Is $1 million in savings enough to retire on if we withdraw 4% per year?

The four-per-cent rule is a tidy shorthand for turning savings into retirement income, and this piece takes the familiar question of whether a million dollars is enough and answers it honestly while pushing back on leaning too hard on any rule of thumb. The short version is reassuring, but the more useful part is the caution: a fixed withdrawal rate ignores how spending actually moves over a retirement, how taxes and government benefits enter the picture, and how markets behave in the early years. Rigid rules can leave you spending less than you could, or worrying when you do not need to. It speaks to anyone near retirement who likes the comfort of a formula but would be better served by a plan that flexes with real life rather than a number set in stone.