Webb, Anthony. “Making your nest egg last a lifetime”. Issue in Brief 9-20, Chestnut Hill, Mass.: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, September 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104279.
Abstract
The brief's key findings are: (1) Managing a nest egg in retirement is hard. (2) People don't know how long they will live and what asset returns to expect. (3) "Rules of thumb" such as spending either asset income only or a fixed percent of the capital each year, have significant limitations the capital each year, have significant limitations. (4) To minimize risk, a household should consider buying an annuity to cover at least basic living expenses.