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Take this simple quiz to discover whether the '4% Rule' will work for you in retirement.
By
Donna LeValley
published
27 January 2026
in Features
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(Image credit: Getty Images)
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Retirement planning can sometimes feel like trying to assemble IKEA furniture in the dark — stressful, confusing and full of variables you can’t control. Enter the '4% Rule': the retirement rule that suggests if you withdraw 4% of your nest egg in your first year of retirement (and adjust for inflation thereafter), your money should last for 30 years.
Does this classic strategy align with your long-term goals, or does the current economy demand a different approach? Use this quiz to decide if this strategy is right for you or if you should pivot toward a more adaptable approach.
More on the 4% Rule and Withdrawal Strategies, from the Kiplinger team:
- The 4% Rule for Retirement Withdrawals Gets an Upgrade
- Can the 'Guardrails Approach' Protect Your Retirement Investments?
- Retirement Calculator: How Much Do You Need to Retire?
- The 80% Rule of Retirement: Should This Rule be Retired?
- The '120 Minus You Rule' of Retirement
- The 'Die With Zero' Rule of Retirement
- The Rule of 240 Paychecks in Retirement
- The New Rules of Retirement
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Donna LeValleyRetirement WriterDonna joined Kiplinger as a personal finance writer in 2023. She spent more than a decade as the contributing editor of J.K.Lasser's Your Income Tax Guide and edited state specific legal treatises at ALM Media. She has shared her expertise as a guest on Bloomberg, CNN, Fox, NPR, CNBC and many other media outlets around the nation. She is a graduate of Brooklyn Law School and the University at Buffalo.
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