how do i know how long my retirement funds will last?

there are various ways in which one can find out about how and when to withdraw money once you retire.for example there is the monte carlo probability method .or maybe if you went to a mutual fund site like franklin templeton it will show by how much your money will grow over a certain period of time and then calculate how long it will last after taking inflation into account.or maybe if you went to a financial magazine or even dinkytown calculator you would get an answer.but the problem is none of them are good enough to satisfy one'doubts since they seem to be giving different answers .moreover their starting assumptions are different making the whole issue confusing.could somebody give an answer which can satisfy the most inquisitive mind? hey guys i am from india i dont know athing about 401k or anything about the way you guys in the us plan out your retirement.i am sorry i gave the impression that iwas an american. so figure out something more general which would suit any person in the world. by the way i am 57

Public Comments

1. You need to seek the help of a professional. Find a Certified Financial Planner(CFP) that you trust to help you understand how these different tools work and their predictive probability. Keep in mind these are only models designed to demonstrate probable outcomes. The results are meant to provide a good guess as to what may happen. If you want a guarantee, you should look at some of the newer annuity products that can provide a guaranteed payment for life. A CFP can help you use a combination of tools to provide the level of safety that you are looking for.
2. a general rule is to withdrawl 5% per year if you wish to preserve your capital...that is the money is in a safe money market or bond fund
3. That's a great question. In reality, the best thing to do is bring on a financial planner to help you understand how much income you'll need when you're retired, and what kind of income your retirement funds can generate. There's a complex type of analysis called Monte Carlo that assesses how likely you'll be able to retire on your retirement funds that my financial planner used. He talked with me about different retirement topics I learned about from http://www.plannerconnect.com/retirement-planning.html.
4. first you have to come up with how much it is going to cost you to live a year in the style your desire -- than look to any income you have outside of the retirement fund i.e. rental income, ss. other retirement -- than figure that your fund if if is fairly balance will make about 6.5 a year which if you take out cost of living increases brings it down to say 3%. than you take your hand dandy calculator and plug some numbers and you should ge a ball bark figure -- i did this and i will go broke in my 401k when i am 93!!!