Are you saving the right amount for retirement? 2

 Here are 8 tips for people who are saving too much for retirement:

 1. Take a good look at the numbers. Most people who are not saving enough have simply not taken the time to figure out exactly how much they need. The same is probably true of people who are saving too much for retirement.

If you use a retirement planning calculator that is detailed and personalized enough to help you feel confident about your future, then you may be better able to relax your tendency toward saving.

2. Rediscover hobbies

Working and raising children often results in people forgetting about hobbies and activities they enjoy. If you’ve lost sight of what you enjoy doing in your free time, work on rediscovering those passions.

3. Develop relationships outside of work.

Our consumer-driven society has trained everyone to believe that more stuff will make us happy, but often the opposite is true. Paying for more stuff means working more hours, and we forget about what really makes us happy, which is spending time with people we like.

Cultivate relationships that matter the most to you, with family, friends, people at church or in a social group.

4. Assess what working and saving is doing for you.

If you are in the minority and think you are saving too much, ask yourself some hard questions. Saving too much is never a bad thing, but you don’t want to have regrets in the future. Why are you so focused on frugality and saving?

Many people genuinely love their work and leisure gives them more stress than the daily grind and excitement of their career.

Other people are living to work instead of working to live.  Your career may be lucrative, but is the stress of your job taking a toll on your health? You could be saving for a long retirement that you’ll never get to enjoy if long hours and stress are making you sick.

5. Invest in other things besides your bank account.

Sometimes, the best savings plan is investing in your health, family, and social and intellectual connections. Take the time to exercise and eat healthfully and enjoy people and leisure pursuits.

6. Start small.

If you are an over saver, you are probably extremely disciplined and not fast to make a big splurge with either your time or money.

It’s okay to start small.

7. Go slow, take time to develop new habits.

Most importantly it is important to give yourself time to adjust to the idea of enjoying life instead of worrying too much about money.

A study found that it takes 66 days — on average — for something to become a habit.  The range was 18 days to nearly 3/4 of a year for people to ingrain a new behavior into their lives.  However, this research was focused on relatively simple behaviors like drinking a glass of water with lunch — not whole lifestyle changes.

Of course, it’s better to have too much money saved for retirement than not enough. But don’t deny yourself life’s pleasures to maximize your nest egg. Some people compromise their lifestyle today for what they think will be their golden years tomorrow. Your golden years are right now.

Save for retirement, but make sure you’re also accumulating experiences and hours spent with loved ones and friends. After all, that’s the true measure of a life well spent.

 

8. Create a detailed plan to help you gain confidence that you have saved enough.

Many people keep working and saving because they just aren’t confident that they have enough. Building and managing your own detailed retirement plan is a great way to find confidence and clarity for how much you really need.