5 Things to Overcome Underspending
Notes from Early retirement Roadmap” podcast, July 13, 2026.
Accept that the resistance is psychological and not mathematical.
Overcoming the fear to spend, after shifting from a decades of saving.
Spending from a Retirement Paycheck may still have resistance to spending.
Stop Treating All Spending the Same
Checking account seems spendable, bills get paid from
Taxable Brokerage seems spendable (bridge To Social Sscurity)
Roth feel untouchable, same for HSA
Build A Cash Runway
This quiets the market noise
Never sell at the worst news, and ignore it
Enough cash to ride through a typical bear market
It buys calm, and calm is underrated in retirement
Define What Expenses Can Flex and Which Cannot
Define what is essential versus discretionary
Rigid: mortgage, insurance, groceries [the Floor]
Flexible: travel, hobbies, luxuries
Separate Your Expenses
Spending floor and spending ceiling, regardless of the flux and shifts in the market and news
Markets will always be uncertain
Things always decay and break over time
Instead of asking “can I afford this” to “what is this cost for?”
Protection
Health Insurance: Protects from one uncertain event sabotaging our plan
Defending the plan from downturns or unplanned expenses
Joy
Hobbies, traveling, family time, entertainment
The reason we have a plan
Noise
Buying for status, boredom, or comparison
Legacy
Consider that excess inheritance may be a trade off from joyful experiences missed—while we have health, time and money
Ask yourself what experience you would regret missing at your end of life
Once a healthy year is gone, it is gone.
Ask “Which money do you mentally see as spendable and which is untouchable?”
“What would you regret not doing while you have health and energy to do it?”
“What system would give you permission without feeling reckless to help you spend more freely?” Bucket, Guardrails, Paycheck, written plan, fee based advisor, etc?