> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://blog.richdias.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Nobody Gives You Permission to Spend Your Savings. Income Does. - URL: https://blog.richdias.com/nobody-gives-you-permission-to-spend-your-savings/ - Published: 2026-10-07T00:52:06.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-07T00:52:06.000Z - Description: 86% of people over 50 say they do not feel free to spend their savings. Here is the number that gives permission, and how to work it out. - Author: Richard Dias - Tags: Income Stacking, Retirement Income, retirement planning 86% of people over 50 say they do not feel free to spend the money they spent 30 years saving. Not 86% of the unprepared. 86% of savers. That comes from Prudential's 2026 Retirement Pulse survey, published this month. It asked 3,023 US adults aged 50 and over, balanced to represent pre-retirees and retirees. I want to say that part out loud, because most retirement research polls everybody from 18 up and then gets written about as though it were about us. This one was about us. And the finding held at the top end. Among people with $500,000 or more in investable assets, 61% still did not feel comfortable spending for enjoyment. So this is not a problem you solve by having more. ## Spending from a nest egg is subtraction Here is why I think the feeling is mechanical rather than emotional. When your retirement income comes out of a balance, every dollar you spend is subtraction. The number goes down and it does not come back. And you have no idea how long it has to last, because nobody ever told you. In the same survey, 33% said they do not know how long they need their money to last. So the arithmetic running in your head is a subtraction against an unknown deadline. Of course you flinch at the restaurant. When money arrives every month, spending it is not subtraction. The number does not go down. Next month it happens again. That is the whole difference, and it is not a mindset. ## What 86% of savers are telling us they want The survey asked what holds people back. Three answers came up most often. Social Security: 44% doubt it will be there for them. Inflation: 42% named the rising cost of living. Healthcare: 34% named medical and long-term care costs. Look at that list. Not one of those three is something you control. All three arrive from outside and could move at any time. Then the survey asked the other side of it. 58% said they would feel more comfortable spending their savings if they knew their basics were covered and they had income for life. Two thirds, 66%, said they would take a guaranteed monthly check for life over a lump sum. ## Prudential's answer, and mine Prudential sells guaranteed income products, and its own release points at them. That is fair enough and I am not going to argue with a company about its own research. But I do not sell those products, I am not a financial advisor, and I am not going to tell you what to buy or when to draw. What I will say, income that arrives whether you work or not is not only something you can buy, but it is also something you can build. I retired at 55, in 2022\. The reason I can answer "do you feel free to spend it" with a yes is not the size of my balance. It is that I can name four things that pay me every month without punching a clock or answering to "The Man". Rentals, oil and gas royalties, the apps I build, and a couple of small online businesses. But as I say, "One stream is fragile. A stack is resilient". ## The covered number Here is the figure I would rather you had than a balance. Add up what your household actually spends in a month on the basics. Housing, utilities, food, insurance, transport, medical. Not the trips and not the restaurants. Just the bills that arrive whether you enjoyed the month or not. Then add up what comes in every month without you working for it. Divide the second number by the first. That percentage is your covered number. At 40% covered you are going to hesitate every time you book a flight, and frankly you should. At 100% covered, every dollar past the basics is yours to enjoy, because the floor under you does not depend on the balance. I have never met anyone who could say that number off the top of their head. I have met plenty who knew their balance to the dollar. ## What to do this week Work out your number. Two sums and one division, about 10 minutes, and no spreadsheet. Then look at the second number and ask the only question that matters. What is the first thing I could add to it? That is where permission actually comes from. Not from a mindset shift, and not from finally reaching a bigger number, but from a floor you can point at. If you want the fill-in version of those two sums, the free Retirement Income Blueprint walks through it: [https://retireready247.com](https://retireready247.com/?ref=blog.richdias.com) \-Rich *I am not a financial advisor and nothing here is financial advice. The figures above are survey results and examples of what I do, not projections about you, and results vary.*