The first year after leaving work is not a normal retirement year. It is a transition year. You may travel more, rest more, experiment more, or discover expenses that were hidden by the old routine. Treating it like every future year can make the plan feel more chaotic than it needs to.
Create a soft landing fund.
Different money, different job
The retirement portfolio funds decades. The soft landing fund funds the messy first year: healthcare setup, relocation scouting, repairs delayed by work, therapy, family visits, a class, a failed experiment, or simply lower decision pressure.
This fund should be boring. Cash or near-cash. Its job is not return. Its job is to keep the transition from contaminating the long-term plan.
What belongs inside
Start with one year of essential expenses. Add known transition costs. Add a modest experiment budget. Then add a “surprise identity” line, because people who leave intense careers often discover needs they had been suppressing.
Spend it deliberately
A soft landing fund is not permission to make panic purchases. Track what the money buys and what it teaches. If an expense helps you build the next life, it is doing its job. If it only numbs anxiety, pause.
This sits beside cash-buffer math and the first 30 days after quitting. The first year deserves its own runway. Airplanes do not apologize for using runway.
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