{"id":947744,"date":"2026-07-20T16:15:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T16:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/947744\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T16:15:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T16:15:27","slug":"38-of-retirees-underspend-not-from-need-but-from-fear-of-shrinking-their-nest-egg-survey-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/947744\/","title":{"rendered":"38% of retirees underspend \u2014 not from need but from fear of shrinking their nest egg, survey finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Old<\/a> Master of Stocks\/Shutterstock <\/p>\n

You’ve spent your entire working life saving money for retirement. Then, when you retire, you’ll take that trip, or start that hobby. But when the day comes, you’re afraid to touch your nest egg. <\/p>\n

“The reason has almost nothing to do with money,” writes Kurt Supe, a CPA and retirement planner with CFD Investments Inc. and Creative Financial Designs Inc., for (1)MarketWatch (1). <\/p>\n

Must Read <\/p>\n

He compares retirement to climbing a mountain. Climbers train to scale a mountain, but they rarely train for the descent. <\/p>\n

“It’s not the climb up. It’s the way down,” says Supe. You spend your working life climbing that mountain: saving, maxing the match, buying and holding. <\/p>\n

“The day you retire is the summit. And the money you’ve saved has to last you the rest of your life,” he says. “This is the most dangerous stretch \u2014 and the one almost nobody trained you for.” <\/p>\n

Many retirees never make that descent. It’s the retirement paradox: they finally have money to spend, but they protect the balance instead. <\/p>\n

They follow the same plan as they did on the ascent: never touching the principal and living below their means. But there are ways to safely enjoy the fruits of your labor with confidence. <\/p>\n

Why retirees have spending anxiety <\/p>\n

For many retirees, making the shift from saving to spending is one of the biggest challenges in retirement \u2014 and one they’re unprepared for. They train to save; they don’t train to spend. <\/p>\n

Decumulation is the term for this descent: It means you convert your savings into income to support your lifestyle in retirement. <\/p>\n

But more than two-thirds (70%) of American retirees believe it’s “very important” their nest egg doesn’t shrink in retirement, according to Corebridge Financial’s decumulation survey. And 38% say they’ve spent less than they wanted \u2014 not because they don’t have the money, but because they want to preserve the size of their nest egg (2). <\/p>\n

This anxiety could be explained by what Corebridge describes as a “planning gap between the accumulation and decumulation phases of retirement.” <\/p>\n

For example, only 29% of respondents aged 55+ have a plan for how they’ll withdraw money in retirement, and just 14% have a strategy for required minimum distribution (RMD) withdrawals. <\/p>\n

Story continues <\/p>\n

And while one-third of respondents say they have a consistent withdrawal strategy, oftentimes they don’t have a broader retirement income plan. Almost half (46%) of those surveyed had never even heard of the term decumulation. <\/p>\n

Spending hesitation appears to be largely due to concerns about inflation, market volatility and healthcare costs \u2014 rather than a desire to leave money to beneficiaries \u2014 according to the survey. <\/p>\n

“Concerns about running out of money often shape spending habits that limit fulfillment later in life,” said Terri Fiedler, president of retirement services at Corebridge Financial, in a press release. “Having a thoughtful decumulation strategy can help individuals manage complex financial decisions and feel more secure about the future (3).” <\/p>\n

Read More: <\/strong>Are you paying too much for car insurance? Here are 3 clever ways to slash your monthly bill<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n

Creating a decumulation plan <\/p>\n

Creating a decumulation plan starts with understanding all of your income sources in retirement. For example, lifetime income could include Social Security (which is adjusted for inflation), pensions and annuities. <\/p>\n

An annuity is purchased through an insurance company and, while it can be costly upfront, it turns your savings into a stream of guaranteed lifetime income. <\/p>\n

If you take your Social Security retirement benefit early (as early as age 62), you’ll end up with a permanently reduced benefit, by up to 30%. To get your full benefit, you’ll have to wait until your full retirement age (FRA), between ages 66 and 67. But if you delay your benefit past your FRA, you’ll receive an annual 8% boost until age 70. <\/p>\n

Covering your basic needs with guaranteed income could allow for more flexibility with other retirement savings, such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs), workplace savings plans like 401(k)s as well as brokerage accounts. These funds can supplement your basic needs or fund your retirement goals, like travel. <\/p>\n

But having a plan to draw down those savings can help to stretch them further and, perhaps more importantly, provide peace of mind so you can actually enjoy your money in retirement. <\/p>\n

There’s a lot to consider. You don’t want to end up having to withdraw money during a market downturn, which will further reduce your savings. You don’t want to be stretched thin if a major medical expense comes up. And, of course, you don’t want to run out of money before your time. <\/p>\n

When it comes to withdrawals, a common rule of thumb is the 4% rule, in which you withdraw 4% of your savings during the first year of retirement and then adjust annually to keep up with inflation. However, some financial pros recommend a dynamic withdrawal strategy that takes market returns into account. <\/p>\n

There’s also the ‘bucket’ approach, in which you separate assets into buckets according to when you’ll make withdrawals (for short-term, medium-term and long-term growth). <\/p>\n

Regardless of the approach you take, you’ll want to have a plan for minimum required distributions and managing your taxes. <\/p>\n

It may be worth sitting down with a financial advisor to crunch the numbers, run retirement simulations against different market scenarios and come up with a detailed plan to help you make that descent from the summit. <\/p>\n

You May Also Like <\/p>\n

Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise’s best stories and exclusive interviews first \u2014 clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\n

Article Sources <\/p>\n

We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines<\/a>. <\/p>\n

MarketWatch (1<\/a>); Celera Systems (2<\/a>); Corebridge Financial (3<\/a>) <\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com<\/a> under the title: 38% of retirees underspend \u2014 not from need but from fear of shrinking their nest egg, survey finds<\/a> <\/p>\n

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Master of Stocks\/Shutterstock You’ve spent your entire working life saving money for retirement. Then, when you retire, you’ll…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":947745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[15],"tags":[64,287091,91025,7780,255,700,706,7545,711,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-947744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-corebridge","tag-corebridge-financial","tag-dave-ramsey","tag-personal-finance","tag-retirement","tag-retirement-income","tag-saving-money","tag-social-security","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116953201122060558","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=947744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}