If you're tapping your retirement funds on a regular basis...here's some strategies from the folks at Forbes:

Worried about outliving your assets? You might consider holding off on tapping into Social Security benefits, working longer and… buying an annuity, according to a study from the Government Accountability Office released last week.

Here are some of the GAO’s  findings:

• Today, a husband and wife both aged 65 have approximately a 47 percent chance that at least one of them will live to his or her 90th birthday and a 20 percent chance of living to his or her 95th birthday.
• Almost half of those near retirement are predicted to run out of money and won’t be able to cover their basic expenses and uninsured health-care costs, July 2010 data from the Washington- based Employee Benefit Research Institute show

For the most part, the possible solutions GAO heard about are not startling revelations.

• For starters, the experts that GAO spoke to recommended annual withdrawals of 3 to 6 percent of the value of the investments in the first year of retirement, with adjustments for inflation in subsequent years. (For more on this, see The Retirement Spending Solution.)
• Next, individuals should delay receipt of Social Security benefits until reaching at least full retirement age, or 66 for those born from 1943 to 1954. Many retirees also should continue to work and save, if possible, particularly those with net wealth, including their home, below $373,000. (For more advice, see The Big Decision: When To Take Social Security.)
• Why it pays to delay. While the Social Security program lets you tap into payments as early as age 62, it doles out full benefits at age 66 and increases payouts for those who wait to age 70. Nearly three-quarters of individuals took payouts before age 65, the GAO said. Monthly inflation-adjusted benefits received at age 70 are increased by at least 33 percent compared with taking them at 66, according to the study. For more on this, go to ssa.gov.

Moreover, the financial experts GAO interviewed typically recommended that retirees systematically draw down their savings and convert a portion of their savings into an income annuity to cover necessary expenses, or opt for the annuity provided by an employer-sponsored DB pension instead of a lump sum withdrawal.

For example, middle-income retirees without traditional pensions, having a net wealth of $349,000 to $373,000, including their home, may have to buy an inflation-adjusted annuity with their savings to have enough money for retirement, according to the GAO findings.

Forbes "How Not To Outlive Your Money"