about me.

My observation: This just proves that you don’t have to have everything figured out about what you’ll do in retirement before you actually retire.

#4 The Orthodontist Who (Mostly) Retired at 39 Years Old

  • What was your approximate asset allocation when you were a wealth accumulator? Initially, it was about 50% stocks. I was what could probably be called a momentum investor. I invested in various sectors using mutual stock funds that could be domestic or international depending on the time period. I was usually fully invested in a single sector with minimal cash reserves, relying on practice income for expenses. I did have sufficient life and disability coverage. Even though I was only sometimes in the top-performing sector, I was fortunate to have an annualized return of 13.6% over 34 years of trading. The other 50% was in direct commercial real estate ownership. (I am probably rare in that I personally managed my properties and learned the building trades, so I usually performed maintenance and remodeling activities.) With the passage of time, real estate holdings outpaced stock holdings, with real estate making up about 80% of the value of my assets.
  • What is your approximate asset allocation now in retirement? It’s 80% real estate, 13% US stocks, and 7% cash. I now invest using proprietary software, and I have a return of 15.4%. But that is only for the last eight years, so as they say, “Time will tell.” Presently, cash represents about 30% of my “stock” investments.
  • How did your asset allocations change over time as you got closer to retirement? I gradually shifted toward real estate, but that was driven by general investing trends rather than conscious decisions to shift to certain percentages.
  • How old were you when you retired, and how old are you now? I mostly retired (3/4) from orthodontics at 39 and completely retired at 51. Now, I’m 75.
  • At what age did you begin taking Social Security, and why? If you haven’t yet, at what age do you plan on taking Social Security? At 62. I was supporting children and making aggressive mortgage payments, so I needed the cash flow (knowing that as mortgages were retired, I would have excess cash flow). It’s usually not the best decision, but since my returns have been in excess of 8%, I think it was the correct choice for me. My rate of return has been greater than Social Security increases.
  • How much did you spend per year in your prime earning years? How much do you spend now? As an orthodontist, $100,000 in the 1980s, exclusive of investing. If the question of prime implies peak spending, that would be now. My wife and I currently spend about $200,000 on ourselves and gift and donate about $250,000.
  • At its highest point, what was your net worth? What was your net worth when you decided to retire? We have a net worth of about $20 million, and it’s increasing unless we donate more and leave less of an inheritance to our children. I don’t believe I was nearly as financially sophisticated when I was 40 as I am now, so I really didn’t make explicit financial calculations prior to my decision to retire from orthodontics. My thought processes at the time were more centered around pursuing other interests and having a more flexible schedule.
  • What, if anything, are you doing (or what did you already do) to prepare for Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)? How worried are you (or were you) about the tax bill associated with RMDs? All RMDs are satisfied by QCDs, so there are no taxes due.
  • Did you do any Roth conversions? When and how much? I have eliminated my traditional IRA (about $500,000) via Roth conversions. I don’t know if we will convert my wife’s holdings.
  • How are you drawing down your accounts to fund your lifestyle? How are you creating your monthly paycheck? I’m not drawing down accounts. Spending comes from real estate rentals.
  • How are you managing your money differently now than what you had planned to do? As Jim Dahle has remarked, planning to live off only income from assets and not spending principal usually results in working too long or having more money than needed. I certainly have more monthly cash flow than my expenses require, but I like to be active at 75, so I am still involved a little in real estate. All in all, I am happy with the way I have managed our money and would not make any changes.
  • What does your typical day look like now compared to when you were working? I play pickleball for two hours each morning, like to ride my bike (not so much in the winter), read, volunteer, and work in my garden (plus my real estate and finance management).
  • What did you not think about before retirement that you wish you had thought of? Perhaps I should have spent a little more freely and been less aggressive in paying off debt.
  • What’s the best thing about retirement? What’s the worst? Best: time flexibility. I do what I want when I want. I like variety, and I like to try new things (for instance, I started a beehive last year). Nothing bad about my lifestyle now.

My observation: I would not have guessed that this person would take Social Security so early, but that just tells me that the “hold out until you reach 70” isn’t always the best advice, even for somebody already worth eight figures.

Even More Reader Retirement Withdrawal Data

From the 20 anonymous WCIers who we’ve featured so far in this series of articles, here’s some extra data on how they compare:

Annual Spending During Peak Earning Years

  • Average: $151,733
  • Highest: $400,000
  • Lowest: $70,000
  • Median: $100,000

Annual Spending in Retirement

  • Average: $208,125
  • Highest: $450,000
  • Lowest: $70,000
  • Median: $175,000

Peak Net Worth

  • Average: $8 million
  • Highest: $28 million
  • Lowest: $1 million
  • Median: $6.3 million

Current Net Worth

  • Average: $7.96 million
  • Highest: $28 million
  • Lowest: $1 million
  • Median: $6.3 million

Net Worth When You Decided to Retire

[AUTHOR’S NOTE: For these net worth numbers, I’ve only collected specific data from two people. These ranges will change when I get more data in future posts.]

  • Average: $7 million
  • Highest: $4.5 million
  • Lowest: $2 million
  • Median: $4.5 million

Age at Retirement

  • Average: 58
  • Oldest: 73
  • Youngest: 39
  • Median: 60

Do you want even more examples of how WCIers live, worry, and withdraw money in retirement? You can find every post in our retirement withdrawal series here.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Here at The White Coat Investor, we know our readers love having real-life examples of portfolios and how people accumulate their money and then eventually spend it. That’s why we want to hear from those who have already retired and who are living their lives in a post-work world, so those of us who are still working can be inspired and learn how to get where you are right now. Please fill out this form and inspire us with your wisdom. Don’t worry, we’ll keep your identity a secret. Already, more than 150 people have sent in their answers, and with them, we’re planning to create even more content for those who want to learn about how to spend in retirement. Help us help others!]

What do you think about these retirement stories? Do you think their withdrawal strategies are the right ones? Feel free to ask questions, and our anonymous participants might answer. 

Did you find this article helpful? Share it!