How Long Will My Money Last in Retirement?

"Will my money last in retirement?" It's the question I hear more than any other.

If you're anywhere near retirement, you've probably asked yourself the same thing. It's one of the most important financial questions you'll ever face and one of the hardest to answer with a simple rule of thumb. That's because the answer isn't found in a single number or a retirement calculator. It comes from understanding the life you want to live and building a financial plan that supports it.

You've seen the headlines. You need a certain number saved, or you should follow the 4% rule, or you should have some multiple of your salary by a certain age.

Those can be useful starting points, but they don't come close to telling the whole story. Two people with the exact same savings can have completely different retirements depending on how they live, what they pay in taxes, what healthcare costs them, and how their income is actually structured.

So at Nexa Wealth Planning here in Los Angeles, I don't start with a number, I start with you. Whether you're retiring in a few years or just planning ahead, and whether you're here in California or working with me virtually from somewhere else, the way I help you answer this question is by building a retirement income plan around your life, not around generic assumptions. Here's how that conversation goes.

We start with the life you actually want

When someone asks me whether their money will last, what they’re really asking is more personal than that. They’re asking whether they can live the retirement they worked so hard for.

Most people come to me leading with a number: How much do I need? Is what I have enough? But that number means very little until we understand what it needs to pay for. Before we talk about investment returns or account balances, I want to understand what retirement looks like for you.

Before we talk about investment returns, withdrawal rates, or account balances, I want to understand what retirement looks like for you.

Do you want to travel a few times a year or stay closer to home? Keep your current house or move nearer to family? Buy the place near the water you’ve been imagining? Help your children or grandchildren while you’re still here to see the impact? Continue working part-time because you enjoy the purpose and connection it gives you?

One thing I also remind clients is that retirement isn't one long season.  It changes over time just like life before retirement did.  Many people assume they'll automatically spend less once they stop working.

That has not been my experience with most clients. In the first 10 to 20 years of retirement, depending on when you retire, you may be more active than ever. You finally have the time to travel, visit family, take up new hobbies, work on the house, or do the things you postponed while you were working. You may no longer be commuting or contributing to retirement accounts, but those expenses are often replaced by something else. In some cases, people spend about the same as they did before retirement, or even more.

That’s why I plan for retirement in stages. We may begin with a higher spending level during your active years, then gradually reduce that assumption by roughly 5% to 10% as travel slows, routines change, and you move into a different season of retirement. It is not a prediction that life will unfold exactly that way. It is a more realistic starting point than assuming you will spend the same amount forever—or that your expenses will suddenly drop the day you retire.

These choices shape the plan far more than most people expect. The numbers matter, but only because they help answer a more meaningful question: Will your money support the life you want to live, even as that life changes over time?

Life rarely unfolds exactly as we expect, and your retirement plan shouldn't assume that it will. It should be flexible enough to adapt as your life changes.

We find every place your income will come from

Very few people retire on a single source of income. It usually comes from several places at once, some combination of your 401k, IRAs, a brokerage account, Social Security, maybe a pension, rental income, business income, or part-time work you actually enjoy.

The mistake I see most often is evaluating each account or income source on its own. What matters is how they work together.

Should you delay Social Security, and for how long? Which accounts should you draw from first, and which should you leave invested? Would using Roth assets earlier improve your long-term tax picture, or create fewer options later? How will required withdrawals affect your income and taxes?

Take Social Security, for example. Claiming earlier provides income sooner, but it permanently reduces your monthly benefit. Waiting can significantly increase your guaranteed income for the rest of your life. The right choice depends on far more than your age. It depends on how much income you need, what other assets you have available, your health, your tax situation, and your long-term goals.

The same is true for your retirement accounts. We look at how to efficiently use dollars from your 401k, IRA, brokerage account, or Roth accounts to create the income you need while also considering taxes.

In some situations, it may make sense to complete Roth conversions before required minimum distributions begin. In others, a different approach may better support your long-term plan.

These aren’t isolated decisions. They all influence one another, and those connections are almost impossible to see when you’re reviewing one account statement at a time. That’s why we coordinate them as part of a single retirement income strategy rather than making each choice independently.



We prepare for uncertainty

It’s tempting to build a retirement plan around a version of the future in which everything cooperates. But that isn’t the future anyone actually gets.

Markets don’t move on schedule. Inflation doesn’t hold still. Healthcare expenses can change. Careers and family responsibilities do not always unfold according to plan. That’s why I don’t build retirement plans around the assumption that everything will go right. 

Instead, we look at the harder scenarios together.

What happens if the market falls during your first few years of retirement while you’re also withdrawing money? What if inflation remains higher than expected? What if you retire earlier than planned—by choice or because circumstances force the decision? What if one spouse lives significantly longer than the other?

Walking through these possibilities ahead of time helps us identify weak spots while they are still only possibilities. We can then make adjustments before those risks become realities.

The purpose is not to predict your future. It is to build a plan that can remain useful across many different versions of it.

We account for the risks people overlook

Many people assume the stock market is the greatest threat to their retirement. In practice, some of the most damaging risks are the gradual ones that receive less attention.

1. Healthcare and long-term care

Medical expenses often increase with age, and Medicare does not cover every type of care a retiree may eventually need. Extended care, in particular, can become a significant expense for an individual, a spouse, or the entire family.

When someone tells me long-term care is not something they need to think about yet, I often ask a different question: If you needed help for an extended period, who would provide that care and what would it require from them financially, physically, and emotionally?

That question makes the issue more real. Long-term care planning is not only about protecting an account balance. It is also about protecting the people you love from having to make difficult decisions without a plan.

2. Taxes

Many people are surprised by how much they may still pay in taxes after they retire. Different accounts receive different tax treatment, and the order in which you withdraw money can affect how much you ultimately keep.

Retirement tax planning may involve deciding when to recognize income, when to use taxable or tax-deferred accounts, whether Roth conversions deserve consideration, and how Social Security and other income sources interact. The goal is not simply to reduce this year’s tax bill. It is to make thoughtful decisions across the full length of retirement.

3. Inflation

Inflation rarely feels dramatic from one year to the next. Over a retirement that may last 25 or 30 years, however, it can quietly erode what your money is able to buy.

A plan based only on today’s expenses may look comfortable while underestimating what the same lifestyle could cost in the future. Your income strategy therefore needs to support today’s spending while giving your money an opportunity to keep pace with your changing cost of living.

We create a living plan that evolves with you

By this point, we've spent time understanding the retirement you want, identifying where your income will come from, stress-testing the plan, and thinking through risks like taxes, inflation, and healthcare. Now it's time to turn all of those conversations into a retirement income plan you can actually use.

Now it's time to turn all of that into a retirement income plan you can actually use.

Instead of wondering whether you're on the right track, you'll have a clear picture of how the pieces fit together. You'll understand where your retirement income is expected to come from, when decisions like claiming Social Security fit into the plan, how withdrawals from your retirement accounts can be coordinated with taxes in mind, and how much flexibility you have if life doesn't unfold exactly as expected.

Just as importantly, you'll know why we're making those decisions. I want my clients to understand the strategy behind the plan, not simply follow a set of recommendations.

And because retirement isn't one long season, this isn't a plan that's created once and put in a drawer. Your spending may change as you move through different stages of retirement. Tax laws evolve. Markets fluctuate. Your priorities may shift. The plan should evolve with them.

That's why I view retirement planning as an ongoing relationship rather than a one-time project. We revisit the strategy, make thoughtful adjustments as your life changes, and help ensure your financial plan continues to support the retirement you want, not just the retirement we imagined years earlier.

Get a clearer answer for your retirement

So, will your money last in retirement?

The answer comes from looking at your entire financial life together: the retirement you want, the income available to you, the taxes you may owe, the risks you need to prepare for, and the decisions you can make along the way.

At Nexa Wealth Planning in Los Angeles, I help women, couples, and business owners across California and beyond turn those moving pieces into a coordinated retirement income plan. You’ll see where you stand today, what may need attention, and which next steps can give you more confidence about the years ahead.

Schedule a conversation to begin answering the question with your own numbers, goals, and life in mind.

You Might Also Be Wondering...

What if I'm in my 30s or 40s? Is it too early to start planning for retirement?

Not at all. Many of the people I work with begin planning well before retirement because they want to make thoughtful decisions while those decisions still have time to make a meaningful difference.



Learn more about how we work with clients if you're wondering whether now is the right time to create a financial plan.

When retirement is still years away, the questions simply look a little different. Am I saving enough? Are my investments aligned with my goals? Should I prioritize my 401k, Roth accounts, or other investments? What kind of retirement income am I currently on track to create?

Just as importantly, financial planning at this stage isn't only about retirement. You may also be buying a home, raising children, supporting aging parents, building a business, or saving for other goals that matter to you. The objective isn't to maximize your retirement savings at the expense of everything else. It's to make intentional decisions that balance today's priorities with your long-term financial future.

The earlier you begin asking these questions, the more flexibility you typically have. Small, consistent adjustments made over many years can have a meaningful impact on where you ultimately end up.