There’s also a potential psychological fallout to frittering away your nest egg too quickly, says Robert Peterson, senior wealth advisor at Crescent Grove Advisors. “Having adequate savings provides a feeling of security,” says Peterson. “If you are constantly running up credit card debt and barely making debt payments, you are adding a huge amount of stress to your life and diminishing your long-term health as well.”
Often, overspending before retirement foreshadows an inability for retirees to stick to a budget once they stop working. “In my experience, it is very hard to get off the hedonistic treadmill, so the event of retiring is not likely to change a person’s behavior,” says Peterson.