The habit that made you a great saver might be the thing that holds your retirement back. Spending more in your 60s, while you have the health, the energy, and the freedom, can be a sound decision. What you want to do at 63 may not feel the same at 73, and it almost certainly won’t at 83.

That’s why your 60s are called the go-go years. The name isn’t a license to be reckless. It reflects that this is when you have the most capacity to live the retirement you built. If you’ve saved well, the question is how to build a plan that makes higher early spending responsible.

What the Research Says About Retirement Spending

Most retirement plans treat spending as a flat line: the same amount, adjusted for inflation, every year for 30 years. Real households don’t behave that way.

In 2014, David Blanchett, then head of retirement research at Morningstar, published “Exploring the Retirement Consumption Puzzle.” Looking at actual household data, he found that real spending drops by roughly 1% per year as people move through retirement. Spending starts higher, dips through the middle years, and for some retirees rises again late in life because of healthcare costs. That shape became known as the retirement spending smile.

Blanchett revisited the question in a 2026 study using two decades of updated data. Two findings stand out:

• The decline isn’t about running out of money. Even retirees who can afford to spend more tend to spend less as they age.
• The median retiree’s spending never turns back up. It keeps drifting down, which looks more like a smirk than a smile. The late-life upturn comes from averaging in a smaller group hit with major healthcare costs.

Either way, a flat assumption overstates what most retirees need. In Blanchett’s newer research, a flat spending model supports a starting withdrawal of about 5.2% per year. Model the smile or the smirk, and that rises to roughly 6.2% to 6.4%. That is about 20% more income in the years you’re most able to use it.

The Risks That Keep Savers Cautious

None of this makes the risks go away. Four concerns come up consistently, and all are legitimate:

• Late-life healthcare costs. The smirk is typical, but you could be one of the retirees whose costs create the smile.
• Outliving your money. Retire in your early 60s and you may need to fund 30 years or more.
• Sequence of returns risk. Drawing heavily from a portfolio during an early market decline can do damage that’s hard to recover from.
• Inflation. A dollar buys less in your 70s than in your 60s, and less again in your 80s.

Each of these can be planned for specifically enough that you can still live well now.

How to Make Spending More in Your 60s Responsible

Build a healthcare reserve. Long-term care insurance has become expensive enough that, in our experience, it’s often not the right fit for people planning today. We tend to earmark part of the portfolio for late-life care instead. The money stays invested, but it’s excluded from the spending calculation.

Keep a war chest. Hold three to seven years of income needs in cash and high-quality, short- to intermediate-term bonds. If stocks fall early in retirement, you draw from the war chest and give your stocks time to recover.

Use dynamic guardrails. Guardrails replace a fixed withdrawal rate with upper and lower boundaries around your portfolio value. Stay between them and you’re on track. Rise above the upper one and you can spend more. Fall below the lower one and you pull back temporarily.

What This Looks Like With Real Numbers

Consider a couple with a $2.7 million portfolio and $400,000, adjusted for inflation, reserved for healthcare. Social Security doesn’t start for three years, so the first-year withdrawal rate is 7.2%, all of it from the portfolio.

That sounds high next to the 4% rule, but it isn’t permanent. Once Social Security begins, the withdrawal rate drops. Their guardrails look like this:

• Upper guardrail at $4.4 million: spending can increase by $5,900 per month.
• Lower guardrail at $1.55 million: spending decreases by $500 per month.

Retirement income and expenses are lumpy. Pensions start, mortgages get paid off, and spending shifts. A plan that adapts to those changes can support more early spending than a flat model.

What “Spending More” Really Means

For most careful savers, spending more means things like:

• Finally taking the trip you’ve talked about for years
• Helping a child with a down payment
• Sharing experiences with grandchildren while you’re healthy enough to be fully present
• Giving more to a church, a cause, or people who matter to you

The Bottom Line

Many disciplined savers carry their saving identity into retirement without realizing it. If your plan still assumes flat spending for 30 years, it may need an update. With a healthcare reserve, a war chest, and guardrails that tell you when to pull back, spending more in your 60s can be the responsible move.

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Seek Professional Guidance

Navigating retirement decisions can be complex. Consulting with a certified financial planner can provide personalized insights and strategies tailored to your unique circumstances. Whether you’re nearing retirement or planning ahead, expert advice can help you optimize your Social Security benefits and achieve greater financial confidence in your retirement years.

This does not constitute an investment recommendation. Investing involves risk. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Consult your financial advisor for what is appropriate for you. Disclosures: https://onedegreeadvisors.com/disclosure/