Many people think that since they have saved a decent amount of money when they were young, they can just withdraw their living expenses from that money after retirement. While it sounds plausible, if done incorrectly, it can lead to significant struggles in old age.

It's my money, and I'm using it, and as long as I don't feel like my account is running low, I often realize something is wrong too late. When there are plenty of dried persimmons in the jar, you can take a few out each day without worry, but once you start to see the bottom, it becomes a matter of fear rather than calculation.

Withdrawing from assets each month without any plan is, to be honest, a losing strategy if you live a long time. In today's world, living to 80 or 90 is not uncommon, but assets cannot keep up with that pace.

It may seem fine when the market is good, but if it shakes significantly, the withdrawal rate remains the same while the value of the assets drops sharply. This is the scariest situation in old age. Money is flowing out, but there is no way to refill it. From that point on, retirement is not about travel or leisure; it becomes a time of just enduring.

Therefore, the most important thing in retirement planning is not "how much have you saved" but "how will you spend it." If you can't distinguish this, you end up retiring with a large empty shell of numbers. At the very least, you need to create a separate structure for the basic living expenses that will be withdrawn throughout your life. Retiring without doing this is like driving on the highway without a seatbelt. If you don't have an accident, you're lucky, but if you do, it's over.

This is why you need to understand why structures like income annuities come into play. This is not about tying up money but changing the nature of the money. It's the concept of converting part of my assets into a "lifetime salary." Regardless of how long I live, the promised living expenses will continue to come.

This is important because as you age, both your ability to manage money and your physical strength decline. Living a life where you check the market every year, calculate withdrawals, and worry about how long you can hold on is much more exhausting than you might think.

Nowadays, interest rates have risen, making conditions much better than before. This means that even with the same amount of money, the living expenses you can receive have increased. Yet, many still repeat phrases like "It's my money, why should I trust it to someone else," and end up sleepless as they watch their account balance decrease after turning 70. By then, there are no options left. It's already too late.

Of course, I'm not saying to put all your money into one structure. However, at the very least, you need to create a structure that ensures your basic living costs, the fixed expenses that come out every month, do not stop for life. If you don't do that, retirement becomes not freedom but anxiety. The hardest part of aging is not the body but the mind. Once the worry about money starts, it's not a stress that ends in a day or two.

The idea of just piling up retirement funds and withdrawing from them is too complacent. That one choice can make retirement comfortable or, conversely, turn it into hell. The solution is simple, but if you don't execute it, it's of no use.

First, do not view retirement assets as a single lump but divide them by role. Create a separate structure for the basic living expenses that must be paid every month, such as housing costs, utilities, and food, to ensure they do not stop for life.

Second, use products like income annuities that provide lifetime payments to first stabilize cash flow. This is the work of creating a foundation for retirement.

Third, manage the remaining assets by dividing them into liquidity and growth. Keep cash for unexpected medical expenses or large expenditures, and investment assets that can keep up with inflation separately.

Fourth, do not make judgments alone; check the numbers with an expert. Relying on intuition is the most dangerous.

Finally, change the structure while it is still okay now. I believe that preparing for retirement funds as early as possible reduces future struggles.