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Saving money before and during retirement is important for many retirees. Unfortunately, many Americans aren’t saving nearly enough and are falling short of setting aside adequate funds to support their retirement needs. The average retirement savings for people aged 56-61 is only $163,577. Meanwhile, retirees can spend nearly $275,000 on health care. The National Institute for Retirement Security estimates that America has an up to $14 trillion gap in retirement savings.

If you are retired and finding that balancing your savings and spending is an ongoing challenge, follow these tips for ways to trim your expenses and save more.

1. Cut Your ‘Time-Saving’ Costs

When you’re employed and busy managing your career and family, spending money on time-saving items—like professional house cleaning or monthly food-subscription services—can be helpful. Once you retire, however, you typically have more time on your hands. You may be paying for items that are no longer necessary. You can save money each month by trimming or eliminating any time-saving resources you don’t need to support your retirement lifestyle.

Actions to take:

• List all the monthly, quarterly, and annual subscriptions and services you have. Identify which ones aren’t necessary.
• Consider taking over household chores you pay someone else to manage.
• Assess how much you spend on eating out, and switch to eating in for some of those meals.

2. Reduce Your Health-Care Costs

Retirees typically spend a large amount on health care, often using income that could be used for other expenses. Unless you have the money to pay these bills, they could leave you in a financial bind. You can help reduce some of your medical costs by learning to shop around. For example, changes like getting an MRI at a radiologist instead of a hospital can make a difference in your medical bills, as the radiologist is typically less expensive.

Actions to take:

Get comparative quotes from hospitals and other medical professionals.
Check prescription costs at different pharmacies and consider buying generic.
Revisit your insurance plans to help identify if you’re receiving the best value.

Every retiree’s financial life and needs are different, so knowing a true breakdown of your daily, monthly, and yearly costs (your budget) is important for finding ways to save. By taking time to assess what may be unnecessary spending in retirement, and reducing or eliminating these expenses, you may have more money on hand for other lifestyle needs.

To learn more about how you can trim your spending in retirement or pursue other financial goals in retirement, please call our Denver office at 303-741-9772. We’re happy to help you explore strategies for your unique needs.

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Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results.  Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product (including the investments and/or investment strategies recommended or undertaken by Dechtman Wealth Management, LLC [“DWM”]), or any non-investment related content, made reference to directly or indirectly in this blog will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful.  Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions.  Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this blog serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from DWM. To the extent that a reader has any questions regarding the applicability of any specific issue discussed above to his/her individual situation, he/she is encouraged to consult with the professional advisor of his/her choosing. DWM is neither a law firm nor a certified public accounting firm and no portion of the blog content should be construed as legal or accounting advice. A copy of the DWM’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available for review upon request or at www.dechtmanwealth.com.

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