Retirement Planning for Non-Planners: 5 Things to Track During Retirement

If you are the non-planning type, it can be easy to worry about whether your retirement plan is on track. How are you supposed to know what is going on and whether you should have the confidence to know if your plan is working?

On this episode of Retirement Answer Man, you’ll learn 5 things that you can check periodically to give you an idea if your retirement plan is on the right track. If you are wondering how to investigate whether or not your retirement plan is on track, then make sure to listen to this episode to learn what you need to know. Where does confidence come from? 

The whole point of retirement planning is to give you the confidence to live life in your retirement without worry. Before you create your retirement plan you need to understand what it is that will give you confidence in that plan. 

Confidence comes from understanding. To understand your plan you need to first set your goals. What is your vision? Once you have a vision of your ideal retirement then you can deconstruct that vision to map out your journey. That journey will take you from the current version of yourself to the future you. To map your journey you need to have clear action items to lead you along each step of the way. 

There is no need to look around at others on their journey since each one is personal. Your retirement journey is yours alone. 5 things you should track to feel confident in your retirement plan 

1. Have your goals changed? Assess your goals with your significant other or advisor to make sure they still reflect what you really want. Are you still aiming for the same target? Is this still the life you want to build or has anything changed? 
2. Check in with your spending. How is your current spending relevant to your overall plan? Track your spending goals to see if they are still relevant. At the end of each year look back at what you actually spent your money on. You’ll want to make sure to track how you did relative to your plan. Sometimes you may deviate from the plan a bit, but by tracking you can identify trends over the long term. Tracking can help you to tease out opportunities and risks
3. Is your plan still feasible? Should you make a change? Big expenditures can pop up, the market could go down, expenses could go up: all of these things could change your plan’s feasibility. One way to check to see if your plan is still feasible is to track your withdrawal ratio. This is the percentage of your assets that you take out of your portfolio each year. Tracking your withdrawal ratio can help you recognize whether your retirement plan is sustainable. Listen in to learn what else you should consider to ensure that your plan will actually work.
4. Make sure your retirement plan is sustainable. Is it resilient? Do you have enough financial nutrients in the near term, midterm, and long term? Check out last week’s episode to hear more about how to plan for the short-term, mid-term, and long-term in retirement. 
5. Focus on the WHAAM. Think about what you should do next. Then figure out how to do it, get accountability, take action, and finally, achieve momentum. In your retirement planning, think about how you can shift your focus to best serve yourself.

If you want to ensure that you will rock retirement, then continually check in with these 5 areas. Are you ready for more Retirement Answer Man? 

For the past 7 years without fail, we have brought the Retirement Answer Man to your earbuds on a weekly basis. That is about to change.

Starting in October we will be splitting the podcast into two separate parts released on two different days. Coming on Tuesdays you’ll hear the Q&A part of the show. On Fridays, we’ll focus on the monthly theme. 

This split will allow us to dive a bit deeper into our monthly topics and answer more of your questions. It will also allow you to decide to listen to what you want to hear. We value your feedback, so please let us know what you think of this new setup. 

 OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT 

• [6:25] A triathlon story to illustrate how humans overcomplicate things
• [14:40] Where does confidence come from?
• [16:13] 5 things you should track to feel confident in your retirement plan

LISTENER QUESTIONS 

• [27:00] How does Josh designate pretax and post-tax contributions when they are commingled
• [33:26] How to understand the options to deal with precious metals

COACHES CORNER WITH BW 

• [37:31] What do people need to know about retirement planning the non-financial side of retirement?
• [39:26] How will you spend your days in retirement?

TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT 

• [43:34] Get a