Letting Go of the Stick: Rethinking Retirement Corpus Planning

When I meet people to discuss their retirement plans, one recurring concern I hear is about their corpus—specifically, the idea that it will decline over their retirement years and eventually reach zero by their assumed life expectancy.

For many, this idea is unsettling. They imagine spending decades working hard to accumulate wealth, only to see it slowly diminish in retirement. The thought of their savings becoming “zero” at some point feels like failure or loss. But here’s the truth: your retirement corpus is meant to be used. Money, after all, is just a tool—a “stick” that supports you during a specific phase of life. Once it has served its purpose, you shouldn’t feel uneasy about letting it go.

Let me explain why this perspective can transform how you think about retirement planning.

Think of money as a walking stick. Imagine a blind man who has relied on his stick his entire life to navigate the world. One day, his sight is restored, and the first thing he does is set the stick aside. Does that mean the stick was worthless? Of course not. It played an essential role when he needed it, but once its job was done, it no longer served a purpose.

Your retirement corpus works the same way. It’s there to provide you with financial security and independence throughout your retirement years. Its sole purpose is to ensure that you can live comfortably, without worrying about running out of money during your lifetime. But just as the stick isn’t meant to be kept forever, your corpus isn’t meant to remain untouched or unused.

The goal of retirement planning is to make your money work for you—so you can live fully, free from financial worry.

A well-planned retirement corpus is designed to sustain you through the years you’re not actively earning. By the time you pass away, it’s perfectly fine if the corpus becomes zero—because that means it did its job.

Here are some reasons why this isn’t just okay but optimal:

Here’s where the discomfort often arises: many people associate their retirement corpus with their legacy. They feel their wealth should remain intact so they can leave it behind for their children or loved ones. While this is a noble goal, it’s important to understand that retirement planning and legacy planning are separate objectives.

By separating these two objectives, you can focus on enjoying your retirement without guilt or worry while still ensuring your family is taken care of.

When you think of your retirement corpus as a tool rather than a permanent fixture, it changes the way you approach financial planning. You begin to see it as something meant to serve you, rather than something to be preserved for its own sake.

By the time you reach the end of your life, it’s okay to let the stick go. If you’ve used your resources wisely, lived your retirement years fully, and provided for your needs, then the tool has done its job. You can let go of the corpus with peace of mind, knowing it supported you through every stage of life.

Retirement planning is about ensuring you can live independently and comfortably until your final days. Money, like a stick, is simply a tool to help you achieve that. And just as the blind man sets aside his stick when it’s no longer needed, you shouldn’t feel tied to the idea of preserving your corpus indefinitely.

If leaving a legacy for your loved ones is important to you, that’s a wonderful goal—but it’s one that can be planned for separately. Don’t let the fear of “running out” stop you from living the life you’ve worked so hard to build. After all, money is meant to serve you, not the other way around.