How Much to Spend in Retirement P1Should you spend more or less than the 4% 'safe rate?'
Many people work all their live saving for retirement. Once there, some thrive on the fruit of their labor while others become paralyzed by being on "fixed income."
Will_L first published this commentary in our Bob Brinker Free Discussion Forum here. In response to Bob Brinker posted by allancoleman: Happiness is not a monetary location or destination. It is really not anyone else's business to suggest how someone in particular should spend their money in retirement. But I think any of us can relay some observations on the subject that perhaps some don't even consider. An observation that I have is that some seem to be in some sort of a contest to live poor and die rich. Alan's comments again confirm a phenomenon that I have noticed among some older friends who seemed to turn into something of an "armed camp survivalist" mentality when they retired. It seemed that instead of being enabled to pursue things of interest (FOR BOTH MEMBERS OF THE "COUPLE") , they were paralyzed by "we are on a fixed income now", mentality. These people in a few cases had way more than enough money to live more comfortably, even more than they had during their working life. Yet in the one case that I am most familiar with the guy turned into almost a hoarder. His life was about seeing how much he could "not spend" . His wife of about a half a century now always indulged him and I don't really know for sure, but I doubt very seriously if she shared his new found hobby in retirement of "hoarding". She was a lively energetic person though about 15 years older than I during the time we knew them and her husband was still working. You would see her very engaged with friends and family, always well dressed and driving a nice car. She would plan vacations and enjoyed telling others (not bragging but helping others plan) about the many places they had visited and things they did. Now they do very very little. I know their financial circumstances are such that they could have the same lifestyle they did before retirement. Her husband, a nice enough guy is obsessed with "saving money". Any business person gets a little tired of hearing an excuse for being cheap "I am on a fixed income". Indeed most of the world outside of the Gates are on a "fixed income". "Shut-up about it NOBODY CARES." --is what comes to mind when you hear people use that as an excuse for being cheap. Read Part 2 here
The copyright of the article How Much to Spend in Retirement P1 in Investment is owned by Kirk Lindstrom. Permission to republish How Much to Spend in Retirement P1 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Comments May 23, 2007 5:16 PM
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May 25, 2007 3:07 PM
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May 26, 2007 11:17 AM
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