Effective Ways to Stop Yourself from Spending Your Retirement Money

Saving money for retirement is something everyone should do, but most don’t. Even those who do manage to save something for retirement end up spending it before retiring anyway. You can only spend retirement in relative ease if you can afford it. You won’t be able to take up second jobs, side hustle, freelance or apply for loans during the final years of your life. It’s every important to have money saved to address important housing, medical, and lifestyle needs in your late years.

If you are thinking about or are already spending your retirement money, you need to stop right now. Here are a few tips that might help.

Keep Your Retirement Savings Inaccessible

The best way to not spend your retirement savings is to keep the money inaccessible. For example, don’t use a regular savings account for your retirement financial needs. That’s just too easy to withdraw from or get mixed up in other accounts. Open a separate retirement savings account that you cannot access as easily as your other accounts. This will discourage you from accessing funds impulsively.

Have Multiple Savings Accounts

Some people use a single savings account for everything including retirement. The problem with this approach is that you will probably end up withdrawing money from this account. For example, if you have a single savings account for retirement and emergencies, you will certainly end up making withdrawals if your car breaks down or if you end up in the ER. You could end up with nothing by the time you retire if you constantly withdraw money from the account. You can easily tackle this problem by opening different savings accounts for different needs.

Invest Retirement Savings

If you have already racked up a considerable amount of retirement savings, you could be tempted to use that money on vanity purchases like a boat or a beach house. You can control spending money impulsively by investing the funds. Beware, however, that you should never use your retirement savings in risky investments. Instead, use retirement savings in low-risk investments like government bonds. Government bonds that last for decades are perfect to keep retirement savings inaccessible, and also possibly growing.

Use a Savings Account that Makes It Very Hard to Withdraw Money

The main reason you end up spending your retirement savings is because you have easy access to the funds. So, you should limit this access. You can, for example, put the money in an account that makes it difficult to withdraw money. Some banks require weeks of processing before a withdrawal is approved for a certain account. Try to use one of these accounts for your retirement savings. If you can’t withdraw, you won’t.

Last but not least, planning for retirement early will also help you keep your money in place. You will be less tempted to use your retirement savings if you know what you are going to do with it once you retire. Let’s say you plan early to buy a beach house to retire at. When you have a goal like this, you are less likely to use retirement savings prematurely.