Retirement Spending Phases: EDU #2617

Jim’s “Pithy” Summary
Chris and I pick back up with the New York Times article from last week and this time we focus on Retirement Spending Phases and how that go-go, slow-go, no-go framework is being used.

I’m not saying the concept is wrong. I’m saying if you apply it across everything, you’re going to miss the point. Because not all expenses behave the same way. Your Minimum Dignity Floor™ is there no matter what. Your Fun Number™ is what actually changes depending on how you’re living your life. If you don’t separate those, you can end up making decisions that don’t reflect reality. That’s really the issue we keep coming back to as we walk through this and react to how the article is presenting it.

And that’s where this starts to matter. Because once you’re thinking about what has to be covered versus what can change, you’re dealing with different kinds of decisions. That’s where Social Security, pensions, and annuities come into the conversation. Not as a blanket solution, but as part of figuring out how different pieces of a plan are supposed to work depending on the job they’re trying to do. And it’s why you can’t just treat everything the same and expect the outcome to make sense over time, especially as those phases play out differently across different types of spending.