As we approach year-end, now is as good a time as any to consider your spending. I know, don’t be such a downer, Survival Guy, we’re doing our best, you think. And I know that’s true when we review your retirement plan and you tell me how you’re livin’. But for many of you, it’s hard to spend. I get it.

I get it because when you live a lifetime within your means and save ‘til it hurts, it’s hard to let go and start spending like a drunken sailor. That’s not what I’m suggesting. What I am suggesting is that you take those special trips and make those special memories. But do it within your comfort level. It’s rare that I hear you say, “Survival Guy, I wish I stayed home.”

How much should you spend on making memories? Good question. It’s right up there with will you outlive your money? Not an easy question to answer. But I’ll try. I have found in my decades of shepherding retirees through their retirement lives that keeping to a spending rate of three to four percent of your savings per year seems to work. Yes, there are plenty of others who spend more, but are they really having more fun or just trying to keep the band together?

For most of you, my successful Americans, you are living the retirement life you deserve. You don’t have debt, and if you do, it’s very little, and you help where you can because you are concerned about the next generation. But you also make sure you take care of yourself, and if that means getting out there and seeing the world, you do it. You try not to let inertia beat you down because if you do, you’ll be one year older the next time you think about this.

Action Line: Get next year’s spending plan in order and take the trips you dream about because the secret is in the planning. The joy is sitting on your couch and dreaming about all the things you did. You deserve the best of both worlds, but you need to take action to realize it all. Email me at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com.

Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.