How long will $500k last in retirement?
$500k sits squarely in the range where the answer is "it depends on one number": your monthly spending. At $1,250/month the money behaves very differently than at $4,250/month — run your own numbers below and watch the depletion year move. The 4% guideline calls $1,667/month sustainable from this balance, before a single Social Security dollar arrives.
Your inputs
$500K
Treat the return as after-inflation. 5% real ≈ a 60/40-to-80/20 portfolio's historical range.
How long it lasts
47.4 years
Net withdrawal of $2K/mo depletes $500K in 47.4 years at 5.0% real return.
Single-line projection, today's dollars. Methodology
This is a one-line projection.
Real retirement math has tax brackets, Social Security timing, healthcare premiums, RMDs, and Monte Carlo uncertainty. Granary models all of it against your actual accounts.
Get the full picture →The numbers behind $500k
- The 4% guideline puts $500k's sustainable draw at $20,000/year — about $1,667/month before Social Security or pensions.
- At $1,250/month of net spending (5% real return), $500k lasts 70+ (effectively indefinite) years; at $2,500/month it lasts 35.9; at $4,250/month, 13.6.
- Social Security changes the math more than returns do: a typical $2,000/month benefit reduces the draw on the portfolio dollar-for-dollar — spending $2,500/month with that benefit only pulls $500/month from savings.
- These figures are in today's dollars with returns treated as real (after inflation) — so "lasts 25 years" means 25 years of constant purchasing power, not nominal dollars.
- Sequence-of-returns risk is the wildcard a single average hides: the same average return with a crash in years 1–5 depletes a portfolio years earlier than the identical crash in years 15–20.
Strategy notes for a $500k retirement
This is the most common shape of American retirement math, and the honest answer is: it works, but the spending number decides everything. The 4% guideline gives you the first approximation, and Social Security on top is what makes the household budget breathe — a portfolio in this range plus a typical benefit puts total income in the $4,000–7,000/month zone, which covers a paid-off-house retirement comfortably in most of the country. The two levers that matter most: housing (entering retirement mortgage-free effectively adds $1,500+/month of capacity) and sequence-of-returns risk — a bad market in the first five years does disproportionate damage, which is why holding 1–2 years of spending in cash or short bonds at the start is cheap insurance. Claiming Social Security later is usually worth more than squeezing an extra half-percent of withdrawal rate. For $500k specifically, the bracketing numbers worth memorizing: $1,250/month lasts 70+ (effectively indefinite) years on portfolio alone, and $2,500/month lasts 35.9 — your real plan lives between those lines once income is layered in.
Frequently asked questions
What monthly income does $500k generate in retirement?
Using the 4% guideline, $500k supports about $20,000 per year — $1,667/month — with historically high odds of lasting 30 years. A more conservative 3.5% rate, often recommended for retirements longer than 30 years, puts it at $1,458/month. Social Security and any pension add on top of that.
How long will $500k last with Social Security included?
Much longer than the headline number, because the benefit reduces your portfolio draw dollar-for-dollar. Spending $2,500/month with a typical $2,000/month benefit only withdraws $500/month from savings, versus $2,500 without it. Use the "other monthly income" field in the calculator above to model your actual benefit estimate from ssa.gov.
Can $500k run out in under 10 years?
Yes — overspending does it at any portfolio size. $500k depletes inside a decade if net spending exceeds roughly $5,000/month sustained, or faster if a market crash lands in the first few years while withdrawals continue at full pace. That sequence-of-returns combination, not average returns, is what breaks retirements; a cash buffer covering 1–2 years of spending is the standard defense.
Is $500k enough to retire on at all?
It depends on spending and what else exists: Social Security, a pension, a paid-off house. At $1,250/month of portfolio spending, $500k lasts 70+ (effectively indefinite) years before any benefit is counted — and most households add $1,500–4,000/month of Social Security on top. The honest test isn't the balance, it's whether your real monthly budget minus guaranteed income stays under what the balance sustainably yields ($1,667/month by the 4% rule).