The 4% solution

The New York Times discusses the "4% rule" of thumb that says if a retiree uses a 4% withdrawal rate from a retirement portfolio there is no chance of running out of money during retirement—at least based upon the past performance of the financial markets.  The rule has come in for criticism in todays ultra-low interest rate environment.  The article does a nice job of presenting the origins of the rule and recent variations.

I found the comments quite entertaining, ranging from astute to woefully ignorant, as usual.