How Gen X Can Plan For Retirement

Before we dive into the episode, I want to celebrate my clients who are getting their finances organized to help them transition to retirement more easily. We've helped them create a tracking system, they're building financial stability, and so much excitement in seeing those dollars grow to support their larger needs. And as they keep spending time with their finances, they will soon be able to have an answer for their financial advisor of how much they will need every month in retirement. If this sounds like something you're ready to create. Schedule your complimentary Retirement Vision Session today. Link is in the show notes. The oldest Gen Xers turn 60 next year, 2025. And the average retirement age is between 61 and 65. So the first wave of our generation is taking their turn very soon, if they haven't already. Ready? headed into retirement, headed into that next phase of life that we thought was so far off in the distance. Northwestern Mutual, they surveyed four generations, and the older two generations, us and the Boomers, stated that, so those that were surveyed, half of them stated they were not financially prepared for retirement. This could partly be due to a lack of retirement planning. A separate survey by Alliance, and that's with a Z, not a CE, released around that same time found that 30 percent of Gen Xers have a retirement income plan. The least of all the generations surveyed. It's just, it's just crazy, but it's also understandable. We are a generation who began working some of us as early as six, seven, eight doing odd jobs, being our own entrepreneurs. And then how many of us got that paper route early? You know, many of us were babysitting. Well, 10, 11, 12. So we are a generation that has known. Working for money for years. That right there, I can see why, you know, Gen Xers really haven't reached into, you mean I don't need to work to get money or I can be able to do that. But I also hear and have read a lot of comments. about why someone says they can't retire. These reasons or beliefs are things from I haven't been good at saving the economy is too bad and I won't have enough money, or I'll spend too much time, you know, too much money because of the extra time I'll have. These are just a few. Now, most of us have not been stellar savers, there's going to be a small handful. That's just an excuse. The economy is too bad. The economy has history. It is a roller coaster, and you've got to learn to ride that roller coaster. And then thinking you're going to spend too much money because of the extra time, that just comes with not being prepared and planning. In all facets for retirement. Again, that's why my motto of it's more than just money, especially with retirement planning just is so, it's so essential and it's so important. While money is a big thing, it has been our entire life. So we've got to make sure that we're, you know, holistically planning for all of those areas. But if you're telling yourself one of those or something else, it is just an excuse. It's an excuse because of the fear, the doubt. of what you think you'll truly find. I've had clients come to me and they're like, it's going to be really bad, you know, and they've hidden away from their numbers. And once we dive into it, it is honestly not as bad as they thought. And I'm sure this is exactly the same for wanting to look at retirement and start planning. But what a great time of a year as we're at the end of a year at the beginning of a new year. Right, on this borderline, this episode is releasing December 31st, and so as you're finishing up on the year, we can start reflecting, take the time and reflect, and then we can take the time to project. It's just a great time of year. So to help you do that, I want to, I want you to consider the following questions. Think about 2024. What were your greatest achievements? Like, what were your successes? No matter how big or small, I want you to think of them all. Spend some time here. You know, think about the little things. You know, it just is so good to reflect back on what has happened. And sometimes as you're doing this, you're like, I can't think of anything. Start with the months. Or start with the big events that happened. And then slowly it'll lead you to something more and something better. You know, we were finally able to relocate and now we're within 15 minutes of my daughter as opposed to five hours. That was probably my greatest achievement this year, although there has been a lot of successes, a lot of things we've navigated. So that is question number two. What challenges did you overcome? What challenges did you face during the year? And how did you overcome them? Acknowledge. Acknowledge what it took, how much strength you had. You know, what was it that was there and through those challenges, which gets you to question three, what lessons did you learn? Oh, that's huge. And, you know, thinking about what lessons we learned through those challenges, or even through the achievements, how can these lessons guide our future actions? Thinking about these lessons, thinking about the things we've learned it's, it's just so impactful. And I know a lot of times it's like, I'm too busy. I don't have time to do this. And I get that. Hopefully you'll think of at least one of these questions. And my last question for you, as you're reflecting, is were there some areas in life that you neglected? Now, I don't say that negatively, but sometimes we're so focused on other areas, or, you know, something is really prominent just because of the challenges or the things that we need to get done that we kind of neglect and forget some other areas. What areas could you maybe focus on for the new year? Start looking ahead as we start projecting. As we start thinking about that. We're shifting from reflecting. Hopefully you've taken some time. If not, come back if you're driving and unable to do this. But I want you to start thinking about the new year. What are some obvious changes you want to make? You know, sometimes it stands right out and you're like, yep, I need to change this. And as we get older, there's a lot of, you know, a lot of more prominent things. Health issues might arise. And so that might be something that's very obvious. But really think, you know what is obvious and what, what changes do you want to make? And then I want you to ask yourself, where do you hope you'll be in a year from now? I just, okay, so I did a visualization exercise with my business coach a whole year ago and she was walking us through very, something's very similar, but it was a lot more in depth. We were in a group, but she says, I want you to go back a year ago. Okay. You can even do that to help you visualize this. Where were you a year ago? And where are you today? And what is that difference? And man, in business, from being 6 months in to 18 months in, wow. Wow. Think about that. Where were you a whole year ago? you know, and where do you want to be in a year? That visualization was like, man, I was a hot mess and I've come this far. How much can I do in a year? ? Start visualizing those changes. What have you done and what, if you had that, duplicate that over time, it's just going to grow. To help you think about it in the aspect of money and to start planning for retirement, as we make the shift here from reflecting to projecting, I want you to think about the holidays, since we've just wrapped those up, even if you're catching this on a replay several months down the road, these are, these are things you have. You remember, but what experiences, you know, did you have through the holidays? What family was there? And what joy did you have? Take a moment to think about that. From Thanksgiving, you know, through Christmas, if you celebrate those, that time period, or maybe you have other holidays that are as grand and maybe not that time period. But what experiences did you have? You know, and what was the family that was I'm very fortunate to be there with you. Maybe there was other family had to be somewhere else, but you did think about them, you know, and what was the joy? How did you have the joy in all of this? Now as you think about that. This is your wealth. This is your wealth. This right here is all you need at a certain amount of money to maintain this wealth. You know, just simplify life into this. At this point, it really is just those experiences with the family and friends and the joy that you have, that this is your wealth and this is what you need money for to maintain. Now, as you think about that. If you're somebody who's still working, what if you were able to have that and not have to go to work? What would it be like to have this wealth without having to go to work, that work becomes a choice. Being able to create this is such a great thing to have. But we have to plan for it. Just like our holiday experiences, just like all of that joy we felt, either you planned it or somebody else planned it, there were some plans going on. So to be able to create your wealth and not have to go to work, You have to start planning. Remember earlier in the episode, 30 percent of us have a plan. 70 percent of us do not. I'm pretty sure I'm talking to a lot of you 70%. Maybe the 30 percent are here because they're still unsure and that's great. Plans change, plans evolve. The more we know, the further we can get. How do you start planning for retirement? Step one. And you might have heard me say this. I say this a lot. And I think a lot of people just skip this. But you need to create your dream. Create your, quote, wealth. Let's go back to the wealth. I want you to create Your wealth dream and as you think about that to help you define that better, there are three different areas. In life, three different areas to create a sex, a successful retirement plan. It is important to listen to these three or you're going to be that person who I read about in a group somewhere saying it's been a year since I've been retired. I'm bored. I don't know what to do. I have no friends. I have none of this. I have and I, I'm just going to have to go back to work because yes, it's what we know, but really, that's not what retirement should default to. It is a transition. It is a learning curve, but the more you plan, the better you will be. Listen to these three areas and start thinking about these to help you create your dream. The first area is called great experiences. These are the big things, these are going to be your family vacations, your traveling, your, you know, two, three week cruise, whatever it is that is not going to happen a lot. But it is going to happen because you have the time. Great experiences is what I'm calling that. The next thing you're going to have to plan is seasonal experiences, depending on where you live, but there's still seasonal things that happen. Even in the hot, hot, I'm sure you can't have a garden in the summer and people with a winter can't have a garden in the winter. But if you're somebody that's like, I'm a gardener, And I get to do this, then you're going to plan for that time. And you're going to make sure that that, you know, is bigger and better. You have that time. Think about those seasonal experiences. Are you going to be able to go ski some more? Are you going to be able to, you know, maybe go hike because you're a weight? It's all just thinking about the seasons can give us so much depth into our retirement planning. The third thing is, and this is probably the most important. You have to think about the day to day. What are you going to do every single day that you wake up? And I'm not even going to say Monday through Friday. Because honestly, you're not going to know what day it is. Because that, that's the point you get to. You just don't know the day. You know when you have things and you've got those on the calendar. And you know that's in two days. But to name you that it's Tuesday or Wednesday is just not going to happen. But you have to start thinking about the day to day and really exploring what that means to you. What wealth do you want every single day? This almost comes down to the individual. Yes, if you have a spouse or a partner, it's going to involve them to some degree, but it still comes down to you as the individual. Really start thinking of those three different areas as you begin to create your dream. Start there. It'll start coming together. You'll start seeing what you actually want to achieve. And then, honest, there's no stopping you. But there are some other things you're going to need to plan for and start doing. And these things can be found in my retirement readiness checklist. Be sure to download that checklist. There's one to seven items. One area is the area we just talked about and then the rest of them are on there. There's not necessarily an order, even though I listed them that way, kind of can be that way, but I want you to review it, at least gain an understanding of, you know, what is going to be, have to be considered as you are moving down this retirement planning journey. What are some things I'm going to need to start thinking about, learning about, preparing for, so go download that checklist, review that after you've created your dream, or started to create it, because sometimes we've got to have some time, I want you Pick another area of focus, and I want you to begin working on learning about that, exploring that, seeing what you need to do differently, or maybe not. Maybe you're okay, but this checklist will walk you through all areas of consideration. Some things you already may know Some things you may not, but this, this checklist will get you on that right path. Today was kind of a reflection, projection, getting you ready for the new year. And as we're headed into 2025 on this podcast, I'm so excited to be delivering you two episodes a week. I've decided to hopefully explore, and I've been able to so far. So far, bring in some expert guests on areas that I'm not an expert on. Subject matter that is necessary as part of the retirement journey to kind of fill in the gaps but those will be happening on Fridays, regular episodes would be Tuesday, so you'll be getting me four times a month talking about How to work with me, but also steps you can take what you need to think about in this holistic planning. I would love to hear from you and there are three different ways to get a hold of me down in the show notes. So at any point in any episode, or even if it is today go. Connect with me one of those ways. Drop me what you need help with. If there's a subject matter you need covered, let me know. Let me know. I'm trying to pull these people in and I need to be, you know, excuse me, be able to reach out to those individuals and if I don't know what it is that you need, I'll just be pulling people in here. But also if you have any specific questions for me, like you've tried something and it's not working let me know and I can, you know, cover that on an episode to help you move forward on your retirement planning journey. I would love to help. I don't think that retirement has to happen at a certain age or has to happen at a certain thing happening, and I know a lot of us have kind of got into that, so I will be covering those in a future episode, so stick with me. I'm excited to have you here, and we're going to make 2025 great. So excited but we'll see you next week.