How Much Is Safe to Spend in Retirement?

Summary

Podcast Summary: Ramsey Everyday Millionaires

Episode: How Much Is Safe to Spend in Retirement?
Date: March 13, 2026
Hosts: George Kamel (A), Jade Warshaw (B)
Caller: Scott from Houston, Texas

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Overview

This episode centers on strategies and mindsets for spending in retirement. Scott, a disciplined saver and successful retiree, calls seeking guidance on how much he can safely spend from his considerable nest egg. The hosts coach him on financial wellness, breaking lifelong habits around saving, and embracing a fulfilling, intentional new stage of life.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Scott’s Situation and Main Question

• Scott's Background: Retired at 65 after career following the Ramsey plan for 20 years.
  • Nest egg: ~$3.3 million
  • Monthly expenses: ~$8,000
  • Current income: Drawing ~$8,000 per month from 401(k)
  • Not yet drawing Social Security (plans to max out by waiting)
  • No particular desire for travel or major purchases; unsure how to enjoy retirement
• Core Concern: Struggles with the transition from saving to spending; feels guilt/uncertainty around actually enjoying his money.

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Financial Safety and Withdrawal Rates

• Hosts affirm Scott’s financial situation is "more than solid."
  • “The math says you’re fine. You could easily withdraw ten grand a month from that account and it’s never going to deplete in your working life… even if you lived to 95, the balance will still be there.”
    – Jade Warshaw (B), [02:59]
• Typical spending trajectory in retirement:
  • Uptick early on ("woohoo" phase)
  • Stabilizes/decreases for years
  • Rises late in life due to healthcare
  • Important to account for healthcare costs but otherwise, Scott can increase his spending without fear.
• Noted that this advice is specific to Scott: “If you had half a million dollars, it’d be a different story. But you have done the hard work, and so it’s time to enjoy it.”
  — Jade Warshaw (B), [07:52]

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Mindset: From Saver to Spender

• Acknowledged the psychological barrier from decades of frugality:
  • “You really have to remind yourself you’re kind of rewiring your brain … for years, you’ve literally created a pathway in your brain that said spending money … is irresponsible.”
    — George Kamel (A), [06:21]
  • “You have been doing leg day your whole life, and now your arms are atrophied. So it’s a different kind of workout. … It’s going to take a few months for you to get in the rhythm.”
    — Jade Warshaw (B), [07:32]
• Advice for overcoming these blocks:
  • “Play a game where every month I force myself to budget for something new. … Just try a bunch of things and let this be your season of, ‘I’m just getting to know Scott.’”
    — George Kamel (A), [04:12]
  • The goal: intentional exploration and even "forcing" fun money each month

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Enjoying Retirement Intentionally

• Permission and encouragement to spend:
  • “You have lived like no one else, and now you’re forgetting that it’s time to live like no one else. … You get to do all those things. You’ve earned the right.”
    — Jade Warshaw (B), [05:42]
• The risk of being too frugal:
  • “What I don’t want you to do is hoard it all, and then … you die at 95 years old with $50 million and you’re like, ‘Wow, man, I really should have enjoyed life a little more.’”
    — Jade Warshaw (B), [06:01]
• Practical steps for intentionality:
  • Ask friends or grown children for ideas, try social activities or hobbies
  • Embrace upgrades and conveniences previously considered “wasteful”
  • Celebrate the new phase: “You ran the marathon, you went past the finish line and you’re still running. It’s okay to take a pause, have a drink, and enjoy this third phase of your life.”
    — Jade Warshaw (B), [09:33]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Lifetime Saving Mindset:

  • "You’ve equated spending money with irresponsible behavior. ... Now it's like, okay, I need to rewire my brain and do the work of actually doing those actions to tell myself, if I spend this money, nothing bad's going to happen."
    — George Kamel (A), [06:21]

• Encouragement to Enjoy:

  • "You have lived like no one else, and now you're forgetting that it's time to live like no one else.”
    — Jade Warshaw (B), [05:42]

• On the Purpose of Wealth:

  • “You get to delegate the things you don't want to do. ... You get to take the trip that felt frivolous. ... You’ve earned the right.”
    — Jade Warshaw (B), [05:45]

• The Importance of Self-Discovery:

  • "This is way less a money question and way more a self-discovery question."
    — George Kamel (A), [03:42]

• Biblical Perspective:

  • “A good book for this, the book of Ecclesiastes. ... Everything is meaningless, so just enjoy the time you have on this earth. Drink and be merry, my friend.”
    — Jade Warshaw (B), [08:08]

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Important Timestamps

• [00:24] Scott shares his retirement status and asks about safe spending
• [01:40] Scott details his expenses and current withdrawal rate
• [02:59] Hosts confirm his withdrawal is sustainable for life
• [03:42] Hosts pivot to mindset and self-discovery
• [05:42] Encouragement to embrace spending (“live like no one else”)
• [06:21] Discussion about the challenges of rewiring decades-old habits
• [07:32] Reassurance: this is a process, not an overnight shift
• [08:08] Ecclesiastes quote on enjoying life
• [09:33] “Marathon” analogy for entering a new phase

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Conclusion

This episode reframes the retirement question from one of math to one of mindset and intentional living. The hosts assure Scott—and listeners in similar situations—that responsible spending is not only safe but deserved after years of diligent saving. The transformative journey from saver to spender is underscored as an essential, healthy adjustment, with permission and practical encouragement to explore, enjoy, and make this season of life meaningful.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

This episode is brought to you by SmartVestor. Connect with an investing pro near you at RamseySolutions.com SmartVestor We've got Scott, who's

[A]

in Houston, Texas, on the line. Hey, what's up, Scott?

[C]

Hey, Jaden. George. How you doing today? Thank you so much for taking my call.

[A]

You bet. How can we help today?

[C]

Well, I think I have a good situation, but I need some guidance as to how to do this. I retired last February. I had to because of my profession. And I followed Dave's plan now for close to 20 years. So I've done fairly well. Basically, my nest egg is just about $3.3 million, and I've been a saver all my life. So I'm trying to figure out how much I can spend and when I can spend it.

[A]

All right, well, how old are you?

[C]

I'm 65.

[A]

65. And what are you. What are you doing right now? I mean, how. How are you drawing income right now?

[C]

I'm basically drawing income out of my. Out of my 401k that I've had forever. And I've. I've thought about going back to work on a limited basis. I have a few small health issues that I'm working through that are kind of keeping me from working at this point anyway, just because of having to have an obligations to take or things like that. But, but it's just, you know, I'm afraid to spend money because I've always saved it.

[A]

Oh, I see. Okay.

[B]

What are your current expenses, if you added them all up?

[C]

Yeah, I sure have. It's basically, you know, everything comes out about $8,000 a month.

[A]

And is that what your. What's your draw set on?

[C]

My draw is set on eight. Is just about 8,000.

[A]

Okay, so you're not, you're not doing anything extra?

[C]

No, no, I'm doing absolutely. Other than, you know, things like buying Christmas presents and, you know, birthdays and possibly going out every once in a while to get something to eat. But no, I'm. I've been a workaholic all my life.

[A]

Well, what do you want to do if I said, Scott, just shoot me straight. Do you want to go to Europe

[B]

if we give you full permission, buy a boat?

[A]

Like, what is it that you want to do?

[C]

Well, actually, believe it or not, I already have a boat, and I don't really want to travel. I don't know what I want to do because my whole life was pretty much working and just existing.

[B]

Wow. Do you have any other sources of income outside of the 401k pension, Social Security, IRAs, anything like that. Real estate?

[C]

Well, Social Security is in the mix, but I'm not drawing on it yet because I don't need to. And, and I'm not at my full retirement age.

[B]

Okay. Yeah, you could wait till 67 or even 70 if you want to. Really get the max.

[C]

Exactly.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The math says you're fine. You could easily withdraw ten grand a month from that account and it's never going to deplete in your working life. I mean, in your lifetime, let's say you lived even 95, the balance will still be there. And so I'm not worried about that. Unless you have some crazy, you know, your expenses are going to go up to 20, 30 grand a month at some point in life, which it doesn't sound like that's the case. So you just need to factor in, you know, healthcare costs. There's, it's kind of a smile. What they've seen in the financial planning world is once you retire, there tends to be a slight upgrade in spending for a little bit because you're like, woohoo. And then as you get older, it actually goes down for a foreseeable amount of time and then in the final stage of your life, it ramps back up due to all the health care costs.

[A]

So for me, this is way less a money question and way more a self discovery question. And I think it's really fun for you to be able to do this at this stage in your life. If I were you, I would be so intentional about just getting to know, what do you like, what do you not like? And I would just play a game, honestly, I would play a game where every month I force myself to budget for something new just to see your expenses. Are you like it?

[B]

Can you make it ten grand? And the extra two is just fun money for Scott. Would you be able to do that right now?

[C]

Well, I'm, I'm actually doing that right now. And the problem is, is I'm, I'm saving, I'm, I'm saving my own money again.

[A]

Well, that's what I'm saying, actually spending it. That's why I say make yourself, you know, go get in your friend group and say, what are you guys doing? And if they say, it's almost like make yourself say yes. If they say, oh, this weekend we're going on a hike, you go, all right, I'll try it. And then you come back and you go, I'm crossing that one off the list. I don't want to do any more of that, and then if the next time they go, we're. We're going to Burning man, you're like, all right, I'll try it. And then you end up, man, I really like festivals. Like, whatever. I just want you to try a bunch of things and just let this be your season of. I'm just getting to know Scott. I'm. I'm in a new season of life. I. I am unattached from work. The. The way I, you know, it's a very different stage for me, and. And it's just exploratory, and I think that's really, really fun. There's no wrong or right answer.

[C]

I think I'm just being too cheap, and I'm having trouble now.

[B]

Do you have anyone close to you in your life?

[C]

I have two daughters, yes.

[B]

Great. Would they encourage you to spend.

[C]

I don't know whether or not they would because they've seen. I mean, they're. They're kind of Dave Ramsey Dalso.

[B]

They just know Dave, Dad's a cheapskate. And now he's trained us to be cheapskates.

[C]

Can I tell you, though, Call me a cheapstate.

[B]

Well, here's the other side of the equation. You have lived like no one else, and now you're forgetting that it's time to live like no one else. It's time to do the things that felt waste. Yeah. Things that felt crazy and wasteful are now going to be a rhythm of your life. You get to delegate the things you don't want to do. You get to upgrade the things that really, it's time for an upgrade. You get to take the trip that felt frivolous. You get to fly first class, even though you've always felt like that was a ripoff. You get to do all those things. You've earned the right. And so what I don't want you to do is hoard it all. And then you end up. You die at 95 years old with $50 million, and you're like, wow, man, I really should have enjoyed life a little more.

[A]

But even that, Scott, just because I think awareness of this is a really big point of it, you really have to remind yourself that you're kind of rewiring your brain in this moment, because for years, you've literally created a pathway in your brain that said spending money. You've equated spending money with irresponsible behavior. And a responsible person saves their money. A responsible person puts their money away. You've told yourself that for 40 years and now it's like, okay, I need to rewire my brain and do the work of actually doing those actions to tell myself, if I spend this money and nothing bad's going to happen. And it's literally at that point, you're just following science to help you learn that if I spend money, if I spend this money, nothing bad's going to happen, nothing's going to implode, nothing's going to fall off. I'm not going to destroy anything. And the more and more that you do that, the more you will free yourself up to realize, oh, this is. This is good. And you won't have that part in your brain that's like, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. Right? So. So that. I mean, that's just at the, like, lowest scientific level, what you're doing.

[B]

If you think about, like, a workout, you. You have been doing leg day your whole life, and now your arms are atrophied. And so it's a different kind of workout. You're working different muscles, and it's going to take time. This is not a thing where next month you've just paused all investing and you're only spending. I think this is going to take a few months for you to get. Get in the rhythm of. And it's going to go, hey, I'm okay. The balance is growing. Not saving is not hurting me. And spending more than I used to is not hurting me. And so you're in a great spot. This is not advice for everyone. This is advice for a guy who has $3.3 million sitting there at 65. If you had half a million dollars, it would be a very different story. I'd be going, dude, you need to get back to work, and you need to keep saving. But you have done the hard work, and so it's time to enjoy it. And a good book for this, the book of Ecclesiastes. It's one of my favorites to remind myself that everything is meaningless. So just enjoy the time you have on this earth. Drink and be merry, my friend.

[A]

That's funny. I. I think you remember when we did the Live like no one else cruise last year. I talked about this exact subject of REM remembering that if you're, you know, walking the baby steps, you are. You're wiring your brain for a while to say the habits that I was doing, which were usually spending, got me in a bad place. Like, you've told yourself that a lot. So what I must do is not spend to get myself in the Good Place and we tell ourselves that for however long it takes us to get out of the baby steps and then we have to then do the work about rewiring our brain and say, you know what? I've become a financially responsible adult. I can now spend my money again. And by the way, being a financially responsible adult, if you're checking the things on the checklist, you're living on a budget. You're living a life that's out of debt. You carry the proper insurances, you value savings in the way of, you know, having your three to six months. You're paying off your house, you're investing for your Future in a 401k and you prioritize generosity. If you're checking those green boxes, that means there's some money that you can spend time to party.

[B]

You ran the marathon, you went past the finish line and you're still running. It's okay to take a pause, have a drink and enjoy this third phase of your life. Scott.