In finance, investment advising, and retirement planning, the Trinity study is an informal name used to refer to an influential 1998 paper by three professors of finance at Trinity University.[1] It is one of a category of studies that attempt to determine "safe withdrawal rates" from retirement portfolios that contain stocks and thus grow (or shrink) irregularly over time.[2]
In the original study success was primarily judged by whether portfolio lasted for the desired payout period, i.e., the investor did not run out of money during their retirement years before passing away; capital preservation was not a primary goal, but the "terminal value" of portfolios was considered for those investors who may wish to leave bequests.