The Hard Truth - Saving Not Investing
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Friday, November 14, TPTP, Jackie Gleason,
Today I am going to talk about why so many retirees struggle with decumulation, even though they believe they spent decades ‘investing.’ The truth is simple: saving is passive, retirement income is not, and this episode walks through what that really means.
The Hard Truth About Retirement: You Were Saving, Not Investing
For decades, most Americans have lived under the illusion that they were “investors.” The truth is far simpler and far less glamorous: they were savers participating in dollar-cost averaging through payroll deduction, nudged along by auto-enrollment, target-date funds, and default contribution rates. It worked. The defined contribution system now holds more than twelve trillion dollars. Vanguard’s latest How America Retires report shows participation at all-time highs.
But participation is not proficiency.
Accumulation is not investing.
And saving through a payroll system is not the same as deliberately managing income when the paycheck stops.
This is where the hubris begins to crack.
Accumulation Is Passive. Decumulation Is Personal.
When you are working, the system protects you. Money flows in automatically. Market downturns are cushioned by ongoing contributions. Your lifestyle is not directly tied to the rise and fall of your account. In retirement, that entire structure flips.
Suddenly you must:
• balance taxes,
• evaluate longevity risk,
• adjust for health costs,
• map lifestyle expectations,
• and coordinate Social Security, pensions, IRAs, Roths, and required withdrawals.
The report confirms what we see every day: retirees struggle to shift from building a balance to drawing it down. Only one-fifth consistently take moderate withdrawals year after year. Most drift, hesitate, delay, or take irregular chunks. And those behaviors often reflect uncertainty—not strategy.
Commercial - Okay, the next two minutes, Stretch, Coffee, Handle that distracting text, email, so you can focus, or listen and while picking the lint out of your navel.
People Think They Are Investors. They Are Not.
This is not an insult. It is an honest recognition of how the American retirement system was built.
For thirty years you did not pick the entry point, the exit point, the share count, the risk exposure, or the tax outcome. You were not driving the car. You were riding in the back seat with a seatbelt and side airbags.
In retirement, the seatbelt comes off. You are behind the wheel.
The challenge is that many retirees still believe the passive habits of accumulation will save them in decumulation. They will not. Income planning is a different game, with different rules, and the margin for error tightens dramatically.
Why So Many Retirees Stay in Their Plans
Vanguard notes that roughly half of retirees keep assets inside their employer plan the year they leave. One quarter are still there three years later. It is not because the plan suddenly became superior. It is because inertia is powerful. When retirees are unsure, they stay put.
But there is a deeper point here: the industry wants to commoditize retirement.
Automation reduces human interaction. Guardrails replace personalized thinking. Indexing becomes a religion, not a tool. The goal is simple—maximize profit by minimizing time spent with the human being whose life depends on the output.
That works during accumulation.
It fails during decumulation.
The Industry Wants Everything to Be “Easy.” Retirement Isn’t.
Sponsors are introducing hybrid annuity target-date funds, managed accounts, paycheck calculators, and other packaged solutions. Some tools are helpful. Some are marketing dressed up as guidance. But all share one common thread:
They attempt to turn one-of-a-kind situations into one-size-fits-all solutions.
A retiree is not a dataset. A retiree is a person with:
• a unique health profile,
• a unique risk tolerance,
• unique family obligations,
• unique tax considerations,
• and a finite timeline where mistakes cannot be undone.
This is why, according to Vanguard, eighty-six percent of retirees report greater peace of mind when they work with an advisor. It is not the paperwork. It is not the charts. It is the clarity.
The Real Pivot: From Building Wealth to Controlling Income
The shift into retirement requires something many people have never done before: intentional, conscious, structured income planning.
You are no longer “saving for later.”
You are engineering a predictable lifestyle in a world filled with unpredictable variables:
• market volatility,
• inflation cycles,
• medical events,
• tax code changes,
• and life expectancy that increasingly stretches into the mid-eighties.
This is where deliberate planning replaces autopilot. And this is where retirees cannot afford to scatter their money across the green earth, chasing every shiny index fund because the industry says it is “simple.”
Simple is not always safe.
Convenient is not always correct.
Default choices are not always in your best interest.
A Firm, Respectful Reminder
If you spent thirty or forty years letting systems automate your savings, that was perfectly appropriate. But now you are in retirement—or approaching it—and the rules have changed.
You are not managing balances anymore.
You are managing income.
You are managing risk.
You are managing longevity.
You are managing taxes.
You are managing the second half of your life.
And that requires awareness, structure, and intentional decision-making.
The Bottom Line
Saving is passive.
Decumulation is active.
Retirement is not a spreadsheet; it is a lived experience.
Most importantly—your financial life in retirement cannot be reduced to a set of blanket recommendations or generic indexing strategies. You deserve better than commoditized advice and algorithmic shortcuts.
If you understand that, you already know what to do next.
https://paultruesdell.com/events
Friday, November 14, TPTP, Jackie Gleason,
Today I am going to talk about why so many retirees struggle with decumulation, even though they believe they spent decades ‘investing.’ The truth is simple: saving is passive, retirement income is not, and this episode walks through what that really means.
The Hard Truth About Retirement: You Were Saving, Not Investing
For decades, most Americans have lived under the illusion that they were “investors.” The truth is far simpler and far less glamorous: they were savers participating in dollar-cost averaging through payroll deduction, nudged along by auto-enrollment, target-date funds, and default contribution rates. It worked. The defined contribution system now holds more than twelve trillion dollars. Vanguard’s latest How America Retires report shows participation at all-time highs.
But participation is not proficiency.
Accumulation is not investing.
And saving through a payroll system is not the same as deliberately managing income when the paycheck stops.
This is where the hubris begins to crack.
Accumulation Is Passive. Decumulation Is Personal.
When you are working, the system protects you. Money flows in automatically. Market downturns are cushioned by ongoing contributions. Your lifestyle is not directly tied to the rise and fall of your account. In retirement, that entire structure flips.
Suddenly you must:
• balance taxes,
• evaluate longevity risk,
• adjust for health costs,
• map lifestyle expectations,
• and coordinate Social Security, pensions, IRAs, Roths, and required withdrawals.
The report confirms what we see every day: retirees struggle to shift from building a balance to drawing it down. Only one-fifth consistently take moderate withdrawals year after year. Most drift, hesitate, delay, or take irregular chunks. And those behaviors often reflect uncertainty—not strategy.
Commercial - Okay, the next two minutes, Stretch, Coffee, Handle that distracting text, email, so you can focus, or listen and while picking the lint out of your navel.
People Think They Are Investors. They Are Not.
This is not an insult. It is an honest recognition of how the American retirement system was built.
For thirty years you did not pick the entry point, the exit point, the share count, the risk exposure, or the tax outcome. You were not driving the car. You were riding in the back seat with a seatbelt and side airbags.
In retirement, the seatbelt comes off. You are behind the wheel.
The challenge is that many retirees still believe the passive habits of accumulation will save them in decumulation. They will not. Income planning is a different game, with different rules, and the margin for error tightens dramatically.
Why So Many Retirees Stay in Their Plans
Vanguard notes that roughly half of retirees keep assets inside their employer plan the year they leave. One quarter are still there three years later. It is not because the plan suddenly became superior. It is because inertia is powerful. When retirees are unsure, they stay put.
But there is a deeper point here: the industry wants to commoditize retirement.
Automation reduces human interaction. Guardrails replace personalized thinking. Indexing becomes a religion, not a tool. The goal is simple—maximize profit by minimizing time spent with the human being whose life depends on the output.
That works during accumulation.
It fails during decumulation.
The Industry Wants Everything to Be “Easy.” Retirement Isn’t.
Sponsors are introducing hybrid annuity target-date funds, managed accounts, paycheck calculators, and other packaged solutions. Some tools are helpful. Some are marketing dressed up as guidance. But all share one common thread:
They attempt to turn one-of-a-kind situations into one-size-fits-all solutions.
A retiree is not a dataset. A retiree is a person with:
• a unique health profile,
• a unique risk tolerance,
• unique family obligations,
• unique tax considerations,
• and a finite timeline where mistakes cannot be undone.
This is why, according to Vanguard, eighty-six percent of retirees report greater peace of mind when they work with an advisor. It is not the paperwork. It is not the charts. It is the clarity.
The Real Pivot: From Building Wealth to Controlling Income
The shift into retirement requires something many people have never done before: intentional, conscious, structured income planning.
You are no longer “saving for later.”
You are engineering a predictable lifestyle in a world filled with unpredictable variables:
• market volatility,
• inflation cycles,
• medical events,
• tax code changes,
• and life expectancy that increasingly stretches into the mid-eighties.
This is where deliberate planning replaces autopilot. And this is where retirees cannot afford to scatter their money across the green earth, chasing every shiny index fund because the industry says it is “simple.”
Simple is not always safe.
Convenient is not always correct.
Default choices are not always in your best interest.
A Firm, Respectful Reminder
If you spent thirty or forty years letting systems automate your savings, that was perfectly appropriate. But now you are in retirement—or approaching it—and the rules have changed.
You are not managing balances anymore.
You are managing income.
You are managing risk.
You are managing longevity.
You are managing taxes.
You are managing the second half of your life.
And that requires awareness, structure, and intentional decision-making.
The Bottom Line
Saving is passive.
Decumulation is active.
Retirement is not a spreadsheet; it is a lived experience.
Most importantly—your financial life in retirement cannot be reduced to a set of blanket recommendations or generic indexing strategies. You deserve better than commoditized advice and algorithmic shortcuts.
If you understand that, you already know what to do next.