You Might Be Saving Too MUCH for Retirement!😁

No you aren’t and actually that is impossible.

That’s not to say you might not have funds left when you move on, you might indeed, but that may be your objective. You may even live too frugally in retirement according to other people’s standards (especially many younger people in the 21st century 🤑).

Accumulating assets may be your goal simply because you like the feeling of accomplishment. Living frugally may be your style, how you were raised, how you feel comfortable and sleep better. But there is the risk of denying yourself beyond reasonably frugal until it’s too late to enjoy life.

Frankly, I am one of those people. I am not a spendthrift, I have a goal to leave a legacy to my children. I am still accumulating investments even in my eleventh year of retirement. All that makes me feel comfortable and secure and after working fifty years, like I accomplished something. Who is to judge my lifestyle, or yours?

And for the record, I strongly disagree most people can retire securely on 50% of pre-retirement income, or even 70%, especially when considering two lifetimes as many will.

Are You Saving Too Much for Retirement? (It’s More Common than You Might Think)

April 1, 2021 by Janet Berry-Johnson

We hear a lot of horror stories these days about people saving too little, but the fact is that some people are actually saving too much for retirement. It is possible to have too much of a good thing…  It’s safe to say that my grandfather is one who saved too much because even though he lived for 30+ years after retiring at the age of 65, he died with more money than he could have ever used while alive. He was born in 1901, and anyone could see the impression those times made on him by how he lived.

When he retired at the age of 65, with a net worth north of $1 million, my grandfather continued to live in the same simple home with no mortgage. He drove a car that was at least two decades old and kept a broomstick propped against the refrigerator door to keep it closed because the seal had broken years ago.

A combination of good genes and healthy habits meant he lived to be just a month shy of his 97th birthday, but it’s doubtful that he ever truly enjoyed the fruits of all of those years of scrimping and saving.

He never traveled, didn’t purchase anything for himself beyond the basic necessities, and his only hobby was watching the weather channel. But after 65 years of frugal living, that behavior was ingrained. He wasn’t suddenly going to start wearing Gucci loafers and wintering in the Maldives.

How Many People Are Actually Saving Too Much for Retirement?

David Blanchett, Head of Retirement Research at Morningstar Investment Management published the results of his research into estimating the true cost of retirement and found that many retirees actually need about 20% less in savings than the common assumptions for retirement savings would indicate.

And, given that around 40% of Americans expect to leave a financial inheritance to their children reveals that many retirees may indeed have more than enough for their own secure future.

Why Are People Saving Too Much?

There are a variety of reasons why people save too much for retirement.

Erroneous rules of thumb

For years, the rule of thumb has been to replace 70 to 80% of your working wages to live comfortably in retirement.

However, Blanchett’s analysis found that some retirees can actually live quite comfortably on a little more than half of their working income and inflation has a much smaller effect on retiree spending.

So, who is right?

Read more here.

Source: You Might Be Saving Too MUCH for Retirement!