Do you still save each month if you are retired?

SS and a small pension won't cover our expenses, and we'll be taking SS as late as possible. No saving for us.
 
Right now we save at least 30% of my salary in my 403 b while I still work. We also save in an account for regular payments of taxes, long term care insurance, and other insurances. We also have a savings exclusively for travel in the credit union funded by bonuses or unexpected money , which usually has $4-7000 in it. (On my nonprofit job, our board tends to give annual bonuses, instead of raises, so that they can give what we can afford each year. It's usually 1-5% of our salaries.) Then we have another savings account in my husband's credit union for our next vehicles. As someone else said, saving is in our DNA. Maybe we are crazy to have it all separated like that, but it works for us.
 
travelover said:
..... ....I don't see any reason to spend extra money unless I want something.
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Or NEED something. I think many folks set aside $$ for predictable future expenses (e.g. major repair/replacement of big ticket items, big vacations, remodeling project, etc). Is that "savings" or just part of the long term budget? I call it smart budgeting.
 
We are both retired and we set aside (save) 8% of our income for future unpredictable expenses.. goes into the emergency account to keep it growing.
 
ERhoosier said:
Or NEED something. I think many folks set aside $$ for predictable future expenses (e.g. major repair/replacement of big ticket items, big vacations, remodeling project, etc). Is that "savings" or just part of the long term budget? I call it smart budgeting.
Click to expand...
I don't really discriminate between my emergency fund and the rest of my stash. It is either spent or invested. Granted, some is in cash equivalents.
 
I save, what else would you call it?

I "save" $1500-$1800 per month, I've been retired just over 7 years. I don't need to take distributions from investments, I just have extra income I don't need to spend = "savings".

I have always been a LBYN's person and I'm not spending wildy in retirement but I'm not living a homeless person's life either. I don't wish for anything, I'll spend on whatever I want or need but my wants and needs are simple. I could buy stuff but I don't want or need "stuff".

I am therefore I save.
 
Sadly no saving for us. Retired in May after selling small business. Now we are trying to get used to not having any income coming in and drawing down savings. Taking SS at 70 for me and that's 13 years away and DH is six years younger (robbed the cradle) so at least sixteen years before two SS payments coming in. No pensions - so we are intent on sticking to our budget until then.

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As others have said, if you have income from a pension, SS, or similar, that is surplus to your requirements, then you are in a position to save. All of my income comes from the withdrawals from my portfolio, so the the moment I stopped working, the concept of saving ceased to exist for me.

However, my withdrawals stand at about 2.05% per annum of the current value of my stash so although I'm not saving, I think my WR is sustainable, even if I increase it a little in the years ahead.
 
We spend more than our pension income. But we spend comparatively little of our passive investment income. It simply gets reinvested.
 
My targeted WR will be about 2.4 to 2.5%. Non discretionary living expenses are about half to 3/5 of that.

I have over 2 years of targeted budget in cash or 3-4 years of non discretionary expenses.

So I'm thinking of perhaps leaving DRIP on for a year or two, so that when I do start spending dividends and drawing down cash, there will be more shares than at ER. So that would be a form of saving in ER.

But I also think about spending more in the first decade or two, on the premise that one would be better able to do more requiring money before they reach their early or mid 70s, such as traveling to places which may be difficult for folks with mobility limitations.

OTOH, this transition to withdrawals after a lifetime of saving could be unsettling, with unknowns like health care costs and taxes so I'm thinking of staying with the targeted WR and then boosting it after you get a handle on these unknowns.
 
travelover said:
I've been retired 7 years, but DW still has two more to work. I save about $1K a month from my pension and use it max out a Roth and an HSA. I don't see any reason to spend extra money unless I want something.
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You must be one heck of a guy to have a good woman who will work for years after you have retired to a life of idle pleasures. :)
 
Still save? Hell no.

We built up a nest egg so we could enjoy retirement and that's what we're doing. We try not to overspend but we certainly don't 'save' any of our income.

BTW, get off my lawn...
 
Tailgate said:
We are both retired and we set aside (save) 8% of our income for future unpredictable expenses.. goes into the emergency account to keep it growing.
Click to expand...

I don't see the purpose of a conventional "emergency fund" in retirement. Does this mean you don't keep 2-3 years worth of expenses set aside in cash/cash equivalent?

As others said, in retirement, I figured money is either invested or it's not.
 
Been ERd for about 10 years and I regularly exchange any amount in excess of $1000 in my checking account into savings @ Ally. I reconcile my checking account monthly and then scrape off any amount that it over $1000. That has been my process for 25 years or so.
 
When I retired, over 2 years ago, I had absolutely no plans to try and "save" money like I did while I worked. My plan in retirement was to live within my means (not below or above) which was the same as I did while working. As it has turned out so far, even with some rather expensive "hobbies" and low return investments (by this forums standards) I have more money now (about the same if inflation adjusted) as I did when I retired. I have no pension (unless you count SS).

So I guess the answer is yes, I'm saving money in retirement but not by plan or design. And no, I'm not sending anyone my surplus/savings just to keep my spreadsheet in line with my projections.:LOL: I'm sure I'll find another car/collectable to buy to keep my spreadsheet on track.
 
I don't save any $ because I'm not making any money in the sense of income. I may spend less than expected, or get a greater return from my portfolio than expected, but I don't consider this savings.


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For me, being retired is no different than working when considering income from whatever source. I have always saved and still do after being retired. We all need that buffer. Why would anyone retire and live on a knife's edge without having that cushion for whatever comes up in life? I have been programmed to save and invest and will continue to do so. My plan is to buy more land one day soon...
 
Right now we're not saving anything and in fact are spending down savings by about $500/month. This is planned and will end when I start SS in a couple/three years. When that happens we'll probably have to work at it to spend all income but I'm sure we can think of something.

If nothing else there's virtually no upper limit to what can be spent on photography gear.:D
 
Post college years we hope to be back to saving over half again. Saving is in our DNA. We're quite happy with post-kids retirement life we have planned on that amount, so why spend more.
 
I guess if I took an extra $1000/month out of my portfolio I could put it back in and say I'm saving it?
 
Early on in early retirement I suppose it is rational behavior to establish a fixed budget annually, say 3pct withdraw rate as an upper guardrail and see how that works - If one is able to live on less and not compromising lifestyle I suppose that sets the lower or cost reduced guardrail with the difference in the two being "saved".

Not a bad approach - What ever works for you as you establish your budget in retirement and get comfortable with both the predictable and non predictable cash out flows as well as investment / portfolio value variation.

In the end at the stage you describe (drawdown phase) it's all "spending your savings" or "not spending your savings". Versus earning.

But I think that's ok to keep holding a bit back if it makes you feel better and helps establish a budget with fixed and variable costs.
 
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