Moneywise

Sun, Jun 8, 2025, 9:05 AM6 min read

Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below.

Retirement is supposed to be the reward after decades of hard work. Morning alarms, office politics and exhausting commutes … gone. The idea of finally having full control of your time is appealing, and for many, it feels like the finish line after a long race.

But while you may gain freedom, you’ll also lose more than you think. Some losses, like a steady paycheck, are obvious. Others, like a sense of purpose, sneak up on you.

• Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how

• BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has an important message for the next wave of American retirees — here's how he says you can best weather the US retirement crisis

• Nervous about the stock market in 2025? Find out how you can access this $1B private real estate fund (with as little as $10)

Without a plan — or a big enough nest egg — they can leave you feeling unprepared for what comes next.

Here are five things that tend to disappear in retirement — and what you can do now to make sure they don’t take you by surprise.

The most immediate and undeniable change in retirement is the disappearance of a steady paycheck.

For decades, your income arrived like clockwork. In its place are managed withdrawals from retirement accounts, Social Security and any other income sources you’ve set up along the way.

Over 80% of older adults face financial struggles or risk economic insecurity in retirement, according to the National Council on Aging. Inflation worsens this by eroding fixed incomes.

A solid withdrawal strategy, like the safe withdrawal rate (now 3.7%), helps balance spending and preservation. Diversifying income with annuities, rental income, or part-time work, moreover, can reduce financial stress, and help to delay Social Security until age 70, maximizing benefits.

A Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) can also offer an extra source of liquidity and financial flexibility at this time. With home values higher than ever, you can make your home work harder for you by leveraging its equity.

The average homeowner sits on roughly $315,000 in equity as of the third quarter of 2024, according to CoreLogic. Year over year, homeowner equity is also up by 8%, for a national aggregate of $17.6 trillion.

With a HELOC loan, you can turn all that equity into tax-free cash, which can be used to pay off high-interest loans. Rates on a home equity loan are typically lower than APRs on credit cards and personal loans, making it an appealing option for homeowners with substantial equity.