With a new year, we often think about resolutions and making new plans. If your preference is to age independently in the place you call home, then planning for financial security is critically important.

Planning for retirement isn’t just about saving enough. It’s also about understanding how your spending will change over time. Research shows that retirees don’t spend in a straight line. Instead, spending tends to start high, dip in the middle years, and rise again later in life. This pattern forms what experts call the “retirement spending smile.”

For Bab…