Enterprising Investor Stefan Sharkansky: The Only Other Spending Rule Article You Will Ever Need
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Mar 1, 2026 Stefan Sharkansky, principal of Useful Work and author of a Financial Analysts Journal article, is a retirement planning researcher and tool creator. He presents a flexible two-asset spending framework using TIPS for secure base income and stocks for variable bonus payouts. He discusses matching spending shapes, TIPS ladder trade-offs, implementation tips and his Best Third tool for practical decumulation design.
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Split Base Income And Bonus Income
- Build retirement portfolios as two parts: a TIPS ladder for secure base income and an equity index for market-driven bonus income.
- The TIPS ladder plus stock amortization separates predictable inflation-protected cash flows from variable equity withdrawals that provide upside.
Wife's Question Sparked The Research
- Sharkansky started this research after his wife asked how much they could spend in retirement, prompting a deep literature review.
- He credits William Sharpe's lockbox idea and Waring & Siegel's FAJ paper as foundations and extends them into an actionable framework.
Withdraw Equity Using An Amortization Rule
- Use an amortization (ARVA) formula to withdraw a fixed percentage of remaining equity each year so cash withdrawals vary with market value.
- This gives rising withdrawal percentages over time (like RMDs) but dollar amounts track market performance as 'bonus' income.