(MONEY Magazine) – Fred Walker has been very comfortably retired for five years. "As I told my wife, who does worry sometimes," the 70-year-old says, "at the rate we're withdrawing, we could live another 40 years before we run out of money. Usually she goes to the mall after that."

Walker, though, would rather spend time poring over his portfolio. Making his own investment decisions is close to a religion. "People should do it themselves," he insists. "They go grocery shopping, they pick out automobiles, then they turn around and pay someone to make crummy investments." When he retired in 1998, after 17 years as an administrator at a private school, TIAA-CREF and the financial service company handling his 403(b) strongly suggested he put his money into an annuity. Walker wouldn't even consider it. He estimated that to live comfortably he needed at least $10,000 a year to supplement Social Security, a small pension from earlier teaching days and "a few other odds and ends." And he figured he had a better chance of making that on his own. Walker rolled his 403(b) into an IRA, which he keeps mainly in stocks.

As it turns out, "living comfortably" has meant withdrawals of closer to $30,000 a year. Still, the do-it-yourselfer isn't worried. That represents less than 5% of his total portfolio, which he estimates is up 19% since retirement. "Besides," he says, "if times were tight, I'd live off less." Until then, "we can do whatever we want." --JOAN CAPLIN