Are You Saving Too Much? A Case For Loosening The Purse Strings

August 16th, 2017
25

Most physicians save too little and spend too much, making it very difficult for them to save enough money for retirement.

On the other hand, some physicians, particularly those who frequent my blog and other personal finance blogs, are doing really well, saving a high percentage of their income and cruising on the fast track to financial independence. Some are even able to become financially independent and retire in their 40s.

There are several reasons why these people are saving so much. Perhaps they are natural savers and enjoy watching their bank accounts grow over having a shiny new toy. Maybe they are accustomed to a more modest lifestyle from their childhood. Either way, they are immune to the temptations of lifestyle inflation.

Is There Such Thing As Saving Too Much?

However, there are certainly some physicians who are saving too much. For example, there was a recent thread on the Bogleheads forum about a physician who was making $1.8 million dollars a year and spending only $70,000 of it. I would say that this person could afford to save less, either by working fewer hours or spending more money.

After all, if you accumulate tens and tens of millions of dollars by the time you are 60 or 70, how will you spend all of it? You probably won’t, and you will likely be giving much of your fortune to your heirs, charity, or the government after your death.

While it is certainly bad to save too little for retirement, and in general you should err on the side of saving more money rather than less money, could you potentially spend a little bit more during your working years and enjoy that extra vacation or a nicer car, while still staying on track for retirement?

The Simple Retirement Calculator

An easy way to determine whether you could potentially loosen the purse strings on your spending is to run your numbers through a retirement calculator such as the one below.

(If you’re reading this on your phone, it’s best to turn your phone horizontally and view the spreadsheet in landscape mode.)

Just put in your current net worth, pre-and post-tax income, and your spending, and your expected rate of return parentheses (4% by default: you can adjust the rate of return based on your optimism or pessimism about the market).

Of course, by increasing your spending both during your working years and in retirement, you will need to save more money for retirement. This is a natural consequence of the 4% rule for retirement planning. This means you will need to spend a few more years working before reaching financial independence.

For many physicians, this isn’t an issue; they ascribe to the financial independence part of FIRE, but not the retire early part. Therefore, why not spend a little bit more and enjoy your younger years, while still being financially responsible?

An Example

Let’s say Dr. Appel is 40 years old, has a $500,000 net worth, makes $350,000 as an anesthesiologist ($230,000 post-tax), and spends $80,000 a year. Using the retirement calculator, we see that she is on track to be financially independent at age 48. In fact, if she continued to work and save at the same pace until she was 65, she’d end up with approximately $7.8 million dollars in retirement, which is almost four times what she actually needs!

Loosening the purse strings to $120,000 spending a year

While she may be comfortable with that and may even desire to retire early, she could also choose to live it up a little and increase her spending to $120,000/year. When you re-run the numbers, this means that she will be on track to be financially independent by age 55.

So she would have to work a few extra years, but it sounds like she was planning to do that anyway. With the extra $40,000 in spending a year, she could take an additional vacation, drive a nicer car, or buy more expensive clothes. Certainly, it is not very hard to spend more money if you want. But Dr. Appel can afford to do so, while still being financially independent in her 50s.

Why not increase spending to $160,000 a year?

Well, if she can retire at age 55 while spending $120,000 a year, why not ramp up the spending even more and spend $160,000 a year:

What if the market doesn’t do as well?

It looks like she could retire at age 64 while spending $160,000 a year. However, we assume that the market will return 4% after inflation and taxes. What if the market does not perform as we expect in the future? Let’s reduce the expected return to 2% per year:

Yikes, she would have to work until age 72! This is unacceptable to Dr. Appel, so spending around $120,000 prior makes the most sense for her situation.

A happy medium: $120,000 per year spending

If she increases her spending from her current $80,000 a year to $120,000 a year, she would be financially independent by age 58, even if she were to achieve a below-market return of 2%.

Conclusion

The best way to understand your own financial situation is to plug in your own numbers and play with the calculator. Only by tweaking all the numbers for yourself can you fully understand and appreciate the implications of your spending and how it will affect how long you’ll need to work before reaching financial independence.

If you want an offline version of the spreadsheet, I can send you an email, which you can use to download the spreadsheet. You will also receive the Wall Street Physician monthly newsletter and new post notifications.

 

What do you think? Have you loosened the purse strings as you have gotten older and your portfolio has grown? Do you wish you had spent more money and “lived it up” when you were younger?

25 COMMENTS

  1. I suppose savings rate should in some ways come down to the likelihood to burnout. Maybe a savings rate to burnout index. If you are dissatisfied with your career choice and think burnout is eminent, then better to save in preparation for a change. If you are enjoying your job and expect a long career, even working part time, then spend a bit more and save a little less. For me I am in the middle road currently. Moderation in spending and savings and am not sure what the longevity of my physician career will be.

  2. My wife and I have never hesitated to loosen our purse strings when it comes to travel, even in medical school. It is one of our passions and non-negotiable. If we were not able to travel, it would have made all these years of work and sacrifice much less enjoyable.

    Most boglehead types and readers of this website will err on the side of caution. Concern about running out of money late in life can make a man do kinda stupid things. Many are looking for as close to 100% certainty about our finances as we can, and that means many oversave.

  3. Great post, WSP! I think it’s really all about balance and what works for your particular situation. Some may just want to get to FI ASAP while others would to “live a little” at the expense of working a few more years. It certainly is helpful, though, to run your numbers and see how much your spending can impact your road to financial independence.

  4. Thanks; this article puts into dollars and sense terms what I’ve been feeling of late. I’ve been on the FIRE fast track probably eclipsing where WCI and POF were at my age/experience thanks to no kids, lower expenses, and above average income from day 1. There’s no such thing as spending too little, but I do think it’s possible to forego experiences you could otherwise have by being too focused on saving everything. My compromise was simple; go ahead and buy a money pit recreational vehicle of some kind, but simply work enough extra shifts to pay for it. A small, easy time sacrifice to loosen the purse strings guilt free. Sure, I could do the same work and save it instead, but having the motivation to work extra for a specific goal is priceless. And, while it may be a depreciating asset, it’s still an asset with value so not completely a loss anyway. Win-win.

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