Why You Feel Unprepared For Retirement

Why do you feel unprepared for retirement? Well, retirement for most of us has been such a long distance, so far into the future. That we just know it's going to happen, but we don't think anything more of it, ? We know we should be saving so much, every paycheck, whether we have or we haven't, that's, you know, for a different episode, but it's been in such the distance that we've never really pondered the whole idea about it. And so as it gets closer, and typically we start thinking about it more when we see friends You know, co workers our age starting to retire. Just like when your friends, their kids start having kids and they become grandparents and you think, oh my gosh, it's time or how soon for me? And you know, it's the same idea for retirement. And so as you start seeing this, or maybe as you get closer to what you have deemed retirement age, and honestly, that can That is any age, but as you think, okay, I'm headed to 60s or, you know, 65, whatever desired retirement age you want, you get a little more uncertain about things. You're doubtful. You're not believing that it's possible for you. And now there's many reasons. Why you might believe it's not possible. And the first and obvious is you're worried about money. Most women, besides losing their spouse, worry about running out of money in retirement. Very, validated worry concern, but why is it keeping you from making retirement possible? Now I'll dive into it and a little bit more as we go along in this episode. Because I'm going to say it's more than just money. It's more than just the money aspect that has you believing retirement is not possible. Now call it what you want, but you're worried about your purpose in retirement. You're worried about what you're going to get from it. What's it going to do? You know, all of the things. And so you throw it back onto the money. I don't have enough money, but you don't, you don't You haven't created a vision to know how much money you need. This is crucial. This is crucial, especially as you're getting closer to retirement age. You're five to ten years away. We're not predicting something like when we were in our 20s and 30s that's, you know, 25, 35 years away. We're there. But there is nothing that is grounding you That is helping you believe it's possible because you haven't created the vision. You haven't created the vision. And nobody talks about this. Most people don't talk about this. Until they're on the other side. And then it's a little too late. And then there's the struggles. Now everybody, they talk about the money. You, you get a job, you know, or you're even an entrepreneur and it's like, you got to set money aside for retirement. Everybody tells that. That's talked about a lot, but that's where it ends. That's where it ends. And with that lack of talking about the other piece, which I think is bigger, it's a bigger factor for success. Let's say that for success than just the money. that we are creating a, a belief that it's not possible because of, and I'm sure you can start listing off all of the reasons, but I want to share with you, it's more than just the money. You have to create that vision first. You have to create that vision first. One of the Facebook groups I'm in for women over 50. One of them shared. She's been retired for a year, just over a year now. She hates it. She's unhappy, she's recluse. She doesn't do anything. She has no hobbies. She doesn't wanna go back to work, we've all worked our time, but if we have not planned that piece, then retirement is not going to be successful. And if we have not planned that piece, we're not gonna feel like it's a possible. Where are you going to be spending your time? Because where you're going to spend your time really designates where you're going to spend your money. Everything in life costs money. I still haven't found something that does not. You know, I'm sure there's a very, very, very, like, 0. 1 percent of something that doesn't cost money. You know, sunlight is free, but yet, how do we exist here? We have to have, you know, the housing, the food, those types of things. As you're heading into retirement, start with the vision first. Start with the vision first, because that's going to give you clarity on how much money you're going to need. Instead of thinking, well, I don't have enough money, or I'm worried about what I'm going to do, this just conquers both of those right there. Right there. It helps you believe it's possible. Now, if we've had some retirement dream for years but not done any actions, yeah, there's going to be a huge gap. But as you're, you know, approaching retirement, like I said, you're 5 to 10 years away, really you know what your expenses are. If You know what your expenses are. That may be another underlying factor of why you believe it's not possible. Because you're not clear on your current money situation. You don't even understand what your basic living costs are. And I'm not talking about the extras, but if you don't understand the basic living costs, how are you going to be able to plan for retirement? Now there's financial advisors that will tell you you're going to live on 70 or 80 percent of your income. It's a great projection and a great average and a great estimate to support you in getting to a retirement number, but. What if you spend more and you're going to need to spend more? Or what if you spend less? I mean you can be on either side of that coin. You really need to understand your current money situation. You need to know where your money is going, where you like to spend, where you, you know, what food is costing you now in this true inflated time, That is what we need to be, you know, exploring. We need to be exploring that current money situation after we've created our retirement dream. And then one of the ways to start closing that gap is to look at your current lifestyle. Now you're thinking, what does that even mean? Okay, let's go back to retirement dream, retirement vision. And I really want you to think about it. You know, people saying you need to travel. I was told that. I hate to travel. I love visiting new places, but I hate travel. I'm not anxious. Airplanes are fine. I just hate, I just hate the process. It's not something I'm going to do often. I will definitely do it more than I have when I was working because I don't have to take time off of work. But it's not in my. lifestyle plan, just like my father was not going to go to the golf course because that was not in his retirement plan. Society gets us stuck in believing a lot of the things that we should be doing in retirement. But as somebody who's navigated that, yes, I chose to become an entrepreneur for many different reasons. But I chose it because I have the flexible ability to choose what I want. I was done with the 9 to 5, not that that's what I always worked, but with that whole idea of punching a time clock for somebody else. Honestly, I absolutely love my slow mornings. Now I'm still up before the sun comes up but I really just enjoy my quiet time. This is where I have taken my hobby, my love of reading, and I spend more time reading. I would wake up early when I was working to read if I was stuck in a good book, but I now I just do it. I'm able to, you know, create that hobby and morph it into part of the time. Instead of racing to get ready, racing to make sure dinner's, you know, in the crockpot or whatever it is, I have the slow mornings. When my husband has a doctor's appointment at 8. 45 or 9, I'm just like, I have to get up and moving? And that's not early, but that is the piece of retirement I absolutely love. And then I slowly come into work and support. My listeners, my clients my connections that I've made, and that gives me purpose for four to six hours a day. Then I'm done, and I go back to my reading. So, really building out what you're going to do. You've got to think about it in the sense of you're only going to fill up about four to six hours. Now, why do I say this? That's what I planned for and it worked for me. But I saw it working for my brother in law. He's been retired probably three or four years longer than I have. And, slow morning. Then he wouldn't work out. Then he would go and do his jobs, chores, whatever for the day. And he's like, usually I'm done by like two or three in the afternoon. And then I just relax. And it's this whole. feeling is whole new. Now, he goes and travels he loves that, so he does do that. But really thinking about what you want and not letting society build what you want, but also understanding the true reality of retirement and not getting caught up in, first of all, not believing it's possible. Number two, that you don't have enough money. Create your dream. And then fit that dream with your money. And if you gotta wait a year or two, then you're gonna have to wait a year or two. Or if you're okay in adjusting your dream, or whatever it is. Identifying where you are now. The things you enjoy. What you want to do more of. What you're already spending your money on. What you like to do. And then, you know, do you, how much do I really spend those pieces will start making it possible, gaining that control will have you being able to put together a beginning point and an ending point and then start, start building in those action steps to close that gap as you're getting closer, as you're getting closer. And that is exactly what I plan to do in my new Make Retirement Membership Make Retirement Possible membership. Is we're going to, number one, teach you how to take control of your money. Very simple. Very simple. My process is simple. It's easy. You will be taught that and then you will be supported in creating that dream. And then how to close the gap. What is that going to take? And for everybody that's going to look different. That's going to be different. But make it tangible. At that point, it becomes something that you strive for, that you want to strive for. And typically what's, what I see, clients will come to me, they know that they know they're in a bad way and they want me to tell them, okay, do away with these things and life will be good. And I don't, I don't. It's something you need to discover for yourself. Taking control of your money first will help you, you know, discover a lot of things. And then building that retirement dream, that will ground you into being able to make the changes you need to be. into making you realize that it is possible. That's why I named my membership that, Make Retirement Possible Membership. But today I have a free gift for you, be sure to go click the link down in the show notes for 10 essential questions to consider about retirement. Now these 10 questions will get your thoughts flowing, your juices flowing in different areas that's more than just money. Because I honestly believe retirement is more than just, just like life, it doesn't change and the closer you are to retirement, the more clearly, you know, what your expenses are. Take advantage of all of these things. If you are somebody that's like, I have never planned for retirement, I've never thought about it, and I haven't been good about my savings. Now's your time. Now's your time to work on these two pieces. Creating your dream. I go there first, go there first. And I say dream instead of vision because I want you dreaming. I want you to create, you know, almost the impossible, because I think that helps us get grounded. When I was on my journey, when I, you know, shared that in my, one of my very first episodes. That kept me rooted. The fear of missing out on other things went away because I knew what I wanted. Now what if you're that person? You create your retirement dream so clearly that then you know exactly what you want. There's no more fear of missing out on anything and you're able to take the actions, take the steps, do what you need to do. Take those steps, start building your dream, start taking control of your money. Download the 10 essential questions for retirement to get you exposed to other areas. And if you're interested, please take a look at my sales page for Make Retirement Possible membership. Doors open September 23rd at a founders price of 47. This price will only be offered the one time, and so come take it. It's small nuggets. If you're somebody that's busy, you don't have a lot of time, you don't want to spend an hour a week with me because you are already busy. And I get that. There are certain lives that are just busy. This will be more nugget on your phase. On your steps, still providing with you, still providing you with exactly what I do in my coaching program, just in smaller nuggets. It's a monthly membership. We do live trainings, live Q& A's. We'll give you worksheets and guides to support all of these things I'm talking about and more, and more. Please reach out if you have questions. Go check out those links and we'll see you next week.