A retirement plan should work in an average year, but comfort depends on what happens in a difficult one. A market decline early in retirement, several years of inflation, a major home repair, or the death of a spouse can expose weaknesses that a single “success probability” does not show. A practical stress test turns those risks into decisions you can make before the first retirement withdrawal. The test is not a forecast and should not manufacture certainty. Its purpose is to answer concrete questions: Which expenses would be protected? Which could be reduced? How many months could the household…
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