Don’t Just Save for Retirement. Save Toward It.

Maybe 2026 is the year you finally remodel the kitchen or build that deck you’ve been talking about for a decade.

Maybe it’s the year you take your family to the World Cup. The last time it was held in the U.S. was 1994, which doesn’t feel that long ago… until you do the math.

Or maybe you’re ready to pull the trigger on the boat, RV, or motorcycle that’s been sitting in the “someday” category.

For most people, it’s not just one thing. It’s several.

Here’s the part that often gets overlooked: retirement isn’t a single year or a single event. For many people, it lasts 20 or 30 years, sometimes longer. That’s decades of living, spending, traveling, helping family, fixing homes, and checking off both bucket-list items and honey-do lists.

But those things don’t just happen because you retired.

They cost money. And when everything is funded from one big, undefined pool called “retirement savings,” it can be hard to know what to prioritize, how much to spend, or whether a particular goal is truly affordable.

That’s why I’m not a fan of the idea of simply “saving for retirement.”

A better approach is saving for the life you want to live in retirement.

Start by getting specific. Write down the things that matter most to you. Not the vague ideas, but the real ones. The trips. The projects. The experiences. The purchases. Then put some rough numbers around them. Is it a one-time expense or something ongoing? Is it likely to happen early in retirement or later on?

Next, look at what you’ve already set aside, if anything, and what’s still missing.

One practical strategy is to create separate savings buckets for your most important goals. Your core retirement assets will still live in your 401(k) or IRA, but setting aside dedicated money for specific priorities can make a real difference. It turns “someday” into something tangible. Something planned for.

Because when a goal has been identified, prioritized, and funded, it’s far more likely to actually happen.