How to Go From Money Chaos to Financial Confidence After 40
The Simple Money Systems Every Woman Over 40 Needs to Retire Confidently
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If you’re over 40 and starting to worry about retirement and you’re tired of mentally budgeting, guessing what you should be doing, or feeling like you’re already behind, this episode is your starting point.
In this episode, I’m walking you through my Retirement Ready Framework, the simple 4-phase system that helps you finally understand where you stand financially, what’s missing, and how to build a retirement plan that actually works for your life. No more confusion. No more “I hope this is enough.” And no more trying to follow generic advice that doesn’t fit women and couples navigating midlife, shifting priorities, and real-life expenses.
This episode gives you the clarity you’ve been craving so you can stop spinning, start planning, and confidently move toward a retirement you’re excited about.
If you’re ready for financial confidence, predictable cash flow, and a clear path toward retirement freedom, this is where your journey begins.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✅ The 4 phases you must complete to build a realistic retirement plan
✅ Why mental budgeting is keeping you stuck and the system you need instead
✅ How to understand your true “money reality” so you can plan with confidence
✅ The simple cash-flow systems that stop overspending and increase savings
✅ How to make decisions without guilt or emotional overwhelm
✅ What “money freedom” actually looks like for women over 40
✅ The most important first step to take if you want to retire on time
Full Transcription of Episode:
Welcome to the episode where I'm going to share with you the four steps that you can do to reach financial confidence. But for my listeners, retirement, that is what we are striving here. We're trying to figure out how can we retire and most individuals are approaching retirement. Without a plan.
Now I understand a lot of you are like, I don't know what I need to plan for, and I get that there's not a lot of information out there. I did my journey without it. Having said that, I have created the retirement ready quiz. This is going to quickly give you. I think there's 20 questions. Answer them. It's going to say these are your next steps.
It's also gonna acknowledge the effort you've put in, but right there you have steps, which is a plan which is going to get you moving ahead. But the second problem is that most of you are trying to track everything in your head, mental budgeting. There's a lot that we have to keep track of sorting through as we're trying to, figure out this retirement plan.
We're still just got it in our head. In the head. We also have that little voice that's you could have done better. You're not doing enough. And having that all in your head is where the confusion is coming from. But also added to that is that traditional financial advice, retirement advice, is not going to work for women and couples over 40.
Just save. Just save. We have got to tie in a few more steps so that we know our retirement will be achieved, that we will succeed. As I said, I'm sharing with you the four steps, four phases I help clients through, but this, if you apply this today's just an overview. Next four episodes are gonna dive in deeper.
You will be able to start seeing changes within your money, within your head about being able to retire. So the first phase is your money reality. Where are you right now? Not what's in your head, not what you know you're fearing, but what do you know the efforts to today have got you, and what more do you need to do?
Sitting down and understanding exactly what has happened, what is going on, what results. I always talk about it being our starting line. I don't care. Everything that's failed up to this point, I just need to know where our starting point is, and you do as well. A really good preview of this phase is my retirement ready planning workshop that I am hosting four times this year.
So the first one is in January, January 24th. Regular price is $55 early bird price of 35 until January 5th. This, I think, is releasing. Just before that, jump in, join me. What we are going to do is really dive into what your efforts have. Got you where you are, what are your gaps and what action steps will get you the most momentum.
So each attendee at the workshop is going to have, slightly different action steps because they've got, different results from the impact. For today, you can learn more. And if you're listening to this after January check out those other dates at Elevate Finances us slash workshop.
You can also visit that link down in the show notes, but head over there a paid workshop. Invest in yourself. Get your starting line. This is really important to understand instead of just think there is a problem or think that the problem is one thing and it's actually another. Phase two is your money systems.
Remember in the intro I said you're doing this without systems. More than a budget, more than a budget. The systems are created to help you manage your money in daily operations. Without a lot of thought, without a lot of work, without a lot of time, and I know that's what clients come to me, they're like, I don't wanna spend a lot of time, and it doesn't have to feel, have to be that way.
In this phase, budgeting will stop feeling like a punishment. You'll have systems for your cash flow, meaning that you know exactly where things need to go, how much you have to spend, and what pivots you can make. When life happens, which leads us to phase three, your money decisions. You know, it's one thing to have the system set up, working our money, but when something happens in our life or we want to make something happen, I think there's another gap here out in the financial world of how do I know how to make those decisions.
So I have included phase three, your money decisions, where I help you start learning how to make decisions without the emotional spiral, something can happen, there's emotions behind it, but then we have to look at our systems, which doesn't have emotion to guide us. So being able to handle those emergencies, but also being able to enjoy the invite for that girl's weekend or that family vacation because you can come to your systems, your tools and say, yep, I can do that.
All I need to do is X, Y, and Z. That's what happens in phase three. You lose the emotion, you get more and more excited. You're starting to create for the now. Which leads us into phase four, your money freedom. Reaching This point is where you're starting to put all of those pieces together and projecting for retirement.
You are doing some future budgeting, your lifestyle planning. You are getting excited about dreams you thought never could happen. You're saying what if I did this? We can actually use the tools that I teach you how to look at what that means and what that means for now,
some adjustments may need to happen, but as you know what you're shooting for, that control, that flow, that excitement, that motivation is all there and gets you moving ahead. So the journey of the four phases. The order matters. You can't build your systems without knowing your reality, we can't put in a road if nobody's gonna drive on it, 'cause there's no cars there.
That is the same with your system. All systems can be slightly different because every client of mine is slightly different. Different income, different needs, different expenses, different goals. But the system needs to be there to support how you are going to move ahead, which again, that system is your basis for your money decisions and your money freedom.
But learning how to use that system for those two future things is very crucial. But when you have all four working together, when life happens and you have to step back because of some major event. Things are going to move along just fine, or you can jump in for one minute, take care of X, Y, Z, and just keep moving along.
Having these things here to support you on your retirement journey is what's going to make you feel so much better. Get rid of that voice in your head and start understanding where you want to go in retirement. All right, so over the next month. We're breaking down each phase so that you can start implementing action steps immediately.
I like to give you value. I like to get you moving ahead. So listen to each one of those. Even though we've touched on them here, we're gonna go in deeper as to what they mean, what's happening. And if you're wondering like what do I do today? And you're like, how well have I done with retirement Preparations?
I want you to grab the retirement ready quiz at Elevate Finances us slash quiz, answer a few questions. You'll be given some action steps, some results, and you can start taking momentum today. And then remember to join us next week as we dive into phase one, and for the next month we'll end up at phase four.
You will have more of a retirement plan than you've had today. Thank you for tuning in. Glad to be a part of your 2026, and I hope you will join me either in downloading that quiz or in that paid workshop so I can support you further.
Ready to see how this framework can support your retirement journey?
Explore how Retirement Ready Coaching brings these phases to life so you can retire with clarity, confidence, and ease.
Resources & Links:
Join Retirement Ready Reset Workshop
Take the Retirement Ready Quiz
Schedule Your Free Retirement Clarity Call
Apply for Retirement Ready Coaching
Connect with Dalene:
Follow on Instagram @elevate_finances
Leave me a message on Speakpipe
Now on YouTube
More about the Wealthy After 40 podcast:
You’ve spent years taking care of everyone else—your family, your career, your responsibilities.
But now, the questions you’ve pushed aside are getting louder:
Will I have enough to retire?
Is it too late to start planning?
Where do I even begin?
Welcome to Wealthy After 40, the podcast for Gen X women and couples who want real clarity and confidence about their retirement without confusion, shame, or overwhelm.
I’m Dalene Higgins, financial coach and retirement strategist. I help Gen Xers create simple, personalized money systems that actually fit your life because money should support your dreams and not stress you out.
Here, you’ll learn how to build retirement systems that work now and later through value-based budgeting, smart savings strategies, and clarity-driven decisions that move you closer to the lifestyle you want in the next chapter.
If you’re ready to stop second-guessing your future and start building it with intention, you’re in the right place. Retirement is still possible. Let’s make your next chapter your best chapter. Join me every Tuesday!
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