About 43% of U.S. near retirees believe that they can withdraw 10% or more of their retirement savings each year while preserving their principal.
Researchers at the MetLife Mature Market Institute, Westport, Conn., a unit of MetLife Inc., New York, report that finding in a summary of results from a survey of 1,216 "financial decisionmakers" ages 56 to 65.
Most experts recommend that retirees hold their withdrawal rate to 4% or less, the researchers note.
Altogether, survey participants answered an average of 6.4 of the 15 questions in a MetLife "2008 Retirement Income IQ Test" the way the researchers thought they should.
