July 25, 2025 • 8 mins
"Hey Mike. I'm having a hard time getting started with my retirement plan. Where should I start?" Discover how to design your lifestyle in retirement so that you can determine how much it could cost each month.
Text your questions to 913-363-1234.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mike (00:05):
Welcome to How to Retire on Time, a show that answers
your retirement questions. Myname is Mike Decker. I'm a
licensed financial adviser andfiduciary. And joining me here,
Mr. David Franson.
David, thanks for being here.
David (00:15):
Yep. Happy to be here.
Mike (00:15):
As always, we're gonna answer your questions. Text them
to (913) 363-1234. And remember,this is just a show, not
financial advice, so make sureto do your research and
follow-up with whatever we talkabout. David, let's begin.
David (00:29):
Hey, Mike. I'm having a hard time getting started with
my retirement plan. Where shouldI start?
Mike (00:34):
I appreciate these more existential questions than just
what is an IRA? What is a Roth?
David (00:41):
Oh, yeah.
Mike (00:42):
And the reason is it allows me to expose some of the
hypocrisy within the financialservices space. Recently had a
conversation with an individual,very nice man. He's partially
retired, still working part timemostly for fun, and he's trying
to figure out what he wants hisretirement to look like. He
already has enough to retire,but he doesn't know how he wants
(01:04):
his retirement to look like, sohe doesn't have a plan. Is it
appropriate to say, well, youshould be in this investment or
this product, or, well, let'sjust solve your income today,
and here's how we're gonna solveit.
No. It's not. It is not at allappropriate to talk about
investments or products untilyou know what you're solving.
And so questions like this, Ibelieve, really come from, I
(01:28):
don't wanna commit to an incomeplan, or I don't wanna commit to
a tax plan, or I don't wannacommit to anything, because I
don't know exactly what thefuture's gonna look like. I'm
still trying to figure that out.
And so when I think of thesetypes of questions, my mind
immediately goes to thefundamental retirement planning
questions, which by the way, foreveryone listening right now, if
(01:48):
you're driving, listen to thisvia podcast or or you're in the
car, make sure you go back toYouTube and look up this episode
and go down this checklist. Thisis your primary question. So,
David, have you heard ofprinciple based thinking or
first principles? I don't knowthat I have. No.
So it's very common withengineers, very common with
structured positions, but youboil down a complicated
(02:12):
situation to the mostfundamental questions. Tesla's
an easy example because we allknow what it is. It's an
electric car. When Elonallegedly was thinking about how
do you solve electric vehicles,it boiled down to they had a
battery problem. They had tofigure out how to make a better
battery to then charge a carthat would be able to do what
(02:35):
the Tesla does today.
It wasn't a car problem, it wasa battery problem. That's kind
of first principles thinking.Okay? It's boiling it down to
the most fundamental problem,and then starting there.
David (02:47):
It's kinda like whenever you watch the postgame after,
like, you know, NFL game or NBAor whatever, and they're asking
the coach, oh, what went wrong?And then they just say, oh, we
just gotta get back to thefundamentals. Right?
Mike (02:57):
Yeah. It's like sort
David (02:58):
of a cliche.
Mike (02:59):
What are the fundamentals here? Yeah. So what's the
purpose of retirement, really,to live a certain lifestyle?
What's that lifestyle? Usually,it's, well, I don't know.
I continue to breathe, and Ireceive an income of this amount
because that's what I'm used to.That's not a good answer. And
too many times, we don't knowwhat we want in the future. We
(03:20):
don't really we don't know howto solve this existential
crisis, which retirement is anexistential crisis for many
people. There's a a lot ofretirees that when they retire
become depressed because theydon't know how to transition to
retirement.
Well, we're trying to create acourse specifically on how to
emotionally transition toretirement for this very reason.
So the first question is, okay.Let's just break down what's
(03:41):
your cash flow? What are yourexpenses? You know, get those
things in order.
If you don't know how to dothat, just download the last
three months of your bankstatements, your credit card
statements, and figure out howmuch is spending on fun, how
much are your basics, and thendivide it up between
discretionary and essentialexpenses, and just kind of break
that down so you have an idea.Because if you have more time on
(04:02):
your hands because you're notworking, then you're probably
gonna spend more money. And youwanna understand how much of
your spending could bediscretionary. It's actually
common that people increasetheir spending in retirement. So
you wanna understand that.
Then you need to start definingwhat would you do if you had
more time. So common answersare, well, you know, maybe I'll
(04:23):
teach the local bible studyclass at my church. Maybe I
wanna do more fishing. Maybe youwanna do more golf. Work on that
golf game.
But notice how a lot of thesewell, the bible study I think is
a wonderful endeavor. Butfishing, golf, sewing, and a lot
of people do a lot of quiltingas well. I mean, all of these
are intro spectrum, or they'reselfish hobbies. I'm not saying
(04:47):
it's selfish to go golfing, butit is all about you when you go
golfing. And, yeah, there's asocial element, or fishing.
Yeah. There's a social element.But fun is a great way to have a
hollow life to end up depressed.So then you have to ask
yourself, okay. Well, what's thepurpose?
What's gonna get me out of bed?When you work, you've got a
purpose. It's to do a certainjob. It's to solve a problem.
It's to support other people.
It's to work with other people.You're working as a team to
(05:09):
accomplish something. What isthe problem you wanna solve in
retirement? Is it working with acharity? Is it working with a
church?
Is it working with yourcommunity? Is it supporting
maybe your kids in a certain waythat you're now the babysitter
because they can't affordchildcare services or whatever
it is? Right. Maybe instead ofit being more volunteer, maybe
you start a hobby business. Lovehobby businesses, because
(05:32):
there's still a reason to get upin the morning.
You're still creating something.That's beautiful. Maybe, and
this is extremely common withengineers, by the way. I'm not
picking on engineers. I loveworking with engineers because
they're so detail oriented.
But it's almost unanimous. Whenan engineer retires, they take
art classes. They want you tolearn, and that's like the polar
opposite. They never got toexperience what art really was.
(05:55):
Some do, but a lot of engineersdon't.
So they want to explore theopposite of what it is. It's not
selfish, but you're learning.You're exploring. You're you're
trying to develop something new.These are conversations you need
to start having to figure outwhat that is.
Then you need to figure out howdo you shape the life. Are you
gonna move? Are you not gonnamove? Are you gonna move maybe
in five years? Do you need a newhouse in five years?
Are you gonna downsize? Are younot gonna downsize? Do you need
(06:16):
new cars? Then you start shapingthe expenses of the life, the
location, and the lifestyle andwhat that looks like, but it all
needs to be primarily driven bythe service and the development
that you're aiming towards sothat you have a reason to get
out of bed. It's not just, oh,well, this is how much I
currently make, so we'll justmaintain this thing.
(06:38):
No. Please no. Please pleasedon't do that. And the reason
why I say this is slowing downand having a more methodical
conversation can be veryhelpful. Too many times, I have
heard about people, or they endup coming to the office, and
we're having theseconversations, and they say,
well, you know, I've got aretirement plan.
I say, well, what's theretirement plan? They show me,
(07:00):
and they say, well, we put aplan together, and they put
assets to illiquid products.They're kinda set up on fixed
income for the most part, andthere's very little flexibility
here. And they're saying, yeah,but we kinda wanna move, but now
we can't really afford it. Wedon't know to free up the cash.
If we freed up this cash righthere, it might they put the cart
before the horse. This is aboutlifestyle planning, and then you
(07:21):
figure out the cash flow andincome to support that
lifestyle. And sometimes itactually would be better that we
slow down and figured out theemotional or lifestyle side of
it before you solve the economicor financial side of things.
That is how you avoid productsales pitches. Mhmm.
That is how you avoidoversimplified plans. That is
(07:43):
how you can help avoid thesesituations to where you end up
getting stuck. You wannamaintain your freedom. You wanna
maintain your flexibility, butyou gotta know what you're
solving first, and that's soimportant. 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 podcasts.Just search for How to Retire On
(08:04):
Time. Discover if your portfoliois built to weather flat market
cycles or if you're missing taxminimization opportunities that
you may not even know exist.Explore strategies that may be
able to help you lower youroverall risk while potentially
increasing your overall growthand lifestyle flexibility. This
is not your ordinary financialanalysis.
(08:25):
Learn more about Your WealthAnalysis and what it could do
for you regardless of your age,asset, or target retirement
date, go toww.yourwealthanalysis.com today
to learn more and get started.
Welcome to How to Retire on Time, a show that answers
your retirement questions. Myname is Mike Decker. I'm a
licensed financial adviser andfiduciary. And joining me here,
Mr. David Franson.
David, thanks for being here.
David (00:15):
Yep. Happy to be here.
Mike (00:15):
As always, we're gonna answer your questions. Text them
to (913) 363-1234. And remember,this is just a show, not
financial advice, so make sureto do your research and
follow-up with whatever we talkabout. David, let's begin.
David (00:29):
Hey, Mike. I'm having a hard time getting started with
my retirement plan. Where shouldI start?
Mike (00:34):
I appreciate these more existential questions than just
what is an IRA? What is a Roth?
David (00:41):
Oh, yeah.
Mike (00:42):
And the reason is it allows me to expose some of the
hypocrisy within the financialservices space. Recently had a
conversation with an individual,very nice man. He's partially
retired, still working part timemostly for fun, and he's trying
to figure out what he wants hisretirement to look like. He
already has enough to retire,but he doesn't know how he wants
(01:04):
his retirement to look like, sohe doesn't have a plan. Is it
appropriate to say, well, youshould be in this investment or
this product, or, well, let'sjust solve your income today,
and here's how we're gonna solveit.
No. It's not. It is not at allappropriate to talk about
investments or products untilyou know what you're solving.
And so questions like this, Ibelieve, really come from, I
(01:28):
don't wanna commit to an incomeplan, or I don't wanna commit to
a tax plan, or I don't wannacommit to anything, because I
don't know exactly what thefuture's gonna look like. I'm
still trying to figure that out.
And so when I think of thesetypes of questions, my mind
immediately goes to thefundamental retirement planning
questions, which by the way, foreveryone listening right now, if
(01:48):
you're driving, listen to thisvia podcast or or you're in the
car, make sure you go back toYouTube and look up this episode
and go down this checklist. Thisis your primary question. So,
David, have you heard ofprinciple based thinking or
first principles? I don't knowthat I have. No.
So it's very common withengineers, very common with
structured positions, but youboil down a complicated
(02:12):
situation to the mostfundamental questions. Tesla's
an easy example because we allknow what it is. It's an
electric car. When Elonallegedly was thinking about how
do you solve electric vehicles,it boiled down to they had a
battery problem. They had tofigure out how to make a better
battery to then charge a carthat would be able to do what
(02:35):
the Tesla does today.
It wasn't a car problem, it wasa battery problem. That's kind
of first principles thinking.Okay? It's boiling it down to
the most fundamental problem,and then starting there.
David (02:47):
It's kinda like whenever you watch the postgame after,
like, you know, NFL game or NBAor whatever, and they're asking
the coach, oh, what went wrong?And then they just say, oh, we
just gotta get back to thefundamentals. Right?
Mike (02:57):
Yeah. It's like sort
David (02:58):
of a cliche.
Mike (02:59):
What are the fundamentals here? Yeah. So what's the
purpose of retirement, really,to live a certain lifestyle?
What's that lifestyle? Usually,it's, well, I don't know.
I continue to breathe, and Ireceive an income of this amount
because that's what I'm used to.That's not a good answer. And
too many times, we don't knowwhat we want in the future. We
(03:20):
don't really we don't know howto solve this existential
crisis, which retirement is anexistential crisis for many
people. There's a a lot ofretirees that when they retire
become depressed because theydon't know how to transition to
retirement.
Well, we're trying to create acourse specifically on how to
emotionally transition toretirement for this very reason.
So the first question is, okay.Let's just break down what's
(03:41):
your cash flow? What are yourexpenses? You know, get those
things in order.
If you don't know how to dothat, just download the last
three months of your bankstatements, your credit card
statements, and figure out howmuch is spending on fun, how
much are your basics, and thendivide it up between
discretionary and essentialexpenses, and just kind of break
that down so you have an idea.Because if you have more time on
(04:02):
your hands because you're notworking, then you're probably
gonna spend more money. And youwanna understand how much of
your spending could bediscretionary. It's actually
common that people increasetheir spending in retirement. So
you wanna understand that.
Then you need to start definingwhat would you do if you had
more time. So common answersare, well, you know, maybe I'll
(04:23):
teach the local bible studyclass at my church. Maybe I
wanna do more fishing. Maybe youwanna do more golf. Work on that
golf game.
But notice how a lot of thesewell, the bible study I think is
a wonderful endeavor. Butfishing, golf, sewing, and a lot
of people do a lot of quiltingas well. I mean, all of these
are intro spectrum, or they'reselfish hobbies. I'm not saying
(04:47):
it's selfish to go golfing, butit is all about you when you go
golfing. And, yeah, there's asocial element, or fishing.
Yeah. There's a social element.But fun is a great way to have a
hollow life to end up depressed.So then you have to ask
yourself, okay. Well, what's thepurpose?
What's gonna get me out of bed?When you work, you've got a
purpose. It's to do a certainjob. It's to solve a problem.
It's to support other people.
It's to work with other people.You're working as a team to
(05:09):
accomplish something. What isthe problem you wanna solve in
retirement? Is it working with acharity? Is it working with a
church?
Is it working with yourcommunity? Is it supporting
maybe your kids in a certain waythat you're now the babysitter
because they can't affordchildcare services or whatever
it is? Right. Maybe instead ofit being more volunteer, maybe
you start a hobby business. Lovehobby businesses, because
(05:32):
there's still a reason to get upin the morning.
You're still creating something.That's beautiful. Maybe, and
this is extremely common withengineers, by the way. I'm not
picking on engineers. I loveworking with engineers because
they're so detail oriented.
But it's almost unanimous. Whenan engineer retires, they take
art classes. They want you tolearn, and that's like the polar
opposite. They never got toexperience what art really was.
(05:55):
Some do, but a lot of engineersdon't.
So they want to explore theopposite of what it is. It's not
selfish, but you're learning.You're exploring. You're you're
trying to develop something new.These are conversations you need
to start having to figure outwhat that is.
Then you need to figure out howdo you shape the life. Are you
gonna move? Are you not gonnamove? Are you gonna move maybe
in five years? Do you need a newhouse in five years?
Are you gonna downsize? Are younot gonna downsize? Do you need
(06:16):
new cars? Then you start shapingthe expenses of the life, the
location, and the lifestyle andwhat that looks like, but it all
needs to be primarily driven bythe service and the development
that you're aiming towards sothat you have a reason to get
out of bed. It's not just, oh,well, this is how much I
currently make, so we'll justmaintain this thing.
(06:38):
No. Please no. Please pleasedon't do that. And the reason
why I say this is slowing downand having a more methodical
conversation can be veryhelpful. Too many times, I have
heard about people, or they endup coming to the office, and
we're having theseconversations, and they say,
well, you know, I've got aretirement plan.
I say, well, what's theretirement plan? They show me,
(07:00):
and they say, well, we put aplan together, and they put
assets to illiquid products.They're kinda set up on fixed
income for the most part, andthere's very little flexibility
here. And they're saying, yeah,but we kinda wanna move, but now
we can't really afford it. Wedon't know to free up the cash.
If we freed up this cash righthere, it might they put the cart
before the horse. This is aboutlifestyle planning, and then you
(07:21):
figure out the cash flow andincome to support that
lifestyle. And sometimes itactually would be better that we
slow down and figured out theemotional or lifestyle side of
it before you solve the economicor financial side of things.
That is how you avoid productsales pitches. Mhmm.
That is how you avoidoversimplified plans. That is
(07:43):
how you can help avoid thesesituations to where you end up
getting stuck. You wannamaintain your freedom. You wanna
maintain your flexibility, butyou gotta know what you're
solving first, and that's soimportant. 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 podcasts.Just search for How to Retire On
(08:04):
Time. Discover if your portfoliois built to weather flat market
cycles or if you're missing taxminimization opportunities that
you may not even know exist.Explore strategies that may be
able to help you lower youroverall risk while potentially
increasing your overall growthand lifestyle flexibility. This
is not your ordinary financialanalysis.
(08:25):
Learn more about Your WealthAnalysis and what it could do
for you regardless of your age,asset, or target retirement
date, go toww.yourwealthanalysis.com today
to learn more and get started.
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