Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to How to Retire on Time, a show that answers your questions about all things retirement, including income, taxes, Social Security, healthcare, and more. This show is an extension of the book How to Retire on Time, which you can grab today on Amazon or by going to www.howtoretireontime.com.
This show is intended for those within 10 years of their target retirement date or for those are are currently retired and are concerned about their ability to stay retired.
Welcome to how to retire on time, a show that answers your retirement questions. Say goodbye to the oversimplified advice. This show is about getting into the nitty gritty so you can determine what is right for you. My name is Mike Decker. I'm a fiduciary financial adviser, and with me is my associate, David Franson.
Speaker 1:As always, text your questions to (913) 363-1234, and we'll feature them on
Speaker 2:the show. David, what do we got today? Hey, Mike. When is someone, quote, retirement ready?
Speaker 1:Oh, this is a great question, because it's not just along the financials. It's also along the emotional intelligence train. Okay? So every now and then I get a call, and they have many many multiple millions of dollars. They are financially well off.
Speaker 1:And I say, alright. If you were retired today, what would you do? And they say, have no idea. I say, great. From this point on, our conversations are not about your finances.
Speaker 1:You're probably gonna be just fine. I mean, we'll put together a financial plan. We'll show that they can't afford to retire, But I say you need to first figure out what's gonna give you purpose in retirement. What are you going to do so that you don't retire and do nothing? Retirement for many people is a void, and whenever there's a void in life, it typically leads to anxiety, depression, loneliness, speeding up your cognitive and physical decline.
Speaker 1:How's that sound for a nice deal? Hey. You can go golfing and do whatever you want with yourself, but you're also gonna get sad, lonely, and depressed. Oh. How's that for a deal?
Speaker 2:That that sounds like a bad deal that I don't think I'd wanna take.
Speaker 1:And the other problem with that too is people make retirement so elusive, so fantastic. It's like, you know, when you watch those commercials, the Carnival or the Royal Caribbean cruise ships Uh-huh. And everyone's, like, having a great time? I have nothing against cruise ships, but that appearance, that idea is what retirement's supposed to look like.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's this lifelong party. Or you're on, like, a little sailboat with your partner or whatever it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And really what it's kinda like is Pleasure Island from Pinocchio, which is one of the best cautionary tales for a retiree. Remember that in Pinocchio?
Speaker 2:Oh, it's been too long since I've seen it. I don't recall.
Speaker 1:Okay. So Pinocchio promised to be a real boy at some point, supposed to follow his conscience, and blah blah blah, that stuff. He gets tricked into going on he he's like on a little carnival or whatever, then he ends up getting tricked to go to Pleasure Island where he can do whatever he wants. So Pinocchio's like upset. I've got these restrictions, these responsibilities, and all this stinks, and then so he goes to Pleasure Island to where there's no rules, he can do whatever he wants, life is good.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And then they all turn into donkeys, then sold as donkeys.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes. Yes.
Speaker 1:Okay. So the story itself is actually a beautiful metaphor of life. Yeah. It's a cautionary tale for kids, but us grown ups, us adults, yeah, we're really kids at heart, but it's especially important for retirees, and here's why. And this is gonna sound very weird.
Speaker 1:Okay? Okay. Hear me out. Alright. Alright.
Speaker 1:I'm listening. If you want to live a terrible life, focus on yourself. If you want to live a hollow life, a shallow life, focus on self indulgence. Look at the party. You're just gonna enjoy your golf game and that's it.
Speaker 1:You're just I'm not saying golf is bad, but when you only focus on yourself, there's a high chance that you will be miserable. And and I know this because I have the clients that they go to their weekend brunch groups with their meetup friends and stuff, and everyone puts on the good face. But I have the other conversations on the other side where they, in confidence, will say, I'm miserable. I should not have retired. I know I can afford it.
Speaker 1:I know I have money, but I am miserable.
Speaker 2:It's a bad place to be.
Speaker 1:It's horrible. I believe as a society, we have forgotten how to connect. I think consumerism has created the idea that spending money is what's supposed to give us happiness. So if we save enough money, then we can spend enough money to distract ourselves from our true loneliness. And at some point, you'll have to pay the piper.
Speaker 1:I saw this incredible clip, when they were talking about careers, and if you can live a life that's single. K? So just you just focus on your career, just earn a lot of money, and you're gonna be great. And the guy who responds and says, yeah, that works for a while, but it gets pretty lonely at some point. Because who's your closest connection?
Speaker 1:It's your family. Assuming that you have healthy family relationships, assuming you have good relationship with your kids. And you can't control your kids. Maybe someone that makes bad decisions, but your family is probably where you're wanna spend the most most of your time with. And if your spouse passes, that's a tough thing.
Speaker 1:How do you then shape your lifestyle around a close knit community where it's not just about the party, it's not just about your next best time, but you're spending a life in service. Yeah. I cannot say that emphatically enough. Having some sort of responsibility that gets you out of bed, whether it's with your church and you're doing a Bible study or whatever religion you subscribe to. I'm most familiar with Christianity because I'm Christian, but I know that in Buddhism, like, there are wonderful things that you can do in that religion.
Speaker 1:Islam. I mean, any religion
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:There are different congregations. Judaism, when you're with your community and you can serve others within your community that are hurting, that can give you fulfillment. It's service. It's the betterment of individuals. Let's talk about charities.
Speaker 1:Let's forget about religion for a second. There are many charities. What what's that Just Serve? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:If you don't have a charity you know about, Just Serve is Yeah. Like that that part you can just go on and find your charity
Speaker 2:choice. App, Just Serve, where you can go to their website, I think justserve.0rg.org, and you can just search, like, where you are, and then it'll find all kinds of charities to say, hey. We need this. Come do this on this day, and it's all
Speaker 1:right there. Finding purpose in retirement is probably just as important as the financial side. And I think us as financial advisers do people a disservice, if I'm to speak collectively for the industry, of saying, hey. You can retire. Now come over here.
Speaker 1:Give me your assets. I'll manage them. You'll have the cash flow that you need. Great. Now go figure out how to be happy.
Speaker 1:It's this very gut wrenching, heart wrenching transition to figure out what is happiness. Because many times we're swallowed up into our career that we've forgotten how to be happy. We've forgotten how to connect and just sat down and have a conversation. How to say, hey, maybe they need some help and offer that help, to be vulnerable with people.
Speaker 2:So it sounds like maybe we need to have this balance of do I have enough saved, and do I have something to do? Do I have purpose? If you can join and marry those together. Yeah. Sounds like the ultimate prescription.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So here's my recommended recipe. Alright. And unless you do this, there's a high chance that you're gonna end up being even if you're married, you might still feel lonely. Spousal 55 plus is the number one group for divorce Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:Today. Wow. So unless you really figure out these things, there's a good chance you'll end up lonely, anxious, depressed, and unfulfilled. When you retire, yes, you need to figure out, can you afford to retire or not, and does the cash flow, does the income fit the lifestyle that roughly you wanted to enjoy? Then you gotta figure out what's gonna give you purpose.
Speaker 1:What's gonna get you out of bed? What's your responsibility, and how do you serve? Ask yourself, how do you serve other people? Whether it's family, whether it's friends, it has to be something. Someone has to depend on you getting out of bed and doing something.
Speaker 1:Unless you have that, then maybe you don't keep your current job, then maybe you get another job that doesn't pay as much, but still gives you purpose. One of my favorite stories is an individual that retired, I think it was from Microsoft, and then became a park ranger. She was a single individual, husband had passed, and just wanted some purpose in life, wanted to do something fun. So she spent the next decade just being a park ranger, traveling to national parks, and just having fun. Did she need the money?
Speaker 1:No. But did she have a lot of fun? Did he give her purpose? Absolutely. Does everyone here listening need to be a park ranger?
Speaker 1:No. But you can see the idea. Don't just figure out the financials and then figure out the rest later. Marry them both together. That is proper retirement planning.
Speaker 1:That's all the time we've got for the show today. If you enjoyed the show, consider subscribing to it wherever you get your podcast. Just search for how to retire on time. Discover if your portfolio is built to weather flat market cycles or if you're missing tax minimization opportunities that you may not even know exist. Explore strategies that may be able to help you lower your overall risk while potentially increasing your overall growth and lifestyle flexibility.
Speaker 1:This is not your ordinary financial analysis. Learn more about Your Wealth Analysis and what it could do for you regardless of your age, asset, or target retirement date. Go to www.yourwealthanalysis.com today to learn more and get started.