Suze Orman: This Is the One Expense You Must Cut in Retirement
Retirement often means living on a fixed income, so it’s more important than ever to stick to a strict budget. For some, this will entail cutting certain expenses and tight budgeting to stay on track.
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Suze Orman, host of the “Women & Money” podcast and one of GOBankingRates’ Money’s Most Influential Women, said there is one expense all retirees should cut to stay on budget.
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The One Expense You Must Cut in Retirement
There’s one discretionary expense that can often derail a retiree’s budget, Orman told GOBankingRates. Orman emphasized the importance of discerning between “needs” and “wants,” especially in retirement.
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“That expense is eating out,” Orman said. “For you to have money, you have to learn to live below your means but within your needs. How do you do that? You do that by simply purchasing needs versus wants. What is a need? Need is food that you buy at a grocery store. What is a want? A want is going out to eat at a restaurant and doing it over and over again.”
Cutting Out Restaurant Meals Can Benefit Everyone — Not Just Retirees
Orman believes that everyone — whether they are retired or not — should eliminate or cut back on dining out to save money. According to Orman, the top reason people have credit card debt is going out to eat.
“I went on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ in 2010, and essentially what I said is that if you want to save money, try not eating out for six months,” she said. “Well, the restaurant industry went bazooey. But after that, do you know how many people wrote in, and they said to me, ‘Oh my god, Suze, we’ve saved so much money’? I can’t even tell you.”
Orman follows her advice, even though she can afford restaurant meals.
“I’m a very, very wealthy woman,” she said, “and the very last thing I would think about doing is going out to eat.”
Gabrielle Olya contributed to the reporting for this article.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Suze Orman: This Is the One Expense You Must Cut in Retirement