From Hustle to Hypervigilance: Is Fear of Running Out of Money Stealing Your Retirement Joy?

My husband recently retired, which, frankly, feels surreal. As happy as he is to be doing his thing, I fear I will struggle with a common problem: worrying that we haven't saved and invested enough. Although I don't plan to retire, and I focus on putting money away each month, I can see the anxiety on the horizon. It doesn't help that AI is gobbling up writing jobs faster than Pac-Man wolfs down power pellets and ghosts.

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A new anxiety after the old hustle

A recent Allianz Life study found that 67% of Americans worry more about running out of money than about death. While that percentage may seem unreal, I'm learning that the fear of running out of money runs wide and deep. It doesn't take a well-trained psychologist to see that a large percentage of retirees suffer from hypervigilance. After all the hard work it takes to save, it feels almost impossible to spend.

If this sounds like you

For a very long time, you were rewarded for saving and being "responsible." Now that you can spend, it feels risky rather than deserved. Your brain is so accustomed to finding pleasure in saving that spending becomes difficult.

To be fair, hypervigilance emerges from real-life difficulties, including inflation, the cost of healthcare in retirement, market volatility, and uncertainty around Social Security. However, the constant policing of your own spending can also steal your retirement joy.

Six steps you can take to find balance

1. Build a written "safe spending" plan: Find out how much you can safely withdraw each year using a guideline like the 4% rule, and put it in writing. Here's how it can help: Let's say you have a $500,000 portfolio. Knowing that a 4% withdrawal rate supports a $20,000 annual withdrawal helps replace vague fear with concrete numbers.
2. Automate a "paycheck": Set up automatic monthly withdrawals from your accounts so money shows up like a salary. When cash automatically hits your bank account, it may provide psychological permission to spend.
3. Use a bucket strategy: Divide your savings into buckets like near-term spending, midlife retirement, and late-life care. That way, you're not worrying about all your money at once.
4. Create a regular stream of income: If you haven't already, invest in dividend-paying stocks or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). For example, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and ExxonMobil have performed strongly this year, with dividend yields ranging from 2.01% to 2.9%.
   
5. Check your cash reserve: Having a cash reserve large enough to cover two to three years of essential living expenses means you can pay bills without selling investments during market downturns.
6. Work with a financial professional: Ask a financial or retirement advisor to model your plan, including income, taxes, healthcare costs, and all those "what if" expenses that keep you awake at night. An advisor will give it to you straight by illustrating how well your plan holds up. You may be in far better shape than you imagine.

The fear of running out of money is understandable. However, when it slides into hypervigilance, it can quietly rob you of the retirement freedom you worked so hard for. By grounding your decisions in a realistic withdrawal strategy, you can move past the life of worry into one that allows you to fully enjoy retirement.

Dana George has positions in Procter & Gamble. The Motley Fool recommends Johnson & Johnson. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.