May decrease or disappear
- Commuting
- Work clothing
- Payroll retirement contributions
- Work lunches
- Mortgage — if paid off
- Debt payments — if eliminated before retirement
Today's Budget, Tomorrow's Retirement
Can You Afford the Retirement You're Planning?
Your retirement age is a goal. Your retirement budget tells you whether the goal works.
Maybe you want to retire at 62. Maybe it's 65. Maybe it's 67.
Choosing an age is easy. The bigger question is:
"What will my life actually cost when I get there?"
Before deciding whether you're financially ready to retire, build two budgets — today's budget and your retirement budget — then compare them.
We don't build retirement around the age we hope to retire. We build retirement around the life we can actually afford.
The Worksheet
Today vs. Retirement
Fill in what you can. Estimates are fine — you're looking for the shape of the number, not perfection. Nothing you type leaves your device.
| Expense | Today | Retirement |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage/Rent | ||
| Property Taxes | ||
| Homeowners/Renters Insurance | ||
| HOA | ||
| Utilities | ||
| Groceries | ||
| Dining Out | ||
| Car Payment | ||
| Fuel | ||
| Auto Insurance | ||
| Car Maintenance | ||
| Healthcare/Health Insurance | ||
| Dental/Vision | ||
| Life Insurance | ||
| Credit Card Payments | ||
| Other Debt Payments | ||
| Travel | ||
| Entertainment | ||
| Hobbies | ||
| Giving | ||
| Family Support | ||
| Pet Expenses | ||
| Home Maintenance | ||
| Sinking Funds | ||
| Other |
- Today's Monthly Expenses
- $0
- Estimated Retirement Expenses
- $0
- Estimated Retirement Income
- $0
- Monthly Retirement Surplus
- $0
Working on the income side? Start with your forgotten pension search, then track down an old 401(k). Working on the expense side? Head to getting a handle on debt or build your one-page retirement plan.
Expect the Shift
What Changes in Retirement?
May stay about the same
- Food
- Utilities
- Property taxes
- Homeowners insurance
- Transportation
- Home maintenance
- Personal expenses
May increase
- Healthcare
- Travel
- Hobbies
- Home maintenance
- Help and services you used to do yourself
- Spending that comes with more free time
Retirement doesn't make expenses disappear. It changes them.
Starting Guidelines
Where Is Your Money Going Today?
These percentages are reference points, not rules, and not individualized financial advice. They're here to help you spot where a large share of your income is going.
Housing25–30%
Food8–12%
Utilities5–10%
Transportation10–15%
Healthcare5–10%+
Savings/Retirement10–15%+
Sinking Funds5–10%
Debt Payoff5–15%+
Personal/Fun/Giving5–10%
Important: these ranges do not add up to 100% if you use the maximum of every one. They overlap and compete on purpose, because real life does too.
Your budget has to fit YOUR income — not somebody else's percentages.
Stability First
Before Everything Else: Protect Your Four Walls
Food
Shelter
Utilities
Transportation
Getting out of debt and increasing retirement savings are important goals. But we are not going without food, risking the roof over our heads, letting essential utilities be disconnected, or losing the transportation we need to earn an income — just to make one extra credit-card payment.
Protect basic stability first. Then protect essential healthcare and insurance.
Then decide what is realistically available for debt reduction and future savings.
Stability first. Then progress.
The Big-Ticket Items
Retirement Has Sinking Funds Too
Retirement planning shouldn't only account for monthly bills. A 20- or 30-year retirement includes things that show up once every several years — and they arrive whether or not you planned for them.
- A new roof
- HVAC replacement
- Major home repairs
- Appliance replacement
- Car repairs
- Tires
- A future vehicle
- Dental work
- Hearing aids
- Vision expenses
- Travel
- Family events
- Pet care
- Technology replacement
- Insurance deductibles
- Property tax and insurance increases
A roof isn't necessarily a retirement emergency if you've been planning for it for ten years.
Sinking Fund Calculator
Monthly Amount Needed
$0
(Estimated cost minus what you've already saved) divided by the months until you need it.
"Before I Retire" Sinking Fund Planner
A printable worksheet for the expenses you'd rather not meet with a credit card.
| Expense | Estimated Cost | When Will I Need It? | Already Saved | Months Until Retirement | Monthly Amount Needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0 | |||||
| $0 | |||||
| $0 | |||||
| $0 | |||||
| $0 | |||||
| $0 | |||||
| $0 | |||||
| $0 | |||||
| $0 |
Total Monthly Amount Needed: $0
Start With the Truth — Not Guilt
What If I'm Not Debt-Free When I Want to Retire?
A paid-off home and no consumer debt can make retirement considerably easier, because fewer monthly payments have to be supported by retirement income. But not everyone reaches their target retirement age debt-free, and that's the reality we plan around.
If you still have debt, put the actual payments into your retirement budget. Don't pretend they won't exist.
- What debt will still exist at retirement?
- What are the monthly payments?
- When will each debt be paid off?
- Could it realistically be eliminated before retirement?
- What would eliminating that payment do to your retirement income gap?
Hypothetical example — numbers are illustrative only
Retirement income
$3,200/month
Retirement expenses
$4,000/month
Gap
-$800/month
- Paying off a $450 car payment before retirement → New gap: -$350
- Reducing another $200 of monthly expenses → New gap: -$150
- Part-time income of $500/month → New result: +$350
All figures above are hypothetical examples for illustration. Retirement planning is about adjusting several pieces at once — not finding one magic number.
If the Numbers Don't Work
The Two Levers
Earn more
Spend less
And sometimes the best tool is time.
If the retirement budget doesn't work at 62, that doesn't automatically mean another five years at 50 hours a week. It might mean:
- Working another year
- Working until 63 or 64
- Transitioning to part-time
- Seasonal work
- Consulting
- Using your career skills differently
- Starting a small business
- Reducing a major expense
- Eliminating debt
- Saving more during the remaining working years
- A combination of several strategies
62 may be the goal. Financial stability is the requirement.
Changing the retirement date isn't failing. It's adjusting the plan.
Step by Step
Retirement Readiness Roadmap
- 1Know what life costs today
- 2Protect your four walls
- 3Build an emergency fund
- 4Pay down debt
- 5Build sinking funds
- 6Increase retirement savings
- 7Estimate retirement income
- 8Build your retirement budget
- 9Compare income vs. expenses
- 10Adjust the plan
- 11Retire when the plan supports the life you want
A Gentle Reminder
Your Retirement Age Is Not a Promise
You may have 62 circled on the calendar. That's wonderful. A goal gives us something to work toward.
But if 62 arrives and the numbers don't work yet, you haven't failed.
Maybe the answer is 63. Maybe it's part-time work. Maybe you eliminate one more debt.
Maybe you downsize. Maybe you give your investments and savings another year.
The goal isn't to stop working on a particular birthday. The goal is to build a retirement you can afford to stay retired in.
We're not trying to retire as fast as possible. We're trying to retire in a way we can afford to stay retired.
Life Readiness
What Am I Retiring To?
Your retirement budget answers one question: can I afford to retire?
But there's another question that's just as important: what am I retiring TO?
People
Who will I spend time with?
Purpose
What will make me feel useful and needed?
Routine
What will an ordinary Tuesday look like?
Movement
How will I stay active?
Interests
What do I want to learn, try or return to?
Rest
Can I enjoy slowing down without feeling guilty?
Retirement readiness isn't only about having enough money. It's about building a life you're ready to live.
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