Retirement is short (so spend it wisely)

When most of us think about retirement, we think in years. Will my money last 25 years? What if I live to 90? But the more important question is a lot sharper: how many healthy years do you actually have?

Not just years where you’re alive, but years where you can still get on the floor and play with grandkids, walk all afternoon on a trip, or play 18 holes with friends without needing two days to recover. That window is much shorter than the calendar suggests—and how you use it is one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll ever make.

In this article, I want to look at retirement from that angle: not just “Will my money last?” but “Am I using my healthiest years well?”

The hard truth about “healthy” retirement years

Let’s say you retire at 65 and live to 90. On paper, that’s 25 years of retirement. But realistically, you may only get around 10 really healthy, active years where you have the time, energy, and health to fully enjoy what you’ve saved for.

That doesn’t mean life after that is meaningless—it absolutely isn’t. But your 65–75 window is very different from your 85–95 window. Most retirement plans focus only on making the money last to 90 or 95. Very few plans ask: what should we do with the best 10–15 years in between?

That’s where intentional spending, not just intentional saving, becomes critical.

Your retirement savings are not a trophy

I think many of us secretly treat our retirement savings like a special bottle of wine. We protect it, admire the number, and keep postponing the moment we actually “open” it.

We watch the balance like a scoreboard:

• When it goes up, we feel good.
• When it goes down, we panic or feel guilty spending anything.

But that money has a job. It isn’t meant to sit there untouched forever. Its job is to turn into an income that supports the life you spent decades working and saving for.

Yes, it needs to last. Yes, you need a plan. No, this is not permission to blow through everything in five years. But if you’ve done the work—built a reasonable nest egg, understand what you can safely spend, and set something aside for later-life care—then there should also be room to actually enjoy what you’ve built.

Dying with the biggest possible portfolio was never the real goal. Living well was.

“We’ll do it when we retire”… then “We’ll do it next year”

Before retirement, the phrase is, “We’ll do it when we retire.” After retirement, it often quietly becomes, “We’ll do it next year.”

Next year is sneaky. Next year easily turns into five years. And five years later:

• Your investments might be higher—but your knees might not be better.
• Your spouse’s health might have changed.
• Your grandkids might be older and less interested in long trips with you.
• Family circumstances may look completely different.

Money gives you options, but not all options stay open forever. If your financial plan comfortably allows for something that matters to you—like a big family trip, a slow road adventure, or visiting distant relatives—don’t automatically push it into the future “just to be safe.”

There’s a real cost to waiting that never shows up on your investment statement: lost time in your healthiest years.

Things vs. experiences: what you’ll actually remember

We adapt to new stuff quickly. A new car, a renovated kitchen, a fancy gadget—within months, they’re just part of the background of your life. You still appreciate them, but the excitement fades.

Experiences work differently. A trip, a family holiday, a weekend away with friends—those may only last a few days, but the stories can last decades.

Years later, nobody remembers what the hotel cost. They remember:

• The time grandpa fell asleep on the game drive.
• Getting lost on the way to a tiny town.
• The terrible restaurant with the hilarious waiter.
• The one moment when the elephant came just a bit too close to the car.

So when you’re deciding how to use some of your discretionary money in retirement, ask yourself:

• Am I buying another thing I’ll get used to? Or
• Am I creating a memory we’ll talk about 10 years from now?

There’s nothing wrong with spending on things. But if you want your money to feel well spent, tilting a bit more toward experiences—especially in your healthy years—often gives you more joy per rand, dollar, or euro.

Balancing your “today self” and your “future self”

Most retirement planning is built to protect your future self: the 80- or 90-year-old you who might need more medical care, help at home, or a retirement facility. That’s important and responsible.

But there’s another person you need to protect too: you today.

Sometimes we’re so busy protecting the 85-year-old version of ourselves that we unnecessarily restrict the 65-year-old version. We forget that the older version might look back and say, “I wish you had let us enjoy a bit more while we still could.”

Try this thought experiment: imagine yourself 10 years from now, looking back at this decade of your retirement. What would that future you be grateful you did?

Maybe it’s:

• Taking the grandkids on a special trip
• Visiting your children more often
• Playing golf every Wednesday
• Buying the caravan and actually using it
• Starting the garden you’ve talked about for years
• Learning something new and challenging

Good retirement planning shouldn’t force you to choose between today and tomorrow. It should find a healthy balance between the two.

If you want more help on the numbers side of that balance, you might like my article on rethinking the real goal of retirement.

Your portfolio is important. Your health might be more important.

You can have a very large investment portfolio and still feel poor in retirement if your health doesn’t let you enjoy it.

Most retirement dreams quietly assume good health:

• Travel assumes you can walk, climb, and move around easily.
• Playing with grandkids assumes energy and mobility.
• Living independently assumes physical and mental strength.
• Even going out for meals or hobbies assumes you feel well enough to leave the house.

Your investments determine what you can afford. Your health determines what you can actually enjoy.

That means some of the highest-return “investments” you can make in retirement never show up on a statement:

• Walking or moving your body regularly
• Getting stronger and working on balance
• Eating in a way that supports your long-term health
• Protecting your sleep and mental well-being
• Staying engaged and mentally active

An extra healthy year isn’t just another year. It’s:

• Another Christmas you can fully participate in
• Another family holiday you can join
• Another 52 Saturday mornings you can enjoy
• Another year of being able to say “yes” instead of “I wish I could”

How to slow down time (a little)

As we get older, years seem to blur together. One reason is routine. When every week looks the same, your brain doesn’t store many distinct memories. Tuesday three weeks ago probably looks exactly like any other Tuesday.

But think about a holiday you took 10 years ago. Suddenly, the details are vivid—the weather, the food, the people, the jokes. Your mind remembers what stands out.

Retirement can easily become a loop: Monday becomes Tuesday, Tuesday becomes Friday, suddenly another year is gone. You don’t need expensive trips to break that pattern. You just need more “standout” days.

That might look like:

• Trying a new coffee shop or restaurant
• Driving somewhere you’ve never been, even if it’s nearby
• Joining a club or a group class
• Inviting someone new over for lunch
• Starting a hobby you’ve never tried before
• Signing up for a short course or workshop

You don’t need a full bank account to have a full life. Sometimes you just need curiosity and a bit of intentional planning.

Don’t retire from people

We spend a lot of time diversifying our investments so we’re not dependent on one company or one asset class. But we rarely think about diversifying our relationships with the same care.

When you retire, you don’t just leave a job—you often leave a big part of your social life. The chats in the office, the shared projects, the colleagues you see daily. If you’re not careful, your world can shrink to just your spouse and close family.

Your spouse, children, and grandchildren matter deeply. But so do:

• Friends you can call at any hour
• Neighbours you can rely on
• People from your faith community
• The group you play sports or cards with
• The people you meet for coffee every week

One of the richest forms of wealth in retirement is having people you can call when life gets hard—people who would drop everything to be there for you.

That doesn’t happen by accident. It comes from investing in people before you urgently need them:

• Phone someone you haven’t spoken to in a while
• Invite people over, even if it’s just for tea
• Join a club, group, or volunteer activity—and keep showing up
• Be the person who checks in on others

One day, your most valuable “portfolio” may have nothing to do with money.

Test your retirement dreams before you commit

Many of us carry a picture of our “dream retirement” for years. Maybe it’s moving to the coast, buying a caravan and traveling for months, downsizing to a tiny cottage, or moving to a retirement village early.

Those dreams are worth exploring—but don’t assume the fantasy will match reality perfectly.

Before you sell the house and move permanently:

• Rent in that area for a few months.
• Go in different seasons (not just holiday season).
• Notice what Tuesdays feel like—not just Saturdays.

Living somewhere is very different from being on holiday there. The same goes for long-term travel in a caravan, or making a big move away from friends and family.

Small experiments—renting, borrowing, trying something for a season—can prevent very expensive mistakes. They can also confirm, “Yes, this really is what we want,” which gives you confidence to commit.

Decide what “enough” looks like for you

There will always be someone with more: a bigger house, a larger portfolio, more trips, nicer cars. If you measure your retirement against other people, you’ll never feel like you’ve “arrived,” no matter how much you have.

At some point, you have to decide what enough looks like for you:

• Enough income to live the life you value
• Enough cushion to sleep at night
• Enough experiences and time with people you love
• Enough margin to handle the unexpected

For decades, the message is: save, invest, build, prepare. Then retirement arrives, and something needs to shift. You still need to be wise, still plan for inflation, health care, and longevity—but you also need to start using what you’ve built for its real purpose.

Your money was never just about a number on a statement. It was about buying choices, independence, time, experiences, and more moments with the people you love.

If you’re still working toward retirement and want a simple, numbers-focused guide, you may find my article on retiring rich with mutual funds without chasing crazy returns helpful.

The question to ask yourself now

Most of us ask, “Will my money last as long as I do?” That’s an important question. But I think we also need to ask, “Am I using my life while it lasts?”

Because you can earn more money. Markets can recover. Possessions can be replaced. But you can’t reinvest yesterday and get it back.

So here’s a practical place to start: pick one thing you’ve been saying “one day” about—one trip, one experience, one project, one relationship you want to invest in. Then ask:

• Is my financial plan stable enough to make space for this?
• If yes, what small step could I take toward it this month?

Retirement is shorter and more fragile than it looks on paper. Spend it wisely—not just with caution, but with intention, joy, and a clear sense of what truly matters to you.