Widow at 72 with $900k and a survivor benefit: measured
Measured as of January 1, 2026 with 2026 tax law · Last updated September 26, 2026
This is one made-up household, run through ZBee's engine with the app's default assumptions. Every figure on this page comes from the same code the app runs; the assumptions are listed at the bottom. It measures this household. It does not recommend anything to anyone.
The household
A widow, 72, single filer, living in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania does not tax Social Security or IRA withdrawals after retirement age, but it does tax interest, dividends and capital gains. She already receives a Social Security survivor benefit of $30,000 a year, entered in ZBee as a benefit she is already being paid.
| Account | Balance | Holdings |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable brokerage | $200,000 | 70% US stock index, 30% bond fund; cost basis $150,000 |
| Traditional IRA | $550,000 | 60% US stock index, 40% bond fund |
| Roth IRA | $150,000 | US stock index |
| Total | $900,000 | 69% stocks overall |
The measurement
Safe yearly spend
$55,400 a year
About $4,600 a month, in today's dollars, after tax, rising with inflation each year to age 100. The survivor benefit is part of it.
That is the highest steady spend that lasts in 90% of 1,000 simulated markets, with taxes and Medicare surcharges paid on top. The same spend also lasted in 70 of the 70 real market sequences on record that start in 1928 or later and run the full length of the plan.
Year one, and its tax
Year one is 2026. The survivor benefit covers part of the spending and the rest comes from the taxable account first (the app's default order).
| Spending | $55,377 |
| Social Security survivor benefit | $30,000 |
| Withdrawn from the taxable account | $25,698 |
| Withdrawn from the IRA | $0 |
| Federal income tax | $0 |
| Pennsylvania income tax | $320 |
| Medicare IRMAA surcharge | $0 |
| Total tax, year one | $320 |
Year one's cash flows happen before any market move, so these lines are the same in every simulated market.
Next year, the first required distribution
She was born in 1954, so her required minimum distributions start at 73, in 2027. On the average-return path the first one is about $21,300 and that year's tax is about $1,100. Over all 29 years of the plan the tax adds up to about $100,100. These three figures are in today's dollars and depend on the market, so read them as the middle of a range. A single filer reaches each tax bracket at about half the income a couple does, which is why the IRA's later withdrawals carry more tax than the same dollars would for a couple.
What moves the number
One change at a time, everything else held as above. Her Social Security is already being paid, so the claiming age is not a lever here.
| Change | Safe yearly spend | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| As measured above | $55,400 | |
| Accept spending guardrails (small cuts in bad markets) | $61,400 | $6,000 more |
| Leave at least $250,000 behind | $47,800 | $7,600 less |
| Confidence 75% instead of 90% | $60,900 | $5,500 more |
| Confidence 50% instead of 90% | $68,200 | $12,800 more |
A lower confidence buys a bigger number with a bigger chance the money runs short before 100. The table shows the size of each trade; weighing it is a personal call.
Assumptions
- The app's defaults: the "Average" return preset (US stocks 7%, bonds 4% a year, before inflation), 3% inflation, planned to age 100, no bequest, guardrails off.
- Confidence 90% (the app's Conservative setting) across 1,000 simulated markets with the app's fixed seed, so the run repeats exactly.
- The survivor benefit is used as entered, rising with inflation.
- Taxes on: 2026 federal brackets for a single filer, standard deduction, capital-gains bands, Social Security taxation, the 3.8% investment income tax and Medicare IRMAA, plus Pennsylvania's income tax; brackets carried forward at the plan's 3% inflation. Withdrawals come from the taxable account first, then the IRA, then the Roth.
- Not modeled: the AMT, tax credits, itemized deductions. The full list is in the methodology.
- Figures are rounded to the nearest $100 except the year-one lines. Dollars are today's dollars.
Measure your own
These are one invented household's numbers. ZBee™ runs the same measurement on your real accounts, on your Mac: download ZBee for macOS (Apple silicon, M1 or later) and it is free for 30 days on your own numbers. More households: all worked cases.
ZBee is a measurement and planning tool, not financial, tax, or legal advice. Projections are hypothetical estimates that will not match actual results. See the Disclaimer and Terms of Use.