General question about withdrawing after FI/ER

[gggeek]

Just a general question which I wasn't able to find a clean answer to.  Once FI is attained and, for example, someone is withdrawing 4% where is that 4% coming from? Wouldn't there be penalties if taken from the wrong accounts?  Or is that figured into?  How much would that figure into the planning for FI/ER?

If there a post that describes the transition out there please drop me a link.  Thanks!

[Cheddar Stacker]

These should give you a good start. No penalties if you do it correctly.

https://seattlecyclone.com/

http://livingafi.com/2014/05/09/drawdown-part-1-the-basics/

Good luck.

[velocistar237]

I like this one, too.

http://rootofgood.com/roth-ira-conversion-ladder-early-retirement/

[Retired To Win]

Just a general question which I wasn't able to find a clean answer to.  Once FI is attained and, for example, someone is withdrawing 4% where is that 4% coming from? Wouldn't there be penalties if taken from the wrong accounts?  Or is that figured into?  How much would that figure into the planning for FI/ER?...

This all depends on what type of taxable and/or tax-deferred investment accounts you have, and how old you are when you start taking money out of the accounts.  It also makes a difference what your money is invested in.  So, to really provide you feedback you would need to give some more details about the situation you are in or are envisioning.

[Eric]

The links previously posted are good ones.  I'll just add that anything that's an expense should be considered part of your spending and calculated as part of your withdrawal rate.  Whether that's taxes, early access fees*, or anything else.

*You should really be able to avoid most/all of these with planning, but of course there are certain scenarios where it may be beneficial to pay the fee to cover some percentage of your income.