[5][6][7] Bengen conducted a number of empirical simulations of historical market behavior and concluded that a person could "draw down", withdraw, up to 4 percent annually from their portfolio without fear of outliving their money.
[8]: 46 He is also the author of the book Conserving Client Portfolios During Retirement, where he revised and updated his analysis.
He is a co-author of Topics in Advanced Model Rocketry, originally published by the MIT Press in 1973.
[11] He worked for 17 years with his family-owned soft-drink-bottling franchise firm in the New York metropolitan area, during which he served tenure as president and COO; the company was sold in 1987.
[14] Criticism of the 4% withdrawal rule include references to its assumption of one's investment portfolio, the differences in historical and current interest rates, as well as the reality that most people's spending habits are not consistently linear.