Month: February 2026

Cash feels safe.

After decades of saving and investing, retirement brings a natural shift. Many people find themselves wanting more stability, fewer surprises, less volatility. And cash – sitting quietly in a bank or money market account – delivers that feeling immediately.

No market swings.

No headlines to react to.

No uncertainty.

But while cash brings comfort, it can also come with a hidden cost.

The question isn’t whether you should hold cash in retirement. You absolutely should.

The real question is: how much?

Why Cash Feels So Reassuring

In your working years, your paycheck acted as a buffer. If markets dropped, income kept coming. If an expense popped up, there was another paycheck around the corner.

In retirement, that buffer changes. Without employment income, people often want a larger safety net.

Holding one to three years of living expenses in cash is a common starting point. If annual spending is $80,000, that might mean keeping $80,000 to $240,000 readily accessible.

That cushion can be powerful. It allows you to pay bills without worrying about selling investments during a downturn. It helps you sleep at night.

And sleep matters.

When Comfort Turns into Excess

Where things become less clear is when cash balances quietly grow beyond what’s necessary.

It’s not unusual to meet retirees who are holding $500,000, $1 million, or more in cash because it “feels safer.” Especially after periods of market volatility.

But here’s the trade-off.

If inflation averages 3% per year, $500,000 sitting in low-yield cash loses roughly $15,000 of purchasing power in the first year alone. Over 10 years, that erosion compounds significantly.

Meanwhile, retirement may last 25 or 30 years.

Cash protects against short-term volatility. It does not protect against long-term inflation.

That distinction matters.

For many people, deciding how to structure income and cash flows – and how long your money needs to last – benefits from a broader retirement strategy.

The Opportunity Cost No One Talks About

For retirees with significant portfolios, the bigger risk often isn’t market swings. The bigger risk is falling too far behind inflation over decades.

If someone has $3 million invested and moves $1 million into cash earning modest returns, that decision may reduce overall portfolio growth in a meaningful way over time.

The goal in retirement isn’t aggressive growth. It’s sustainable support.

Many balanced retirement portfolios continue to include meaningful exposure to equities, even after 65, depending on income needs and comfort with risk.

Cash is a stabilizer.

It isn’t a growth engine.

And in a long retirement, growth still plays a role.

A More Balanced Way to Think About Cash

Rather than asking, “Is this safe?” it can be helpful to ask:

• How many years of expenses do I truly need in stable assets?
• What purpose does this cash serve?
• Is this amount based on a plan – or on anxiety?

For many retirees, one to three years of expenses in cash or conservative investments creates enough stability to avoid selling during downturns.

Beyond that, the conversation becomes more nuanced.

Because while cash feels calm, too much of it can quietly reduce flexibility later.

The Emotional Side of Holding Cash

It’s important to acknowledge something here.

Cash decisions are rarely purely mathematical.

They’re emotional.

After decades of building wealth, protecting it can feel more important than growing it. Especially if you’ve already reached a level where you feel “comfortable.”

There’s nothing wrong with that instinct.

But retirement isn’t just about protecting principal. It’s about preserving lifestyle – and lifestyle requires purchasing power.

The balance between safety and growth is rarely fixed. It evolves as health, spending, and markets change.

There Is No Universal Number

There isn’t one correct percentage of cash for everyone.

Someone relying heavily on portfolio withdrawals may structure cash differently than someone with a large pension and Social Security covering most expenses.

What matters most is alignment.

Cash should support your plan, not replace it.

A Few Questions to Consider

• How much cash are you currently holding – and why?
• Does that amount reflect a clear strategy, or simply a desire to feel safe?
• Would adjusting it slightly increase your confidence – or your long-term flexibility?

Retirement decisions are rarely black and white. But understanding the trade-offs can make them feel steadier.

And steadiness, more than anything, is what most retirees are looking for.

Let’s Talk About It:

Cash can feel like security, but sometimes it’s also a way of managing worry.

Have you increased your cash holdings since retiring – or as retirement approaches? Do you feel calmer seeing a larger number in your bank account, even if you know it may cost you growth over time? If you’re already retired, how many years of expenses do you keep in stable assets? And if you’re comfortable sharing – has that amount changed since you stopped working?

Retirement decisions are rarely purely mathematical. They’re personal.

I’d love to hear how you’re thinking about this balance between comfort and cost.

Now let’s carry on, dear reader, stay near,
For Part Two holds truths some avoid out of fear.
Because after the money, the wires, the pleas,
Come silence… then questions… then nights without ease.

You wait for a message. Refresh. Then retry.
You tell yourself stories. You reason out why.
“He’s busy,” you whisper. “There’s trouble abroad.”
You pray he’s okay. You appeal to the odds.

But days turn to weeks and the tone starts to thin,
His answers grow smaller, your footing less firm.
And then – like a curtain pulled swiftly aside –
Fake Mike disappears. No goodbye. No reply.

The shock isn’t money – it’s deeper than that.
It’s the loss of a person you thought that you had.
The good mornings vanish. The listening ear.
The sense that someone in the world held you dear.

And here comes the poison that hurts the most:
That quiet self-blame that creeps in like a ghost.
“How could I fall for this?”
“How could I miss
The signs that were waving? The cracks? The abyss?”

But listen up now – this part matters most:
These scams are designed to deceive, not by force,
But by patience and charm and emotional art,
By studying grief and the lonely heart.

They don’t hunt the foolish. They don’t seek the weak.
They target the kind and the open and deep.
The ones who can listen. The ones who still care.
The ones who believe love might still be there.

So if you’ve been taken – by words, not just cash –
You are not broken. You are not rash.
You were human. You hoped. You reached through the dark.
That impulse itself is a beautiful spark.

Now here is the wisdom to carry ahead:
Real love shows up – it’s not typed from a bed
Across distant oceans with reasons it can’t
Meet you for coffee, or lunch, or a rant.

Real love doesn’t borrow or pressure or plead,
Doesn’t test your devotion by financial need.
It doesn’t grow urgent, evasive, or thin –
And it never requires you to prove love to win.

So if something feels off, slow down – take a breath.
Share it with others. Bring it to light.
Scams thrive in silence; they shrink when exposed.
Truth grows stronger the more it’s disclosed.

And if Fake Mike crossed paths with your heart for a while,
Let this be the ending – not bitter, but wise.
You keep your compassion. You keep your deep core.
Just guard your heart – and your bank – evermore.

Read part one here: Poem: Fake Mike, Part 1 — Breaking Hearts and Into Bank Accounts.

Let’s Discuss:

How deep have you fallen for someone who turned out to be a scammer? What red flags are you watching for?

“Purpose? I never want another purpose,” a recent retiree told me. “I’ve had enough.”

We both laughed. After some conversation, she said she was open to a different word – meaning. Can you feel the difference? For many of us, the notion of purpose feels restrictive and full of obligation for good reasons.

Most women navigate life responding to the requirements of marriage, parenting, and work goals. During our lifetime, many women also became achievers professionally, as well as maintaining more traditional feminine roles. That is a lot to manage!

It is not only life roles that define us, but also the social norms regarding how a woman should behave. Although we have made progress, we women are still the primary caregivers, are appraised according to our social standards of beauty, and carry out traditional roles.

Let’s appreciate all we have done to balance life, support others and contribute throughout our lives. Let’s give ourselves a round of applause.

Then What?

What happens when we launch into the phase of life, usually in our 60s or perhaps 70s, when we no longer work, have family to care for (some of us still do), and perhaps have renegotiated our primary relationship to open into more freedom? Certainly, these responsibilities gave us a sense of purpose. The question before our retiree is what she will do with the new spaciousness now open after her career.

We have few external clues about what is supposed to be next. Society is more comfortable if we simply move to the background and quietly fade away.

When we are finally unbound from many of the external obligations of midlife that define how we live, we are free to decide the nature of our lives for ourselves. The recent retiree viewed her life ahead as one of not being confined by all the responsibilities associated with purpose; she felt a sense of release and relief. What she had not yet done is realize that she has the freedom to fill her new life with meaning, vitality, and happiness, however that expresses for her.

What if the opportunity ahead is really about taking advantage of the newfound spaciousness in life and defining for yourself who you are, how you live, what brings you happiness and meaning? How does that feel? Exciting? A little scary? Perplexing?

You Are Not Who You Were

One way to view this game-changing phase of life is to shift from living life from the perspective of who you believe you need to be, to one of living who you are free to be now. For our retiree, the word meaning rather than purpose helped her begin to view what she wants in life from this new viewpoint.

This shift is not a quick and simple process. Shifting our understanding of who we are here to be in this life is a deep adjustment and one that many of us have never navigated, so it is uncharted waters. Many of us have little practice in putting our own desires first. In fact, some of us have never had the opportunity to explore what we want personally.

How do you even find your own desires? It can feel selfish, foreign, and uncomfortable. Some of us are happy to keep life just as it is. Sometimes life presents us with life changes that require us to change somehow, like our retiree. Or we may just get sick and tired of feeling trapped in unhappiness and are ready to change.

When you think about what you want, take your time. Even if you think you know, pause and feel if that is still true.

Be an Explorer

One beginning is simply to notice whether you want something different. Be clear about your willingness to bring change into your life. I have spoken with women who feel dissatisfied yet are not ready for change; that is a valid choice. It is like deciding whether to take the trip or stay home.

The next step is to recognize the qualities that define who you are and that serve you. For example, being trustworthy, friendly, or skilled in certain areas. Pack these in your travel bag.

Then listen to yourself. What do you yearn for? Wish for? Just notice as you go. Perhaps creativity is calling you, or you have a yearning for the richness of friendship and community. Some people have a drive to make a unique difference in the world. Choose what feels right to you now.

Take a small step and see how you feel. You can always adjust. In fact, over time, most of us do find ourselves exploring once again according to life and personal changes.

Our retiree, in the end, did want meaning. She is exploring working with children and how to help them learn to center and calm themselves. It is beautiful because she is using her talents and it brings her joy.

Our stage of life is not about achieving, but about discovering what feels true and joyful now.

What Do You Think:

When your obligations began to lighten, what did you feel – relief, excitement, uncertainty? What might meaning look like for you now?

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