Focus
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2009
- Messages
- 640
In the years before I retired, I read lots of books and online articles about financial planning and obsessed about finding the perfect WR. After retiring about seven months ago, I've done a complete 180. I'm curious to see if others here have had the same experience.
It now seems to me that the world of financial theory and averages is a fair distance from real life. Withdrawal rates will vary considerably from year to year depending on circumstances (many of them unknowable in advance). I'm not planning to withdraw a set amount each year, now that it's apparent I can live on less than I originally estimated. By continuing to apply LBYM principles in retirement, I give myself room, I hope, to absorb the occasional unexpected expense or market drop along the way.
I know some retirees want to determine their ideal WR for other reasons: to avoid underspending and to make the most of their hard-earned savings. I get it, but I really like living simply and don't feel I'm missing out if I fail to spend my last dollar on my dying day. I've actually lost my taste for spending and have come to realize that a fair amount of my comparatively modest buying over the years was simply a way to reduce work-related stress.
Does this resonate with you?
It now seems to me that the world of financial theory and averages is a fair distance from real life. Withdrawal rates will vary considerably from year to year depending on circumstances (many of them unknowable in advance). I'm not planning to withdraw a set amount each year, now that it's apparent I can live on less than I originally estimated. By continuing to apply LBYM principles in retirement, I give myself room, I hope, to absorb the occasional unexpected expense or market drop along the way.
I know some retirees want to determine their ideal WR for other reasons: to avoid underspending and to make the most of their hard-earned savings. I get it, but I really like living simply and don't feel I'm missing out if I fail to spend my last dollar on my dying day. I've actually lost my taste for spending and have come to realize that a fair amount of my comparatively modest buying over the years was simply a way to reduce work-related stress.
Does this resonate with you?