Welcome. Hopefully we can straighten out some of your misconceptions here.
I have $0 in my 401k, IRA, HSA, etc. I know this sounds incredibly stupid, but I've cashed out and focused all of my efforts toward investing in things I want to invest in. The funds in the past have had very high fees and other things I didn't want to deal with.
Urrrr.... yes, that was incredibly stupid. Sorry for being harsh, but using your own words here. 401(k), IRA, HSA are all different
buckets you can put your money in, but (especially with the IRA) you get to choose what you invest in. The reason to do so is you pay massively less in taxes over time.
You could put your IRA money into any stock, index fund, bond, or currency you wish - incuding VTSAX.
If too much time hasn't already elapsed I would fix your mistake NOW by putting that money back into those accounts in whatever investments you choose. I believe (but am not certain) if it has been less than 60 days you can do this penalty free - though you still will need to file it on your taxes.
if I wanted to retire at $800,000 and pull 4%, would I have an additional 1.89% on top of that to live off? Or, could I pull 2.11% from my account and achieve the same 4% due to the dividend payment?
No. no no no no no. You might want to first read up on the 4% rule.
these links may help:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/stop-worrying-about-the-4-rule/http://jlcollinsnh.com/2012/12/07/stocks-part-xiii-withdrawal-rates-how-much-can-i-spend-anyway/https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Safe_withdrawal_ratesVERY briefly, the 4% "rule" came from an elegant economic study which looked at how a hypothetical portfolio of mostly stocks and some bonds would have survived every market period over roughly a century. Turns out 4% is "safe enough" in the vast majority of conditions, including some rather nasty bear markets. Its been vetted, examined, and torn apart to the Nth degree on this forum and elsewhere.
The yield of your investments is NOT added to your 4% WR - in a very real sense anything payed out in dividends is money that won't move the underlying stock higher -- it's zero sum.
That said, if oyu start looking closely at what is a "safe" WR you'll notice that in MOST time periods a 5% WR will survive 30+ years (about 72% of 30yr time periods going back 100+ years). Whether that is "safe enough" for you depends on your risk tolerance and what kind of flexibility you have.
At $800,000 I could pull $32,000 per year at 4%. Since I'm 100% in VTSAX, could I actually pull 5.89% and still be living by the same rules as the 4% WD rate?
Again, no, for the reasons listed above. A 4% WR, as used in the underlying trinity study (the original study which helped generate the 4% "rule) included dividends as part of the 4% WR. Note that dividends also meander up and down over time, as companies change their yields depending on how much extra cash they generate, corporate tax rates and the prevailing economic winds about share price vs. dividends. We are in a historical period with fairly LOW dividends right now. Through most of the 1970s & 80s the SP500 had a yield around 5% (!)
hope that helps - feel free to ask further questions. Knowledge is power.
