A viewer emailed me the following question:

"Rob - I hope this finds you well. I'm a fellow large law firm attorney, and I find your approach relatable and sound. I have a question regarding early retirement. I'm contemplating retiring in my early 50s. Currently all my bonds are held in 401K/traditional IRA vehicles, which ideally I would like to not touch until much later in retirement (i.e., when RMDs kick in) to take advantage of the tax deferral benefits. Since my brokerage account is 100% in equities, this could leave me exposed in early retirement if the market tanks and I don't want to have to sell equities at a low price. Is the answer just to build up 5 to 7 years worth of expenses in cash and municipal bonds in my brokerage account or am I missing something obvious? Thank you!"

It's a great question. And I do think there is an easier approach. Simply sell the stock funds in the brokerage account each year as necessary for distributions. And then rebalance. If stocks are down, this will involve selling bond funds in retirement accounts and using the proceeds to invest in stock funds.

Rebalancing after taking annual distributions avoids the problem of selling stocks in a down market. And this is true even if the distributions are taken from stock funds.

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