Strategies (and a free worksheet) to create a retirement budget that flexes to your goals

Budgets are often built with a mix of certainty and optimism: You’re sure of some expenses such as a mortgage payments, and you’re hopeful nothing unexpected—a big car repair, for example—appears on the immediate horizon.

But when you switch to budgeting in retirement, that certainty and optimism may feel on less solid ground. How do you account for expenses when you’re no longer employed—no clothes to buy for your job but more hours in the day to fill—and plan for events that may be both big and unexpected, like health needs?

The key is to find a retirement budget strategy that evolves and works for you. There’s no perfect time to get started on a retirement budget and no perfect number to aim for, but there are some guidelines that can help you plan, whether retirement is next month or in a decade.

Start with fixed expenses

Most budgets—retirement or not—are anchored by expenses that are regular and fixed. These are payments that must happen no matter what (utilities) or that must be made until a financial obligation is satisfied (a mortgage).

Start your budget strategy by making a list of those fixed expenses that you’ll have in retirement. Typical categories include:

• Housing: mortgage or rent
• Utilities: gas, water, internet
• Insurance: medical (premiums, deductibles, coinsurance), homeowners/rental
• Loans or debts: minimum payments

Detail variable expenses you may have

Variable expenses often include things you want or stuff you like to do—hobbies, for example—but they also encompass categories you can’t ever know for certain. You can’t predict what your health will be like in retirement years, just as you don’t know exactly what entertainment you might enjoy.

This part of your retirement budget may feel the trickiest, and it involves thinking through what you envision from your post-work years. What does retirement mean to you, and what might it look like? It may be staying in your home as long as possible (so you’ll have to budget for home maintenance and repairs) or downsizing and traveling (which equals a substantial investment for hotels and transportation).

The best you can do with variable expenses is establish some numbers that feel realistic; they may change, and that’s OK. The categories may include:

• health care
• groceries
• hobbies
• travel
• memberships
• entertainment, including restaurants
• shopping
• emergency savings

Record all sources of retirement income

Retirement income is generally classified by whether it’s guaranteed or non-guaranteed. Guaranteed retirement income sources include annuities, pensions/defined benefit plans, and Social Security. They’re called guaranteed because they provide a set amount, every month, for the entirety of your retirement.

Non-guaranteed retirement income sources include employer-sponsored retirement plans such as 401(k)s, traditional individual retirement plans (IRAs), Roth IRAs, and other investment accounts. The amount you choose to take from these savings may vary from year to year, as does their potential for continued growth.

Now that you have your estimated retirement expenses and income—what’s next? See which of these retirement budget strategies appeals to you.

Four retirement budget strategies to consider

#1: Fixed + guaranteed, variable + non guaranteed

Some people create a retirement budget by matching fixed expenses with guaranteed income, and variable expenses with non-guaranteed income. Why? Fixed expenses have to be taken care of, no matter what, and guaranteed income stays the same.

If you have enough guaranteed income to cover fixed expenses, great; if you don’t, you’ll have to strategize what to do. Some people choose to invest in an annuity, if they’re able, as another guaranteed income source. Or, you can see if there are ways to adjust your fixed expenses—downsizing or paying off some debt before you transition out of work.

If you’re able to cover fixed expenses with guaranteed income, that leaves non-guaranteed income to cover all your variable expenses.

#2: The 50/30/20 rule

If you don’t want to itemize between fixed and variable expenses, you can think about your retirement income first—both guaranteed and non guaranteed. From that, you can backtrack into expenses using the 50/30/20 rule: needs, 50%; wants, 30%; and goals, 20%. Simply monitor to see if your expenses fall into those limits.

#3: Go-go, slow-go, no-go

Some people think about the retirement years in three phases: go-go, slow-go, and no-go. The phases reflect that the first part of retirement tends to be filled with more activities than the latter part. That may mean more allocations for travel and hobbies in the first phase, and more in your budget for health care in the latter phase. Will the total expenses change? That probably depends on what those plans are in those go-go years, and what challenges your health may have, too.

#4: Create your own strategy

Retirement is ultimately individual: You must choose what you want to spend during your retirement. And as with your working years, you’ll have savings goals and unexpected expenses. Some ideas for boosting savings to adapt to your own strategy include:

• working longer, either through phased retirement or with one partner/spouse working longer
• increase retirement contributions to either a workplace plan like a 401(k) or an IRA
• make catch-up contributions after age 50, or super catch-up contributions after age 60

Whatever strategy you choose, just know that nothing is set in stone. You’ll have to re-assess—just like you did before retirement.