Short answer: the same discipline that let you save for decades can make it strangely hard to spend once you’ve won the game. Many dentists reach retirement with more than enough, yet keep living like they’re still accumulating — trading years of enjoyment for a bigger balance they’ll never use. Knowing when you have “enough” is as important as reaching it.
Why is spending so hard for good savers?
Because the habits that build wealth — frugality, delayed gratification, watching the balance grow — are the opposite of what retirement asks. After 30 years of saving, being told to spend down your portfolio can feel wrong, even scary. So many disciplined savers keep under-spending, not because they must, but because they never learned how to stop.
How do you know you have “enough”?
A sound plan answers it: when your reliable income plus a sustainable withdrawal rate comfortably covers your desired lifestyle — with margin for the unexpected — you have enough. At that point, more saving isn’t buying security; you already have it. It’s trading years you can’t get back for a number on a statement.
How do you give yourself permission?
- Build a clear withdrawal plan so spending feels like following a plan, not draining an account.
- Separate your “safe” income (guaranteed sources) so essentials never feel at risk.
- Budget intentionally for the things that matter — travel, family, health, giving.
- Reframe the goal: the money exists to fund a life, not to be maximized.
- Revisit the plan regularly so you can adjust with confidence instead of fear.
What does this have to do with “practice by choice”?
Everything. The whole point of building wealth is to reach the freedom to live and work on your terms — to practice by choice, and eventually to enjoy what you built. A plan that helps you spend with confidence is what turns a big balance into an actually good life. That’s the real finish line, and it’s deeply tied to how you think about time itself.
Frequently asked questions
When your reliable income plus a sustainable withdrawal rate comfortably covers your desired lifestyle with margin for the unexpected, you have enough. At that point, continuing to under-spend usually trades irreplaceable years for a bigger balance you won’t use. A clear withdrawal plan helps you spend with confidence.
Because the frugal, delayed-gratification habits that build wealth are the opposite of what spending down a portfolio requires. Many lifelong savers keep under-spending out of habit and fear, even when their plan shows they have plenty. A structured withdrawal plan gives the psychological permission to enjoy what they built.
Sources
Founder & Financial Planner · Investment Adviser Representative · Series 63 & 65
Ian McGinnis is the founder of Dental Wealth Partners and a fee-only financial planner dedicated to dentists. As an investment adviser representative (Series 63 and 65), he built the firm to give dentists coordinated, fiduciary advice across their practice, taxes, investments, retirement plans, and long-term goals — the whole picture in one strategy. A graduate of Belhaven University, Ian previously worked at Davis Private Wealth, MML Investors Services, and Northwestern Mutual, and is based in the Jackson, Mississippi area. He is the author of The Wealthy Dentist and hosts the Smiles & Cents podcast.
Keep reading
- Building your retirement paycheck: turning savings into incomeRetirement flips the problem from saving to spending. How dentists can turn a portfolio and practice-sale proceeds into a reliable, tax-smart paycheck.
- Time is your most important asset — the real link between time and moneyMoney is renewable; time is not. Why time — not money — is a dentist’s scarcest asset, and how that truth should reshape financial decisions.
- Don’t retire yet if this is you: 5 warning signsReaching a target balance isn’t the only test of retirement readiness. Five warning signs — financial and personal — that you may not be ready yet.