Most ARF holders in Ireland know their fund value. Most know that Revenue requires a minimum annual drawdown. But far fewer have stopped to ask the more important question: what is a safe withdrawal rate from an ARF in Ireland? And more importantly: is simply meeting the minimum actually a strategy, or just the path of least resistance?

In this episode, Paddy explores safe withdrawal rates in an Irish context: the research on real retiree behaviour, why the 4% rule is both useful and misunderstood, and why the sequence of returns in the first five years of retirement carries disproportionate weight on long-term outcomes.

He walks through a concrete sequence-of-return scenario: same starting fund, same average annual return, same withdrawal rate, completely different outcomes and shares a real-life case study of a retired solicitor whose conservative ARF mandate was quietly eroding her fund at a 7% real rate of depletion annually.

What this Episode covers:

• What is a safe withdrawal rate in Ireland?
• The US Health and Retirement Study findings on actual retiree withdrawal
• Bill Bengen's 4% rule and its Irish limitations
• Sequence of return risk and how a cash buffer changes the equation
• Three common ARF drawdown mistakes and three concrete takeaways.

The imputed distribution sets the floor. It doesn't set the strategy.

Read the full blog post at www.informeddecisions.ie