Mumbai, Sept. 8 -- Retirement planning is often reduced to a single, anxiety-ridden question: How much savings will last through the post-retirement years?

Research suggests that a retirement nest egg that is close to at least 33X the annual expenditure of the first post-retirement year, also known as expenditure cover, is needed.

With this nest egg, withdrawing 3% a year should comfortably cover one's retirement needs for a 30-year post-retirement period. Of course, these withdrawals will rise each year to keep up with inflation. 


But can you retire with less cover and still make your retirement corpus last?

A recent study suggests this is possible, though not without trade-offs. By accepting some volatility in withdrawals (i....