Consumption smoothing

Consumption smoothing — deliberately distributing spending across life’s phases instead of minimizing it now and hoarding toward a terminal number: the actual planning mechanic behind Die With Zero. Each decade gets matched with the experiences and spending that belong to it (health-dependent ones early, comfort-dependent ones late), against the income curve that funds them. The discipline cuts both ways: it licenses spending the pure-accumulation mindset would veto, and it schedules it — smoothing is a plan, not a permission slip.

First used in: 5.8 · Your composite path