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Permission to spend

October 24, 2026

Last week ended on a problem the math can't fix on its own: the plan can be in good order, and the people who saved hardest still often won't spend it. That's where this series ends, because a retirement plan that never gets spent hasn't done its job.

Why good savers struggle to spend

Someone who retires with a healthy RRSP and TFSA usually got there by saying no to things for 40 years. That habit doesn't switch off the day the paycheques stop. Watching the balance go down for the first time can feel like something has gone wrong, even when the plan says that's exactly what should happen.

Robb Engen, a Canadian advice-only planner, jokes that half his job is trying to convince his retired clients to spend more money. The failure most people worry about is running out. For people who saved well, the more common one is the opposite: they spend far less than they could have, and money that was meant for their 60s and 70s ends up as a bigger estate than they ever planned to leave.

Spending usually falls as you age

Most retirement projections assume you'll spend the same inflation-adjusted amount every year from 65 to 95, but that isn't how retirees spend. Inflation-adjusted spending tends to fall by roughly 1% per year in the early years and closer to 2% per year through the slower ones, before health and care costs push it back up near the end. Planners often call the three stretches the go-go, slow-go and no-go years.

Spending usually falls through retirement Illustration of yearly spending from age 65 to 95, starting at $50,000. It falls about 1% per year to 75, about 2% per year to 85, to about $37,000, then rises about 1% per year to about $41,000 at 95 as health costs grow. A dashed flat line at $50,000 shows what many plans assume. Spending usually falls through retirement Go-go years Slow-go years No-go years 65707580859095 Age $30k$40k$50k What a flat plan assumes About $37,000 at 85 Health costs push it back up

Starting from the $50,000 target in Part 2, that pattern works out to about $47,500 at 70, $41,000 at 80 and $37,000 at 85, before it climbs back toward $41,000 by 95. Everyone's version looks a little different. The shape is what matters, because the years you're healthiest and most likely to travel are the years you'd naturally spend the most, and a plan that assumes flat spending forever asks you to hold back in exactly those years.

A range instead of a single number

If I was building your plan, I'd give you a spending range instead of one number to hit. The bottom of the range is what your life costs today. The top is the most the plan can support without running out before 94, the age Part 5 suggested planning to.

A spending range instead of one number A scale of yearly spending from $40,000 to $60,000. The floor, what life costs today, is $50,000. The ceiling, the most the plan can support to age 94, is $56,000. The shaded range between them is safe to spend, with the target in the middle at about $53,000. A spending range instead of one number Floor: $50,000 What life costs today Ceiling: $56,000 Most it can support Aim around here Re-run it every year $40k$45k$50k$55k$60k Yearly spending

Say your floor is $50,000 per year and the plan shows you could sustainably spend up to $56,000. That $6,000 gap is money you're allowed to use: the trip with the grandkids, a new roof, helping a kid with a down payment. You aim somewhere in the middle for a margin of safety, then re-run the numbers every year with what markets and life did. After a good stretch, the range moves up. After a bad one, you pull back a little, and the cash buffer from Part 6 means you never have to sell low to do it.

Spending your RRSP in your 60s is part of the plan

If you retire early in your 60s and wait on CPP and OAS the way Part 4 described, your balance drops fastest in the first few years, because you're living on your RRSP while the government pensions wait to start. That drop can look alarming on a statement. The money hasn't gone anywhere, though. You've traded it for a CPP and OAS payment that's bigger for life and rises with inflation, which does more for you at 88 than the same dollars sitting in an RRSP would.

Have something to retire to

The other half of spending well in retirement has nothing to do with money, and it's knowing what you're retiring to. The happiest retirees tend to be the ones who built friendships and interests outside of work before they left it. Someone who knows what they want their Tuesdays to look like at 66 spends on those things without much guilt. Someone who doesn't often ends up working "one more year," and then another, because the job is the only plan they have.

Where the series leaves you

This series started because a friend I grew up with asked what happens on the way out of your accounts, and said the jargon was what made it feel intimidating. Part 1 translated the vocabulary. Part 2 showed how much of the floor CPP and OAS cover, and Part 3 showed what each account costs in tax when you take money out. Part 4 made the case for waiting on CPP, Part 5 set the plan to a long life, and Part 6 covered what to hold and which account to draw first. This last piece is the reason for the other six: the money is there to be used.

If you'd like your own numbers run, including what your spending range could look like, you can book a meeting with me.

What's next

Next week starts a new series on buying a home, beginning with the question I hear most from people in their 20s and 30s: is renting throwing money away?

This is general financial education, not individual advice. The spending pattern by age is an illustration based on research into how retirees spend on average, not a projection for any one person. The $50,000 target and the $56,000 ceiling are examples, not recommendations. For advice specific to your situation, talk to a qualified professional.

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