Why Cash Quietly Won Her Retirement Plan

Every December, the same knot in her stomach. The bonus hit. The balance jumped. And the questions started looping in her head again. Spend it? Invest it? Just leave it sitting there?

She'd read the articles. She'd heard the podcasts. She knew enough to know she didn't know enough. And the noise was getting louder the closer she got to the finish line.

Meet Mary Ann, 61, and almost there

Mary Ann is the kind of saver most people would envy. A strong career, a $2M+ portfolio, and a generous retention bonus that nets her about $100,000 a year. Retirement is maybe 18 months away. She just wants to walk through the door without second-guessing every move.

The catch? Almost everything she's built is locked inside a 401(k) and an old rollover IRA. Outside of that, she keeps just $10,000 in cash. Because that's what everyone told her to do.

The "more invested, more better" trap

Somewhere along the way, Mary Ann absorbed a rule that sounds smart but quietly hurts a lot of pre-retirees. Cash is lazy. Cash is a drag. Put every dollar to work.

So each year, the bonus would land and she'd freeze. Spending it felt reckless. A brokerage account felt foreign. Leaving it in checking felt like she was failing some invisible test.

Think of cash like the shoulder of a highway. You don't drive on it. But the moment something unexpected happens, you're awfully glad it's there.

The shift that changes everything

Reframe cash from "money not working" to money with a job.

That job has three parts. It's the buffer that lets a portfolio recover when markets drop in the early years of retirement. It's the source you spend from when pulling taxable dollars would trigger an avoidable tax bill. And it's the fuel for proactive tax planning, like Roth conversions, that pays off for decades.

Cash isn't lazy. It's the part of the plan that lets the rest of the plan work.

What it actually looks like

In a setup like Mary Ann's, the bonus has a home before it ever hits the account. A meaningful slice goes into a high-yield savings account or money market earning a real return with stable security. Another portion is earmarked for future Roth conversion taxes. The rest gets invested with intention, not panic.

The December knot disappears. Every dollar has a purpose. And for the first time in years, retirement feels exciting instead of something to brace for.

The portfolio doesn't need to be bigger. It needs to be better organized.

The quiet lesson

The years right before and after you retire are not the years to be heroic with your money. They're the years to be deliberate.

A healthy cash position isn't a sign you're behind. It's often the single thing standing between a good retirement and a great one. Not because it earns the most. Because it gives every other dollar permission to do its job.

Thank you for reading!

Last thing – I read every single reply to these emails.

I use these responses to guide my content, so your question might become next week's deep dive.

Happy retiring,

Josh Rendler, CFP® Founder, Motion Retirement Partner, Award-Winning Retirement Firm