KEY TAKEAWAYS Being ahead is not the finish line. It is the moment that demands the most awareness. When you start playing not to lose, you stop playing to win. You lose the edge that got you there. In the accumulation phase, a strong stretch of income is a chance to front-load the plan, not a reason to ease up. Near or in retirement, getting too conservative creates a different risk: inflation slowly eroding your purchasing power. Costs can rise roughly 2.5 times over a 25 to 30 year retirement, and most 60-year-olds will live longer than that.
