Pulling $45,000 a Year From the Portfolio at 67? A Bad First Decade Makes That Number Unsustainable. These 3 ETFs Make It Less Fragile

You are 67, retired, and the plan is already running. Every year, $45,000 comes out of the portfolio to pay for the life you built. The number feels settled. Whether it holds depends on something you can’t control, which is the order in which market returns arrive over the next decade. Your plan can grow stronger with three ETFs: iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF (CBOE:GOVT), Pacer US Cash Cows 100 ETF (CBOE:COWZ), and Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF (NYSEARCA:SPLV).

51% of U.S. adults worry they will outlive their savings, according to Northwestern Mutual’s 2025 Planning & Progress Study. Your goal is to build a portfolio that makes that impossible.

How a Fixed Withdrawal Turns a Downturn Into Permanent Damage

Your withdrawal is set in dollars. When the portfolio drops, that same $45,000 becomes a bigger share of what’s left, so you have to sell more shares to raise it. Those shares are gone for good. When the market recovers, they can’t recover with it. The damage compounds every year after, because the base that would have grown back is smaller.

Timing makes the early years critical. In your first decade, withdrawals come out of a base that hasn’t had time to grow, and every share you sell cheaply is gone before the recovery. The same bad stretch at 80 does far less harm. Two retirees making the same average return over retirement can end up in completely different places purely because of the order those returns arrived (we walked through why those opening years do oversized damage, and how to defend them, in a free guide here).

Your Strongest Defense Is Flexibility on the Amount

Being willing to cut withdrawals during a bad stretch improves your odds more than any fund choice. The Retire Sooner Method finds that “a well-diversified portfolio, paired with a flexible withdrawal strategy that can adjust as markets and life change, usually provides the best mix of confidence, sustainability, and the lack of worry about ever running out.” The funds below mean you’ll need that flexibility less often.

GOVT Gives You Something to Sell When Stocks Fall

GOVT holds U.S. Treasuries across the maturity curve and had $43.55 billion in net assets as of July 31, 2026. Its largest single Treasury issue made up roughly 5.3% of net assets. When stocks fall, a retiree can use withdrawals from a Treasury fund like GOVT, giving stock holdings time to recover.

Treasury funds lose value when interest rates rise. GOVT’s adjusted price is down 2.52% year-to-date and 4.88% over five years. The 10-year Treasury yielded 5.27% on October 6, 2026. Further rate increases would push the fund’s price lower.

COWZ Owns Businesses That Produce Real Cash

COWZ screens the Russell 1000 for the 100 companies with the highest free cash flow yields. The screen favors companies generating real cash, which can help in downturns. Its holdings span $18.69 billion across healthcare, telecom, energy, software, and consumer staples, with no single position exceeding roughly 2.2% of net assets.

COWZ rose 19.59% over the past year but dropped 4.88% in the past month. It’s still a stock fund. Its quarterly payouts swing widely, from $0.43137296 per share in September to $0.11184286 in June, so income from the fund varies from quarter to quarter.

SPLV Makes the Declines Shallower

SPLV holds the 100 least volatile stocks in the S&P 500, aiming to provide smaller drops when you withdraw. It pays monthly, most recently $0.14243 per share in September, and paid $1.64177 over the trailing 12 months.

SPLV’s price rose just 0.14% over the past year while COWZ gained far more. It lost 4.35% over the past month. When the VIX hit 31.05 on March 27, 2026, low-volatility holdings still faced market-wide stress.

Trade-Offs to Weigh Before You Lean on These Funds

None of these three funds guarantees your withdrawal, and each can lose money. Treasuries lose value when rates climb. Low-volatility stocks trail in strong rallies. A cash-flow screen can concentrate in out-of-favor sectors like energy. Check each fund’s expense ratio and holdings before adding it.

Why This Trio Fits a Retiree Already Drawing Income

At 67 and living on a fixed number, your goal is avoiding forced sales in the years that matter most. GOVT gives you a reserve. COWZ ties stocks to cash-producing businesses. SPLV reduces the drops you’d sell into. Keep an eye on Treasury yields, the VIX, and COWZ’s quarterly payouts. Add a willingness to spend less in a bad year, and your plan gets much harder to break.

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