This post is also available in:
Nederlands (Dutch)
How to deal with your time and money after retirement?
Many people wonder what they will do with their time and money when they retire. Save more? Or use their saved money? Why does almost no one touch their savings once they retire? An honest conversation.
To make this topic tangible, we follow a conversation between Bob, David and Emma.
Bob has worked hard all his life and saved as if he expects a crisis at any moment. David, his counterpart and true bon vivant, has lived life to the fullest. And Emma listens.
When retirement is not a turning point
At first sight, retirement is the moment when people can start living differently. They have time, have saved. Yet psychologically, there is seldom a revolution.
David: We all know people who save for their old age. But the strange thing is, that once that old age is there… hardly anyone touches their savings. You would think that people would finally start to enjoy life.
Bob: They don’t. Because to do so, they would have to admit that the years have caught up with them. That’s why most of them continue living as they always have.
Emma: Someone who have always lived cautiously and responsibly does not suddenly spend his money carefree. Behavior is not a button you turn on and off. Retirement doesn’t change your character. At most, it’s amplified.
Bob: I understand people. When you’ve spent your whole life saving, you want to keep protecting your nest egg. Your account balance brings peace of mind. After all, who knows how long you’ll live? What if care becomes much more expensive? What if your savings start to shrink?
David: And yet there are people who do just the opposite. They start to travel. Make their dreams come true. As if they want to catch up on time and not miss out on anything.
Emma: The most stable outlook combines both. What do you need to feel safe? What to feel alive? This requires awareness and planning.
The unexpected turnaround
David: It strikes me how some people only truly make the switch after a serious illness.
Bob: Because they suddenly feel that time is no longer a theoretical concept. What used to be later suddenly turns into maybe never.
Emma: Retirement presents you with practical questions: How long should my money last? Whereas a serious event raises existential questions: What am I putting off that I could actually do today?
David: Then priorities shift. Relationships, experiences, meaning become more important.
Bob: And money stops being a promise.
Emma: Or rather: it changes function. It will no longer be protection for a distant future, but fuel for the present.
Being prepared for retirement is more than saving
Bob: Retirement will bring less saving. So why suddenly embark on travel or hobbies? Somehow, it feels illogical.
David: Logical or not, for me, life goes on as always, even if less comes in. I will have to make choices, of course, but my life doesn’t stop because of that.”
Emma: You’re both after the same thing: balance. For Bob, it’s about courage; for David, careful guidance.
How do you learn to deal with money differently after retirement?
The turnaround rarely comes naturally but asks for reflection.
Make ‘enough’ concrete
What do you really need for safety? Perhaps a confronting thought, but do the math:
- What does a month in the nursing home cost: 2,500 euros?
- How much pension do you get per month: 2,000 euros?
- That leaves a deficit of 500 euros per month.
- Now estimate how many years/months you expect to live: e.g. 10 years (= 120 months).
- That makes: 500 euros x 120 months: 60,000 euros.
- Add a margin for inflation and price increases.
- Plus an amount as a reserve, for unforeseen expenses.
This calculation allows you to see more clearly what you will need and what remains of your savings.
2. Give money a ‘purpose‘
It’s not about just spending money, but about making deliberate choices: what do I still wish to add to the world, to my own life, and to those who come after me?
3. Make enjoying life as intentional as saving money.
Structure works both ways. You can plan spending money just as well as saving money.
The silent question
David: If you knew you had only ten good years ahead, what would you do differently?
Bob: Save less, live more.
Emma: Then what are you waiting for to begin living like this?
Ten years later
When theory gets personal
Bob is 77. David is 75. Emma is in her early seventies.
The event
David has had heart surgery two years ago. Not fatal. Confrontational, though.
Bob lost his brother last year. Unexpected. Fast.
No one voices it, but the horizon seems tangibly nearer.
David: living under time pressure
David: While I was in the hospital, I thought about everything I still wanted to do.
Bob: That sounds just like you.
David: No. It was different. I used to spend money without thinking. Now I spend it because time feels scarce and I still want to do things consciously. I started traveling differently. Not more luxurious but more intense. I find myself saying yes more readily.
Bob: Loss and Shift
Bob: When my brother died, my first thought was that he should have enjoyed his life more. At the same time, I started wondering if I had done that enough myself.
Emma: What did that do to you?
Bob: For the first time recently, I consciously spent money without any real need. I took my grandchildren on a trip. Not because it was rational, but because I wanted to live the experience.
David: And?
Bob: Naturally, my account balance went down. But to my surprise, I never felt any regret over my spending. I had always believed that having less money meant feeling less secure. Yet it never felt like a loss, nor did it bring any anxiety.
It actually felt as if that money was finally serving a purpose. Like making up for the time I hadn’t – or had too little -spent with my children.
What has changed after facing the fact that life is finite?
Ten years ago, they talked about theory. Now they speak from experience.
- The future feels shorter. Decisions are delayed less.
- Money becomes less of an purpose in itself and more of a means. Not to maximize safety, but to create memories.
- The saver dares to let go of something. The bon vivant dares to hold on to something.
One last question
Emma: If you knew you had only five healthy years ahead, what would you do differently?
David: I would live more intentionally.
Bob: I would protect less what is bound to disappear anyway.
Emma: Perhaps that’s the real turning point: no longer trying to hold on to time or money, but using them while they’re still there.
Conclusion
I’ll leave that up to you…
Emma
Fancy reading more stories like this one?