Articles tagged “sequence of returns risk”

Your first year of retirement sets the pattern for the next 30. A 2025 EBRI study found 40% of retirees withdraw more than the recommended 4% in year 1, and 56% have no written withdrawal strategy. This checklist covers the 6 moves every new retiree must make.

Two retirees with the same average return can end up with vastly different outcomes depending on when market losses hit. Here is what sequence of returns risk is, why it matters, and what actually protects against it.