Once your kids are out of college, if you live within your means your expenses are as smoothed out as they’re gunna get.

At three years from retirement, I earn about $20,000 more than the median income in my city. Because I don’t carry a tab on the credit cards — that is, I never charge more than I have in my checking account — I live very frugally and I STILL spend every penny that comes in, with the exception of about $250 that goes into emergency savings. I have no mortgage. Seven percent of my gross pay goes into a 403b, matched by my employer.

If I retired today (which I surely would like to do), my Social Security would be a little over $800 a month. That is a little less than 1/6 of my current gross pay. If I wait until I’m 66 1/2 (horrors!), my SS benefit will be a munificent $1300 a month, less than 1/3 of my present salary. ALL THE REST OF MY LIVING EXPENSES will have to come from savings!

To earn the amount I now spend on ordinary living expenses (no travel, no eating out, no car payments, no house payments, no expensive clothes, no days at the spa, no elaborate hobbies, and when the dog dies I quit financing the vet’s Jaguar) without drawing down principal, I would need almost $800,000 in savings, assuming an 8% return on investments (the amount you really should figure is 4%). SS would reduce that figure by $10,000 or $15,000, an almost negligible amount in the large scheme of things.

The only way I can see to “smooth out” expenses would be to sell my home, which is not exactly a McMansion and is not in the best neighborhood in town, and move someplace cheaper. That means moving to Sun City (ech!), into a condo (I loath apartment living), or to a part of town that is unsafe for an elderly single woman.

If you’re a young person, start saving now and don’t stop!