For what it’s worth, we are spending much less in retirement so far than 4% annually. COVID has made it difficult to meet our spending “goals” because it’s so difficult and risky to travel, eat out and participate in other forms of entertainment. In January, I will have been retired 5 years and my wife 7 years, and we have yet to spend one dime of our retirement savings. We’ve been getting by just fine from our pensions, my wife’s social security and modest withdrawals from taxable savings. I’m holding off drawing from my SS because so far we simply haven’t needed it.

It is complicated. I am not sure why there is so much focus on the "4%" rule when the IRS forces people over 75 to remove 4.07% of your retirement accounts. By 80 it is up to almost 5%.
While I am irritated by a lot of the smugness at American Association for individual investors, one of their key points is "if the SP500 is within 5% of all time high, take money out of equities; if it is not, take money out of something else"

Good plan @rono.
Automatic investment plan (AIP) is a great way to learn and get in the habit of saving. I started AIP with the workplace plan in the 70s and than later for non-retirement investing in the 90s. Still use it today for efficient budget management. TRP has some great funds to use for the purpose. If you’ve been reading the board, some of us have soured on their service. Fido might be my choice today.

If this money is for retirement and not for a home or family in the next 10 years, the Roth is the best idea hands down.
I think if I was starting out and had 1 investment to start with, I would just buy QQQ and don't worry about diversification at that young age. Technology was a great investment 40 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago and no reason to think differently in the future.
And I can't for the life of me think why a senior in high school whose only obligation for the next 4-5 years is to concentrate on a college degree, and being an only child with parents having good jobs as you described would ever need an emergency fund. It's not like he has to worry about losing his job and have to pay the families bills. This may be the best time of his life to invest as much as possible for the future without having other life-obligations that will certainly come in the future.
I'm very impressed with this young man wanting to understand finance at this young age.

What Type Of Retirement Spender Will You Be?

One final study should be considered to help shed light on retirement spending patterns and which default assumptions could be appropriate for different types of retirees. In August 2015, J.P. Morgan Asset Management released a study about retirement spending by Katherine Roy and Sharon Carson.
Their dataset provides a “big data” analysis of 613,000 U.S. households led by people fifty-five or older who were estimated by the researchers to have managed most of their household finances through banking services at Chase (debit and credit cards, pay mortgages through bank account, etc.).
In analyzing the expenditures for their diverse consumer base, they identified four retirement spending profiles and an additional category of miscellaneous individuals. These are the profiles they found

https://retirementresearcher.com/type-retirement-spender-will/

The retirement drawdown “smile”:

Retirement spending drops off over the first half…then picks up again in the second…half due to healthcare spending

https://retirementresearcher.com/retirement-spending-smile/

@bee, as always thank you for the links. Took pre-retirement class at work, but there are many aspects of preparation for the drawdown and taxes.
@crash, the natural disaster are very hard for many people, especially in countries where the government don't have much resources for their citizens.

Absolutely right. But then... If the people--- elected, appointed officials--- are supposed to serve the population, then it stands to reason that systemic corruption militates against that chief goal. Yet when EVERYONE buys into that (corrupt) mindset, everyone then fails to recognize it. Corruption becomes business as usual. People deserve MUCH better, but in the end, "we get the leaders we deserve." (Bill Maher.)

@bee, as always thank you for the links. Took pre-retirement class at work, but there are many aspects of preparation for the drawdown and taxes.
@crash, the natural disaster are very hard for many people, especially in countries where the government don't have much resources for their citizens.

?
yes, that is what I was referring to. Is ORP related to
https://www.newretirement.com/retirement/5-steps-for-defining-your-retirement-drawdown-strategy/
?
ah, I see that PoF thread has ref to Kitces and thence to ORP; is that what you are referring to?

For the love of Pete...I hope there are NOT any blog entries by any "FIRE" proponents who burnt out from the corporate world, stated they retired early, got a van to escape reality but in reality are still working writing a blog which contains "financial investment porn", securing eyeballs so they can post and monetize digital ads.
Just like Elizabeth Warren, AOC, Bernie Sanders...just go away. Everyone is tired of your nonsense and general kookiness.
It's kind of like when you put on a suit and tie and are a white dude...no one questions you or looks at you funny when you walk into a store....you write an investment porn blog and just because you get a following that makes you an expert? Never take investment advice from anyone who doesn't have over $10MM. As Josh Brown refers to in is book, "How do you invest, show me your portfolio". Sheet.
Apologies for the snark. Sincerely DO appreciate the post.
In reality, all snark aside, I do truly believe the only safe retirement plans are for those who have a gov't pension and live in a "blue" state and will suckle off the teets of their fellow tax payers, come what may. The rest of us are all somewhat gambling in the casino and left to the whims of government monetary and fiscal policy.
Maybe, just maybe, keep it simple, control your spending, stay healthy as much as possible, don't take on too much risk (meaning either too aggressive investments or too conservate (guilty as charged))
Best,
Baseball Fan

For anyone considering recognizing more gain or doing more Roth conversions this year, I ran across a couple of quirks in the way gains may be taxed.
Suppose you have short term gains (say, $3000) and long term losses (say -$1000), so that you're net positive (+$2,000 short term). Not a common situation, but here added long term gains can get taxed at short term (ordinary income rates).
In this example, if you generate an extra $500 in long term gains, that reduces the LT loss by $500, thus increasing the net short term gains by $500: Net LT loss = $500, net gain (short term) = $3000 - $500 = $2500.
----
If your income is in the region where some but not all cap gains are taxed at 0%, then adding $1 of ordinary income can increase your taxes by 27¢, i.e. it's taxed at 27%. Kitces has an excellent piece on this; see examples 3 and 4.
https://www.kitces.com/blog/long-term-capital-gains-bump-zone-higher-marginal-tax-rate-phase-in-0-rate/
He discusses how in this situation it is preferable to generate long term gains (even if taxed at 15%) as opposed to doing Roth conversions (even if nominally taxed at 12%). Going further, if one doesn't have much in cap gains/qualified divs, ISTM that it can still make sense to convert all the way up to the next tax bracket. A small amount will get taxed at 27%, but with little in cap gains, most will get taxed "normally". But if one has lots of cap gains that would get pushed into the 27% bracket, it pays to defer converting.
This suggests a multiyear strategy for planning periodic sales of assets and Roth conversions. It can be advantageous to lump them into alternating years. One year you take two year's worth of gains (taxed at 0% or 15%). The next year you work to minimize your cap gains (so there are few gains to get taxed at 27%) and convert more retirement money. Even if those conversions push you into the 22% bracket, that's still better than having a lot of cap gains taxed at 27%.
One needs to look at how much in gains one expects to recognize (including fund distributions), how much one wants to convert, other ordinary income, to see if this lumping strategy helps.

Additional links can be found in the link I included below:

“The Chain”
As you’ll see in the P.S., we’re trying something new in the blogosphere. We’re “Building A Chain” of blog articles, where different bloggers are sharing their detailed Drawdown Strategy. To help keep track, I’ll edit this post as new “links” are added in the chain. Eventually, we’re planning on compiling these into an e-book, and donating all proceeds to charity. Thanks to the following bloggers who have joined “The Chain Gang”!!
Anchor: Physician On Fire: Our Drawdown Plan in Early Retirement
Link 1: The Retirement Manifesto: Our Retirement Investment Drawdown Strategy
Link 2: OthalaFehu: Retirement Master Plan
Link 3: Freedom Is Groovy: The Groovy Drawdown Strategy
Link 4: The Green Swan: The Nastiest, Hardest Problem In Finance: Decumulation
Link 5: My Curiosity Lab: Show Me The Money: My Retirement Drawdown Plan
Link 6: Cracking Retirement: Our Drawdown Strategy
Link 7: The Financial Journeyman: Early Retirement Portfolio & Plan
Link 8: Retire By 40: Our Unusual Early Retirement Withdrawal Strategy
Link 10: Early Retirement Now: The ERN Family Early Retirement Captial Preservation Plan
Link 11: 39 Months: Mr. 39 Months Drawdown Plan
Link 12: 7 Circles: Drawdown Strategy – Joining The Chain Gang
Link 13: Retirement Starts Today: What’s Your Retirement Withdrawal Strategy?
Link 14: Ms. Liz Money Matters: How I’ll Fund My Retirement
Link 15a: Dads Dollars Debts: DDD Drawdown Part 1: Living With A Pension
Link 15b: Dads Dollars Debts: DDD Drawdown Plan Part 2: Retire at 48?
Link 16: Penny & Rich: Rich’s Retirement Plan
Link 17: Atypical Life: Our Retirement Drawdown Strategy
Link 18: New Retirement: 5 Steps For Defining Your Retirement Drawdown Strategy
Link 19: Maximize Your Money: Practical Retirement Withdrawal Strategies Are Important
Link 20: ChooseFI: The Retirement Manifesto – Drawdown Strategy Podcast
Link 21: CoachCarson: My Rental Retirement Strategy
Link 22: Accidently Retired: How I Planned my Early Withdrawal Strategy
Link 23: Playtirement: Playtirement Preservation Stage

Find the above links within this link (found at the end of article):
our-retirement-investment-drawdown-strategy

JP Morgan Study:

Our research into real-life retirement spending patterns, however, uncovered three surprising trends that suggest it may be time to re-examine these popular replacement income strategies. In general, we found that:
There is a lifetime spending curve.
There is a retirement spending surge.
There is notable spending volatility at and through retirement.
Understanding and applying these insights may offer stronger options to optimize withdrawals and help retirees make the most of their assets.

three-retirement-spending-surprises

update:
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/889284/000139834421024111/fp0071142_497.htm
497 1 fp0071142_497.htm
STERLING CAPITAL FUNDS
SUPPLEMENT DATED DECEMBER 20, 2021
TO THE
CLASS A AND CLASS C SHARES PROSPECTUS AND THE
INSTITUTIONAL AND CLASS R6 SHARES PROSPECTUS,
EACH DATED FEBRUARY 1, 2021, AS SUPPLEMENTED
This Supplement provides the following amended and supplemental information and supersedes any information to the contrary in the Class A and Class C Shares Prospectus and the Institutional, Class R6 Shares Prospectus, each dated February 1, 2021 (collectively, the “Prospectuses”), with respect to Sterling Capital Special Opportunities Fund and Sterling Capital Equity Income Fund:
Sterling Capital Special Opportunities Fund
Effective immediately, George Shipp will cease to serve as co-portfolio manager of the Fund, due to his upcoming retirement from the Adviser as disclosed July 12, 2021. Accordingly, the “Management—Portfolio Managers” section in the Prospectuses with respect to Sterling Capital Special Opportunities Fund is hereby deleted and replaced with the following:
Portfolio Managers
Joshua L. Haggerty, CFA
Executive Director of Sterling Capital and Co-Portfolio Manager
Since July 2021
(formerly, Associate Portfolio Manager from February 2016 – July 2021)
Daniel A. Morrall
Executive Director of Sterling Capital and Co-Portfolio Manager
Since December 2021
(formerly, Associate Portfolio Manager from July 2021 – December 2021)
Sterling Capital Equity Income Fund
Effective immediately, George Shipp will cease to serve as co-portfolio manager of the Fund, due to his upcoming retirement from the Adviser as disclosed July 12, 2021. Accordingly, the “Management—Portfolio Managers” section in the Prospectuses with respect to Sterling Capital Equity Income Fund is hereby deleted and replaced with the following:
Portfolio Managers
Adam B. Bergman, CFA
Executive Director of Sterling Capital and Co-Portfolio Manager
Since July 2021
(formerly, Associate Portfolio Manager from February 2016 – July 2021)
Charles J. Wittmann
Executive Director of Sterling Capital and Co-Portfolio Manager
Since December 2021
(formerly, Associate Portfolio Manager from July 2021 – December 2021)
The following replaces the description of the Portfolio Managers set forth under “Fund Management—Portfolio Managers” in the Prospectuses with respect to the Sterling Capital Special Opportunities Fund and Sterling Capital Equity Income Fund:
Special Opportunities Fund and Equity Income Fund. Joshua L. Haggerty, CFA, Executive Director, joined the CHOICE Asset Management team of BB&T Scott & Stringfellow in 2005, which integrated with Sterling Capital in January 2013. He has investment experience since 1998. He has been Co-Portfolio Manager of the Special Opportunities Fund since July 2021 and was Associate Portfolio Manager of the Special Opportunities Fund from February 2016 to July 2021. Josh is a graduate of James Madison University where he received his BBA in Finance. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.
Adam B. Bergman, CFA, Executive Director, joined the CHOICE Asset Management team of Scott & Stringfellow in 2007, which integrated with Sterling Capital Management in January 2013. He has investment experience since 1996. He has been Co-Portfolio Manager of the Equity Income Fund since July 2021 and was Associate Portfolio Manager of the Equity Income Fund from February 2016 to July 2021. Adam is a graduate of the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce where he received his BS in Commerce. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.
Charles J. Wittmann, CFA, Executive Director, joined Sterling Capital Management in 2014 and has investment experience since 1995. He has been Co-Portfolio Manager of the Equity Income Fund since December 2021 and was Associate Portfolio Manager of the Equity Income Fund from July 2021 to December 2021. Prior to joining Sterling Capital, he worked for Thompson Siegel & Walmsley as a portfolio manager and (generalist) analyst. Prior to TS&W, he was a founding portfolio manager and analyst with Shockoe Capital, an equity long/short hedge fund. Charles received his B.A. in Economics from Davidson College and his M.B.A. from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.
Daniel A. Morrall, Executive Director, joined Sterling Capital Management in 2014 and has investment experience since 2001. He has been Co-Portfolio Manager of the Special Opportunities Fund since December 2021and was Associate Portfolio Manager of the Special Opportunities Fund from July 2021 to December 2021. Prior to joining Sterling Capital, he worked as an equity analyst for Harber Asset Management and S Squared Technology LLC, technology-biased long/short funds. Dan received his B.S. in Business and Economics from Washington and Lee University, his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, and his M.S.I.T. from Capella University.
SHAREHOLDERS SHOULD RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT
WITH THE PROSPECTUSES FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.
SUPP-1221
-2-

Just a few brief notes on David's launch alert segment for BIAYX. Intrigued by the fund I checked into it at Fidelity. The minimum there is $2500 AND they won't/don't let you buy it in a retirement account unless you call them. For whatever reason (at least I couldn't find one in either the funds literature, website or prospectus) Fidelity has tagged this fund as being tax-advantaged and endeavors to dissuade one from buying it in retirement accounts. YMMV.

Brokerages do not seem to designate Rolledover Roths as such. All the brokerages I know just have Roth IRA but no Rollover Roth IRA and Roth 401(k) funds are rolled over to a Roth IRA account. Why is there this distinction between Traditional vs Roth at brokerage level? Do rolledover Roth 401(k) funds not receive the same protection as rolledover 401(k) funds?

Why no rollover Roth IRAs? Likely because of the sequence of changes in the law.

Sometimes called a “rollover IRA,” a conduit IRA holds only retirement plan rollover assets. These Traditional IRAs were established to temporarily hold retirement plan rollover assets, such as savings in a 401(k) or profit sharing plan. By segregating the assets, the individual can later move the savings back to another retirement plan and retain certain tax benefits. If the individual makes other types of IRA contributions, such as regular IRA contributions, the IRA loses its conduit status.

https://www.cuinsight.com/value-conduit-ira.html
This is supported by old Pub 590s. See, e.g. the 2000 version, p. 17.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/p590--2000.pdf
So originally there was a need for "pure" (untainted) conduit IRAs, and brokerages tagged IRAs as such. The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) did away with this need. It allows employer plans to accept transfers from IRAs regardless of whether the assets originated in other employer plans.
Here's the current IRS chart of permitted transfers: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/rollover_chart.pdf
EGTRRA also created Roth 401(k)s; before this they did not exist. (They didn't come into existence until even later, in 2006.) So by the time Roth 401(k)s were created, there was no longer a need for conduit IRAs. Thus no need for brokerages to tag Roth IRAs as rollovers.
As to unlimited BAPCPA bankruptcy protection, that is something that applies to assets that originate in employer plans. There's no distinction between between Roth assets and traditional assets. This may be inferred from the absence of "Roth" in the text of BAPCPA.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-109publ8/html/PLAW-109publ8.htm

As we're looking at protection given to rollovers by the BAPCPA, we're talking about bankruptcy proceedings. Some retirement assets (employer plans, money rolled into IRAs, another $1.36+M in IRAs) are protected, but this money becomes fair game if it's withdrawn before the case is decided/settled.

It is generally a bad idea to withdraw from a 401(k) or other retirement account or try to “cash-out” the account for any purpose since the money becomes income and is no longer exempt in your bankruptcy.

https://kretzerfirm.com/what-happens-to-your-401k-or-ira-in-bankruptcy/
So you're free to manage (reallocate) your protected assets while the case is ongoing. But if you withdraw money, it becomes just as subject to being frozen as money that was never protected.
---
Any IRA money that a debtor claims in good faith to be rollover money is considered exempt (protected). It's up to the bankruptcy trustee to prove otherwise.
One gets this protection, best practices or not. Nevertheless, following best practices (and having the statements to prove it) would likely dissuade a trustee from objecting to the exemption, depending on the amount of money involved.

The Court Must Construe Exemptions Liberally In Favor Of the Debtor, And The Trustee Bears The Burden Of Proof Here.
... Properly exempted property is not available to pay the claims of the debtor's creditors. The Court must construe the claim of exemption in the Recipient IRA liberally in favor of the Debtor. [citations omitted.] And the Trustee, as the party objecting to a claim of exemption, bears the burden of proving that the Debtor improperly claims this exemption. [citations omitted.]

https://www.casb.uscourts.gov/sites/casb/files/documents/opinions/09_15148.pdf
While I think this is still correct, take it with a grain of salt. It's from a decision not for publication, and at least one part of the decision was subsequently overturned by a unanimous Supreme Court: As of 2014 inherited IRAs do not get the same protection because they are not regarded as retirement accounts. But they did in this earlier 2010 case.

Thanks, Yogi. I wasn't sure if that was still the case these days. So, if retirement funds are covered (401Ks/IRAs), that just leaves Taxable funds (savings or brokerage accounts), assuming I were to setup a Land Trust.
For RE, I would not receive much coverage from the low Homestead Act exemption in my State.
Unless there are better ideas?
If I went to 5 different lawyers with this, I wonder if I would get 5 different answers.

Disregarding state law protections, IRAs of every ilk including conduit IRAs have less protection than employer plans.
Employer plans are usually covered under an anti-alienation rule that prohibits them from turning moneys over to creditors or pretty much anyone else other than the owner. Period.
https://www.erieri.com/glossary/term/alienation-of-benefits
ERISA: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/1056#d_1
Qualified (401(a)) plans: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/401#a_13
In contrast, the unlimited protection for employer plan assets rolled over into IRAs comes from the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA). This only protects debtors during bankruptcy. (The name of the statute is the giveaway.)
A debtor's choice appears to be to declare personal bankruptcy or rely on state statutes to protect IRA assets from creditors.
The unlimited BAPCPA protection applies to assets coming from employer retirement plans. So long as a debtor can show that IRA assets originated in an employer plan, those identified assets have unlimited protection. Certainly segregating them into a separate rollover IRA makes this source identification ("tracing") task easier. But it is not necessary, and commingling is not a mistake. Keeping inadequate records is.
Having an IRA labeled "rollover" doesn't prove that all the assets in it came from rollovers. I've owned "rollover" IRAs with commingled assets. I also have impeccable records :-)

To make sure that an individual receives the full $1 million exemption [currently adjusted to $1,362,800] on owner-established traditional and Roth IRAs and the unlimited exemption on IRA rollovers from tax-qualified retirement plans, it is good practice to establish separate IRA rollover and contributory IRA accounts. This will make it easier to track the separate pools of assets.

https://www.thetaxadviser.com/issues/2014/jan/naegele-jan2014.html

More re @derf’s query about % of transactions that go bad. Bear in mind that not all “transactions” are equal. I can’t remember an exchange between funds @ TRP ever failing to go through. Pretty routine stuff. Here’s where it became frustrating for me ……
1) Switching from paper statements to online statements as my internet capability improved did not result in fewer paper statements as intended. The opposite happened and they began mailing monthly statements that I did not welcome - often replete with account numbers and balances. So I called them. First they said I had to remove checkwriting capability from my money market account if I wanted these frequent mailings halted. I did so at some inconvenience to me. But the flood of paper did not stop. If anything it increased. Calls to try to resolve this often had me on hold for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Still, the monthly (occasionally weekly) paper statements continued to arrive. And every “agent” I talked to seemed to have a different “take” on what the problem was.
(2) For years TRP had agreed to stop taking Michigan withholding from distributions provided I filed the appropriate Michigan tax form ahead of time. And every January 1 I completed a new form and sent it (certified mail) along with a brief typed letter to Price. But when I took a 2021 distribution mid-year, they did not honor that opt-out form. To be more specific, they did honor the opt-out provision on part of the distribution (from one bond fund) but they pulled the state tax from the other part (from a second bond fund). When I followed up with a call to try to ask why they essentially “blew me off” saying something like “sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t” (honor the opt-out request). Interestingly, Fido let’s you opt out of state withholding when you submit the transaction - a feature missing at TRP.
(3) While 90+% of the transfer to Fido was in-kind, there were 3 short term bond funds having small balances I elected to liquidate. Rather than combine these into a single check, Price mailed Fido 3 separate checks. Fido credited those to my account and allowed me to trade with them, which I did. But 3 days later Fido had the checks returned to them from their bank as “unpaid.” The next thing I knew my investments were being force sold by Fido and I was being hit with a slew of related fees. I was suspended from being able to trade with unsettled funds for 3 months. My record still bears a “Free Riding” violation which the SEC considers fraudulent behavior and a serious breech of law.
(4) Daily for over a week I was in phone contact with TRP, experiencing those 30 minute to 2 hour wait times on virtually every call trying to resolve this. Their phone personnel seemed poorly informed and ill prepared to deal with the issue. Repeatedly I was told “we’ll call you” which rarely really happened. They did eventually apologize for the matter and send out 3 new checks to Fido. What a horrendous experience - considering that TRP had long held the bulk of my retirement assets and had been trusted by me for decades to do things right.
So, @Derf and others …. it’s not so much the % of things that go wrong as the type of issue involved and how well equipped they are to resolve a problem once one occurs.