“How long will my IRA last in retirement?” is one of the most common questions retirees and pre-retirees ask—and for good reason. For many households, an IRA represents the largest pool of retirement savings. It may have been built over decades through rollovers, steady contributions, and disciplined investing. Once paychecks stop, that IRA often becomes the primary engine that funds everyday living.

The challenge is that an IRA was designed primarily as an accumulation vehicle, not a lifetime income plan. During working years, growth is the focus. In retirement, the focus shifts to sustainability. The same strategies that worked while you were contributing can break down once you begin taking withdrawals—especially when taxes, inflation, and market volatility show up at the same time.

This guide explains what really determines how long an IRA can last, why many IRA withdrawal plans fail over time, and how income-focused strategies—including guaranteed income—can reduce the risk of outliving your savings.

Why IRA Longevity Is Harder Than It Looks

At first glance, estimating how long an IRA will last seems simple. You take the balance, divide it by expected annual withdrawals, and adjust for growth. The problem is that retirement does not unfold in straight lines. Markets fluctuate, expenses change, taxes shift, and inflation quietly erodes purchasing power. What looks like a clean projection in a spreadsheet can become a very different outcome in real life.

One of the biggest risks IRA owners face is assuming that average returns will deliver average outcomes. In reality, the order in which returns occur matters far more once withdrawals begin. If markets decline early in retirement and you continue taking income from your IRA, those withdrawals can permanently damage the account’s ability to recover—because you are selling assets after losses rather than letting them rebound.

That’s why many retirees start by learning how to protect your funds in retirement before chasing higher returns. Protection doesn’t mean “no growth.” It means building an income structure that can survive volatility and still fund the life you want.

The Key Factors That Determine How Long an IRA Lasts

IRA longevity is driven by a handful of variables that compound over time. Understanding how these forces interact can quickly reveal whether your plan is durable—or fragile.

Withdrawal rate is the most obvious lever. Taking too much too early can shorten the life of an IRA dramatically. Even modest increases in withdrawals—especially when adjusted upward each year for inflation—can speed up depletion. The withdrawal rate is not just a “percentage.” It’s a lifestyle decision that must stay aligned with the market environment, taxes, and how long retirement might last.

Market exposure matters, but not simply because of long-term returns. Volatility combined with withdrawals introduces sequence-of-returns risk. Poor returns in the first decade of retirement can do far more damage than similar returns later. When withdrawals are happening, losses are not just “paper losses.” They become real when you have to sell shares to generate cash.

Inflation is often underestimated because it’s slow—until it’s not. While some expenses may decline with age, other expenses frequently rise later in life, especially healthcare costs, insurance premiums, and out-of-pocket medical spending. An IRA that feels sustainable at today’s spending level can struggle when costs rise faster than expected.

Taxes are another critical factor. IRA withdrawals are typically taxed as ordinary income. The higher your tax rate, the more you must withdraw to net the same amount of spendable income. That can shorten the account’s lifespan faster than many retirees expect. Taxes also influence which account you draw from first, how you sequence withdrawals, and whether you can smooth income across tax brackets.

Longevity is the variable most people don’t want to think about, but it’s the one that can make or break an IRA plan. Planning for a 20-year retirement when you live 30 years can create a significant shortfall. Even if you do everything “right,” the math changes when the timeline stretches. That’s why many retirement income plans incorporate a lifetime income layer so that the risk of living longer than expected doesn’t fall entirely on the IRA.

Why Traditional IRA Withdrawal Strategies Often Fail

Many retirees rely on rules of thumb like “only withdraw the interest,” “use the 4% rule,” or “stick to a fixed percentage.” These can be useful starting points, but they often fail to account for real-world stress. Retirement is not only about returns. It’s about the timing of returns, unexpected expenses, and how consistently your plan can deliver cash flow.

A fixed-dollar withdrawal strategy can force you to sell assets during market downturns, locking in losses. A percentage-based strategy can lead to unpredictable income that fluctuates year to year, making budgeting difficult. And a “withdraw only from the IRA” plan can unintentionally create higher taxes, which then forces even larger withdrawals to maintain lifestyle.

Most importantly, these strategies often place the entire burden of income on market performance. When markets cooperate, everything feels fine. When they don’t, confidence erodes quickly—because you don’t just worry about “this year,” you worry about the next 10 or 20 years.

A more resilient approach builds layers of income—so your basic needs are not fully dependent on market returns. For many households, it starts with coordinating Social Security with other guaranteed income sources. A helpful starting point is understanding how Social Security and annuities work together, because Social Security often forms the base layer of retirement income and annuities can be used to strengthen that base.

The Difference Between IRA Balance and IRA Income

An IRA balance is not the same thing as IRA income. Two people with identical balances can experience very different retirement outcomes depending on how income is generated and how risk is managed.

Income planning focuses on cash-flow reliability rather than account value. The goal is not to maximize the number on a statement. The goal is to ensure that spending needs can be met year after year without excessive stress, without being forced into poor decisions during volatile markets, and without feeling like every retirement expense is a bet against the market.

When you think about your IRA as a fuel tank, the most important question becomes: “How do I make this fuel tank last through every kind of weather?” That includes market declines, higher inflation, rising healthcare costs, and changes in tax policy. A plan that works only when conditions are perfect is not a real plan.

How Guaranteed Income Can Extend the Life of an IRA

Guaranteed income can fundamentally change how an IRA functions in retirement. Instead of serving solely as a source of withdrawals, a portion of IRA assets can be repositioned to create predictable income that is not dependent on market performance. This changes the emotional experience of retirement as much as it changes the math, because you are no longer relying on “hoping the market cooperates” to pay for essentials.

When essential expenses such as housing, utilities, food, and insurance are covered by predictable income, the remaining IRA assets can be managed with greater flexibility. That flexibility can allow for a more balanced investment approach, reduce the need to sell during downturns, and create more options when the unexpected happens—whether that’s a family emergency, a major healthcare cost, or a prolonged market decline.

It also improves decision-making. When essentials are protected, you can be patient with the rest of the portfolio. You can avoid panic selling. You can avoid making permanent decisions in temporary moments. And you can build a plan that is designed to last through multiple market cycles.

If you want to go deeper on how income-focused annuities are designed for retirement cash flow, start with what is the best retirement income annuity. That overview helps connect the dots between “owning an IRA” and “creating an IRA income system.”

Taxes and RMDs: The Quiet Forces That Change the Math

Most IRA longevity conversations focus on market returns and withdrawal rates, but taxes can be the difference between a plan that lasts and a plan that breaks. If your withdrawals push you into higher brackets, you may end up withdrawing more than you expected just to net the same spendable income. That accelerates depletion. It also reduces your ability to adapt later, because you are using up “future dollars” faster than you realize.

Required minimum distributions (RMDs) can add pressure. Traditional IRAs are subject to RMDs beginning at a specified age. That means the government sets a floor on withdrawals whether you need the income or not. If your IRA is large, those RMDs can force higher taxable income later in life, potentially increasing the tax drag on the account and changing how long it lasts.

RMDs also reduce flexibility. In years when you would prefer to keep withdrawals lower—because markets are down, because you have other income, or because you don’t need extra cash—you still have to take distributions. If the plan is built around “minimum withdrawals,” RMDs can be manageable. If the plan is already stretched, RMDs can become another accelerant.

A stronger framework is to build a retirement income system that anticipates taxes rather than reacting to them. That often includes coordinating timing across income sources, smoothing taxable income over time, and making sure the IRA is not the only lever you can pull when markets are volatile.

Sequence Risk: Why the First 5–10 Years Matter So Much

Sequence-of-returns risk is the reason two retirees can retire with the same IRA balance and the same “average return,” yet end up with completely different outcomes. If one retiree experiences strong returns early in retirement, withdrawals can be supported without damaging the base. If another retiree experiences losses early, withdrawals can lock in declines and shrink the base at the exact time it needs to be strongest.

This is why the early years of retirement deserve a different mindset than the accumulation years. In accumulation, volatility is often tolerable because you are contributing and buying through downturns. In retirement, volatility can become dangerous because you are withdrawing and selling through downturns.

Reducing sequence risk does not necessarily mean abandoning growth. It means building buffers. Those buffers can include maintaining a cash reserve, using a structured withdrawal policy that adapts to markets, and building a predictable income layer so your IRA is not forced to do all the heavy lifting during the worst possible times.

Inflation and Healthcare: Why “My Budget Will Stay the Same” Usually Isn’t True

Inflation is rarely dramatic in a single year, which is why it gets ignored. Over a multi-decade retirement, it becomes one of the biggest forces in the plan. Even moderate inflation means that the spending level you have today may not be the spending level you need 10 or 20 years from now.

Healthcare often becomes the wildcard. Many retirees see discretionary spending decline over time, but healthcare spending can move the opposite direction. Insurance premiums, out-of-pocket costs, prescription expenses, and unexpected medical needs can rise later in life. If the IRA plan was built only to fund “today’s lifestyle,” it can be strained when healthcare costs increase.

This is another reason retirees look at layering income. If essentials and baseline living costs are supported by predictable income, it becomes easier to adapt when inflation rises or healthcare costs change. Your IRA then becomes a flexible tool rather than a single point of failure.

A Practical Framework for “How Long Will My IRA Last?”

Instead of trying to predict the market, focus on building a plan that works across a range of outcomes. In practice, that means testing your IRA plan against three realities: lower returns, higher inflation, and longer life expectancy. If the plan only works when returns are strong and inflation is mild, the plan is fragile.

Many retirees find it helpful to separate spending into two categories. First are essential expenses—the costs that must be paid regardless of what markets do. Second are discretionary expenses—the costs that can be adjusted if needed. When essential expenses rely entirely on market withdrawals, every downturn feels like an emergency. When essential expenses are covered by predictable income sources, downturns become manageable.

This is not about giving up control. It’s about creating options. A retirement plan with options is a retirement plan that can last longer, because it can adapt instead of breaking.

How Diversified Insurance Brokers Helps With IRA Longevity Planning

Diversified Insurance Brokers works with retirees nationwide to evaluate how long IRA assets may last under different scenarios. The focus is not on predicting markets. The focus is on building income strategies that can hold up through volatility, inflation, and longevity.

For many retirees, confidence comes from knowing that essential income is protected while remaining assets retain flexibility. When you can clearly see how your plan behaves under stress—down markets, rising costs, higher taxes—you can make better decisions today and avoid being forced into decisions later.

If you want a clearer picture of how your IRA could behave over time, the most useful next step is running realistic income scenarios and comparing those outcomes to strategies that add predictability. That’s where many retirement plans become stronger—not because of one “perfect product,” but because the overall structure becomes more resilient.