August 1, 2023 • 16 mins
What do you think is the key to a successful retirement?
By asking yourself the right questions and being intentional about using money to enrich life, you can live more presently in the moment and enjoy a meaningful and successful retirement.
James explains the most important question to ask yourself so that you can transform your retirement.
Questions Answered:
How do you get the most out of life with your money by living intentionally?
How do you live intentionally for a more meaningful life?
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:37 The email
6:42 The responses
9:46 Points to note
12:03 Steph’s story
13:35 Important things to think about
15:30 Outro
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What do you think is the key to a successful
retirement?
Is it the right investmentallocation?
Do you think it's having theperfect budget?
Is it maybe collecting SocialSecurity, or implementing Roth
conversions at the perfectlyright time?
Well, while all these areimportant, none of them are the
most important in my opinion,and in today's episode of Ready
for Retirement, I'm going toshare with you what I do believe
(00:21):
is the most important, and it'sa very simple question that has
the potential to transform yourretirement.
This is another episode of Readyfor Retirement.
I'm your host, james Cannell,and I'm here to teach you how to
get the most out of life withyour money.
And now on to the episode.
Today's episode was inspired bysomething slightly different
(00:42):
than typical episodes are.
Typically, we answer a listenerquestion on these episodes, but
I just returned from an amazingfamily trip to Colorado, where
it was myself, it was my parents, my wife and my daughter and on
that trip I was reflecting howgrateful I am to have married
Ashlyn, who's my wife, and I'mgrateful for many reasons, but
one of which is she spends somuch time planning trips that
(01:03):
the whole family loves, andthese are trips that are filled
with moments that becomememories, and these are memories
that we're going to cherishforever, and one of the many
reasons I'm grateful for this isthat I personally I'm not
naturally hardwired to live inthe present moment or even spend
money on things that aremeaningful today, with my
personality type and thankfully,this has changed a bit, even
since being married.
With my personality type, if Ihave a few extra bucks, I'm
(01:25):
inclined to invest them.
If I have a few extra hours inthe day, I'm inclined to use
them, working longer.
And if, given the option ofbeing present today or planning
for the future, too many times Idefault to planning for the
future.
Now, that's not to say I don'tlive in the moment and don't
spend money on things today anddon't spend time with family and
friends, but it's more of anintentional effort on my part to
(01:49):
do so, because I'm hardwired tothink in the future and to plan
for the future, and because ofthis, a lot of times I have to
check myself and say, okay,james, play this out.
Over 20, 30, 40 years, you'vegrown the business, you've grown
your portfolio, you've grownyour financial independence, but
to what end?
Well, so I can spend more timewith family, or so I can take
more vacations or so I can buymore of the things that I want
(02:10):
to buy, and then I have to askmyself well, what's stopping me
from doing that today?
So this, along with many otherreasons, is one of the reasons
I'm so grateful for Ashland.
She prioritizes family time,she prioritizes these trips, she
prioritizes these experiencesthat all contribute to the
richness of life.
And I'm not telling you thisjust to say hey, here's a giant
monologue about my wife, butwhat I am telling you this for
(02:33):
is it sparked something?
Or it made me think back to arecent email that I sent out to
clients.
Now, sometimes these emails Isend are more notes to myself
than they are to clients interms of how can we live better,
invest better, plan better, butall ultimately to have a richer
, more fulfilling life.
So I'm bringing up this emailand I want to share with you
both what I asked to a bunch ofclients and some of the
(02:55):
responses that I received,because I do believe this is the
fundamental thing we need toget right in our retirement
planning If we want anincredible retirement and if we
want an incredible life.
A lot of that starts withintention, and intention begins
with asking the right questions.
So what I want to do in thisepisode is I'm going to read to
you the email I sent to clientsand I'm going to read with you,
(03:16):
or read back to you, some of theresponses I received from
clients, in the hopes that itprompts some of you to ask the
same question and start to playout what those responses look
like, so that you can startliving better today.
So to start, let me read to youthe email, at least a
paraphrased version of the email.
This is what I sent to clients.
I said this.
I said if you ask the averageAmerican how much it takes to
(03:37):
feel wealthy, the answer isabout $2.2 million.
If you ask a group ofmillionaires how much it takes
to feel wealthy, the answer isabout $7.5 million.
It appears, at the point atwhich we feel wealthy depends a
great deal on where we are today.
There was another story from afew years ago that asked people
to approximate how much moneywould be required to feel
comfortable.
The consistent answer, acrossthe entire spectrum of net worth
(04:00):
, was about twice their currentnet worth.
And, although it's likelyapocryphal, there's a story
about the wealthiest American toever live, john Rockefeller,
being asked how much money isenough, to which he responded
just a little bit more.
If this was the case forRockefeller, what hope do we
have?
It seems likely that we'llalways need just a little bit
more.
(04:20):
It goes to show that findingcomfort with our respective
levels of wealth can be aperpetually elusive target, and
the problem with never feelingcomfortable is that it can
sometimes cause you to refrainfrom doing things that might
actually make your life betteror more fulfilling.
And given that my job, as I seeit, is to help you live a life
that is as fulfilling aspossible, I want to use today's
note to explore opportunitiesthat may truly make your life
(04:42):
better.
I'd love it if you spend alittle time pondering the
following question what are afew things you have always
wanted to do or to buy in yourlife that you have not done or
bought, for whatever reason?
And if you're married, whatabout for your spouse?
I'd enjoy exploring it if wecan make it a reality sooner
rather than later.
And that's the end of the email.
So I know I read a lot in there.
(05:03):
A lot of that was justbackground building up to the
question, but the real questionwas what's something you've
always wanted to do or to buy,and then why haven't you done so
already?
And once I sent that email, Igot a great deal of feedback
from clients and the resultswere very interesting to see.
And why was that?
Well, many of the things thatpeople said they wanted and this
(05:24):
was subconscious, I think.
In most cases they wereassuming that they wouldn't do
these things until they retired,or at least until the time was
right, which always seems to besometime later, but definitely
not right now.
So I want to offer you some ofthese responses because they can
help to trigger desires in yourown mind, because a lot of
times, the hardest thing isn'tdoing what you want, it's
sometimes just knowing what youwant.
(05:44):
So I hope that by offering someof these examples, it might
stir up some thoughts in yourmind.
And the reason I say this is themost important part of your
retirement is because, if youget to the end of your life, it
will not matter how large yourportfolio is, it will not matter
how many millions of dollarsyou saved in taxes through the
right tax strategy, it will notmatter how much you maximize
your social security benefit.
(06:04):
If you're unhappy and if youlook back on regret because of
the things that you didn't do.
None of that will matter.
What does matter is livingintentionally, and living
intentionally comes down toasking yourself the right
question, which is what do Iactually want, what do I want my
life to look like, and how canI do the things that align with
that so that I can have thatmore fulfilling, more enjoyable
(06:27):
retirement?
Hey everyone, it's me again forthe Disclaimer.
Please be smart about this.
Before doing anything, pleasebe sure to consult with your tax
planner or financial planner.
Nothing in this podcast shouldbe construed as investment, tax,
legal or other financial advice.
It is for informationalpurposes only.
So let's take a look at some ofthe responses I received from
clients when I sent out thisemail.
(06:47):
Now, some are exactly whatyou'd expect.
One client said she said James.
One of the first items thatcomes to mind is I would love to
stay in an overwater bungalow,perhaps in the Maldives, fiji,
tahiti, bora Bora or any otherdestination that offers this
luxury.
Another client says I'd like togo to an SEC football game, or
I'd like to watch a game atYankee Stadium in Fenway Park,
(07:07):
so two iconic baseball stadiums.
Now here's the interesting thingwith these, I think, when I ask
people, what do you want to doin retirement?
They say, oh, I want to travel.
But then you think about it.
You say, well, why only inretirement?
Why not start doing some ofthese things today?
Today, when maybe you have moreof your health, more of your
energy, the financial means todo so?
And when we think about it thatway, one of the reasons that we
(07:29):
say we want to travel inretirement is because it's a
sense of procrastination, of I'mjust not getting around to it
today.
And, to be clear, there areobviously financial trade-offs
for doing this.
The more you spend on stufftoday, the less you can save for
retirement.
But the interesting thing withthese specific client responses
is, for these clients I'veeither met with them already or
will do so in the future.
But in these cases this wassomething that did not have to
(07:52):
be deferred until retirement.
This is something that did nothave to be deferred until some
indefinite point into the future.
These are things that couldvery much start happening now.
So one of the reasons I'msharing this is because, like I
mentioned at the beginning ofthis, this is my natural
inclination as a person.
Is it so easy to get in a rutand it's a healthy rut in some
(08:12):
ways of save to the 401k, saveto the Roth IRA, put in the time
at work, plan, prepare, do allthese things so that you can
travel, so that you can enjoylife, so that you can do an
engaging experience that aremeaningful to you.
But if we're constantly in thatmindset of these experiences
and this travel and these thingsthat we want to do are in the
future, then you're losing outon some of the richness of life
(08:36):
along the way.
So that's why I love some ofthese answers is, once we really
start to understand what we'redoing it all for, we can then
ask ourselves why is it thatthis isn't until my retirement,
at least in my mind?
Why isn't this something that Icould do sooner rather than
later?
And many times this issomething you can do sooner
rather than later.
Now there's absolutely afinancial trade-off, and I just
(08:57):
mentioned that.
So that's why it's so importantthat you have a financial plan,
that you have an understandingof what's required to meet your
goals.
But also, how do you ensurethat you don't pass up on these
amazing opportunities andamazing experiences before you
retire, to make sure you havethat more well-balanced life?
So those were just a coupleexamples I received from clients
A lot of other clients thatemailed me back and they said
(09:18):
I'm just not quite sure.
This is a really good questionand we spent so much time saving
and investing and planningfinancially for retirement that
it's difficult to actually thinkabout what would we want to
spend money on.
One client said this and he putit really well.
He said it's not easy to shiftfrom savings mode to spending
mode.
I think we'd like to travel.
There's an Arkansas home,charity, work, self-improvement,
(09:40):
they all come to mind, butlet's discuss this at our next
meeting.
So that's another reason I wantto talk about this now.
Many of you might be thinking,gosh, I've spent so much time
just thinking about making moremoney or saving more money.
You're investing more money.
I haven't done as much thinkingor planning around.
Who am I?
What do I enjoy doing?
What is it that I want out oflife?
So sometimes you're not goingto have an immediate thought
(10:03):
here of I want that new car or Iwant that vacation or I want
this experience.
If you do, great, you have avery easy goal and easy target
and you can start to quantifywhat will that cost and when can
I realistically do that?
But if not, then these arehealthy questions to begin
pondering.
What is it that I want to spendmoney on?
Money is just a tool.
Money is not the goal by itself.
(10:24):
So how can I understand how tobest use this tool?
Well, to understand that, Ineed to understand what I want
my future to look like, or, heck, even, what I want my present
day to look like, so I can makesure my money is aligned with
that.
So understand that that issometimes difficult thing to
even recognize.
What do I want to spend my timedoing?
What do I want to spend mymoney on?
But it is crucial that we startto think through those things,
(10:46):
because this next response I'mgoing to share highlights the
somber reality of what couldhappen if we don't.
Another client, in response tothis email that I read you, said
this.
She said my husband and I haddreams of traveling throughout
Canada by train, continuing ourlove of trout fishing and just
being together and enjoying life.
Unfortunately, he passed awayand I would give anything to
(11:07):
have him with me now.
So this is obviously the mostdifficult part of planning and
the most difficult part of lifeis it's unpredictable.
None of us are guaranteedtomorrow, none of our spouses
are guaranteed tomorrow.
So the last thing that we wantto do is defer everything to
some indefinite point in thefuture and then realize one day
that the opportunity to do thosethings that we love, or those
(11:29):
opportunities to do the thingsthat we really cared about and
create memories, those aren'tgoing to be around forever.
So how can we, in a responsibleway, balance planning for the
future but also doing the thingswe want to do today because
we're not guaranteed tomorrow?
So I know a lot of people inthat situation and that's a sad,
unfortunate reality of thisworld that we live in.
(11:51):
And that is why, as a financialplanner, it's not actually the
money that I care about, it'show can we use our money to get
the most out of life.
And I think this last story,this last response that I want
to share, highlights thisperfectly.
It's just the perfect exampleof how do you use money to get
the most out of life.
And this comes from Steph, andSteph gave me permission to
share this.
She said this in response to myemail Many years ago 2006, I
(12:15):
believe, when Dave's great auntpassed.
She unexpectedly left us $30,000.
We were shocked and blessed.
We obviously consideredinvesting it, but instead we
bought a boat.
Yep, we bought an old 1974fishing boat and kept it in Dana
Harbor.
This changed our quality oflife.
We had some of the mostrelaxing times, some hard and
some scary times.
It was hard work keeping itclean, safe and functioning.
(12:37):
Crazy fun times, romance,adventure, seeing David the Helm
using his Coast Guardnavigation skills.
We made incredible family andfriend memories on that boat.
We connected with nature.
The memories are endless.
We sold it when we bought thefarm.
We miss it in a lifestyle.
Often that is our spin story noregrets whatsoever.
Sure, we could have investedresponsibly into the market, but
(12:59):
, like you said, it's allrelative and the value of that
boat season is priceless to us.
So this was an absolutelyperfect answer to the question
that I asked of how can you useyour money to enrich your life.
What's one thing you couldpurchase today to do so?
Now, obviously, in Stefan andDave's example, that wasn't
something they purchased today.
This was an example from 15plus years ago.
(13:21):
But this illustrates what goodspending can do.
So often we talk about goodinvesting and good planning and
good deferring, but there's alsosuch thing as good spending.
We don't invest and save andplan forever just so that we can
grow the largest portfolio.
We do that so that we can dothe things that are meaningful
to us and to others and impactthose around us in a wonderful
(13:42):
way.
So, as you're listening to this,maybe right off the bat, when I
ask the question, what's onething you can buy or do that
will immediately add quality toyour life, you might have an
answer right away.
Or some of you might be morelike me, or, without the help of
my awesome wife, it would bedifficult sometimes for me to
bring myself to spend, eventhough I know how important it
is.
So, whatever the case might be,some of you know this on your
(14:04):
own.
Some of you need someone elseto pull it out of you.
If that's you, I hope thisepisode is the thing that's
going to help pull it out of you.
So your homework for today isto do this Turn off the podcast,
turn off social media, turn offthe news, turn off any
distractions.
Just spend a couple minutesthinking what's one purchase I
could make or what's one thing Icould do.
Well, it might not even costmoney, but that would add
(14:26):
quality to my life or would addrichness to my life.
For me, it was an amazing tripwe just took to Colorado with
family.
I know there's going to be somememories there that I will
remember forever and look backfondly on.
For Steph and for Dave, it wasusing that $30,000 they
unexpectedly received as aninheritance to buy a boat, and
the memories and the adventureand the experiences that created
(14:48):
for them.
For you, it might be travel.
For you it might be a differentexperience.
For you, it might be somethingyou've been looking to buy for a
long time now.
How can you work that into yourplan so that, yes, we need to
prepare for the future, but, yes, we also need to make sure that
we're living today and findingthe appropriate balance between
those two?
So I hope this episode hashelped.
I know this is a littledifferent than what we're
(15:09):
typically talking about.
What we're typically talkingabout is maximizing returns or
saving taxes or when to collectsocial security or all those
things that are important, butonly in the context of living
better.
We're living in the context ofgetting more life out of your
money.
So ask yourself this questionand then be intentional about
doing the things that will leadto better living.
(15:29):
So that's it for today'sepisode.
Thank you, as always, forlistening and I'll see you all
next time.
Thank you for listening toanother episode of the Ready for
Retirement podcast.
If you want to see how RootFinancial can help you implement
the techniques I discussed inthis podcast, then go to
rootfinancialpartnerscom andclick start here, where you can
schedule a call to one of ouradvisors.
(15:50):
We work with clients all overthe country and we love the
opportunity to speak with youabout your goals and how we
might be able to help.
And please remember, nothing wediscuss in this podcast is
intended to serve as advice.
You should always consult afinancial, legal or tax
professional who's familiar withyour unique circumstances
before making any financialdecisions.
What do you think is the key to a successful
retirement?
Is it the right investmentallocation?
Do you think it's having theperfect budget?
Is it maybe collecting SocialSecurity, or implementing Roth
conversions at the perfectlyright time?
Well, while all these areimportant, none of them are the
most important in my opinion,and in today's episode of Ready
for Retirement, I'm going toshare with you what I do believe
(00:21):
is the most important, and it'sa very simple question that has
the potential to transform yourretirement.
This is another episode of Readyfor Retirement.
I'm your host, james Cannell,and I'm here to teach you how to
get the most out of life withyour money.
And now on to the episode.
Today's episode was inspired bysomething slightly different
(00:42):
than typical episodes are.
Typically, we answer a listenerquestion on these episodes, but
I just returned from an amazingfamily trip to Colorado, where
it was myself, it was my parents, my wife and my daughter and on
that trip I was reflecting howgrateful I am to have married
Ashlyn, who's my wife, and I'mgrateful for many reasons, but
one of which is she spends somuch time planning trips that
(01:03):
the whole family loves, andthese are trips that are filled
with moments that becomememories, and these are memories
that we're going to cherishforever, and one of the many
reasons I'm grateful for this isthat I personally I'm not
naturally hardwired to live inthe present moment or even spend
money on things that aremeaningful today, with my
personality type and thankfully,this has changed a bit, even
since being married.
With my personality type, if Ihave a few extra bucks, I'm
(01:25):
inclined to invest them.
If I have a few extra hours inthe day, I'm inclined to use
them, working longer.
And if, given the option ofbeing present today or planning
for the future, too many times Idefault to planning for the
future.
Now, that's not to say I don'tlive in the moment and don't
spend money on things today anddon't spend time with family and
friends, but it's more of anintentional effort on my part to
(01:49):
do so, because I'm hardwired tothink in the future and to plan
for the future, and because ofthis, a lot of times I have to
check myself and say, okay,james, play this out.
Over 20, 30, 40 years, you'vegrown the business, you've grown
your portfolio, you've grownyour financial independence, but
to what end?
Well, so I can spend more timewith family, or so I can take
more vacations or so I can buymore of the things that I want
(02:10):
to buy, and then I have to askmyself well, what's stopping me
from doing that today?
So this, along with many otherreasons, is one of the reasons
I'm so grateful for Ashland.
She prioritizes family time,she prioritizes these trips, she
prioritizes these experiencesthat all contribute to the
richness of life.
And I'm not telling you thisjust to say hey, here's a giant
monologue about my wife, butwhat I am telling you this for
(02:33):
is it sparked something?
Or it made me think back to arecent email that I sent out to
clients.
Now, sometimes these emails Isend are more notes to myself
than they are to clients interms of how can we live better,
invest better, plan better, butall ultimately to have a richer
, more fulfilling life.
So I'm bringing up this emailand I want to share with you
both what I asked to a bunch ofclients and some of the
(02:55):
responses that I received,because I do believe this is the
fundamental thing we need toget right in our retirement
planning If we want anincredible retirement and if we
want an incredible life.
A lot of that starts withintention, and intention begins
with asking the right questions.
So what I want to do in thisepisode is I'm going to read to
you the email I sent to clientsand I'm going to read with you,
(03:16):
or read back to you, some of theresponses I received from
clients, in the hopes that itprompts some of you to ask the
same question and start to playout what those responses look
like, so that you can startliving better today.
So to start, let me read to youthe email, at least a
paraphrased version of the email.
This is what I sent to clients.
I said this.
I said if you ask the averageAmerican how much it takes to
(03:37):
feel wealthy, the answer isabout $2.2 million.
If you ask a group ofmillionaires how much it takes
to feel wealthy, the answer isabout $7.5 million.
It appears, at the point atwhich we feel wealthy depends a
great deal on where we are today.
There was another story from afew years ago that asked people
to approximate how much moneywould be required to feel
comfortable.
The consistent answer, acrossthe entire spectrum of net worth
(04:00):
, was about twice their currentnet worth.
And, although it's likelyapocryphal, there's a story
about the wealthiest American toever live, john Rockefeller,
being asked how much money isenough, to which he responded
just a little bit more.
If this was the case forRockefeller, what hope do we
have?
It seems likely that we'llalways need just a little bit
more.
(04:20):
It goes to show that findingcomfort with our respective
levels of wealth can be aperpetually elusive target, and
the problem with never feelingcomfortable is that it can
sometimes cause you to refrainfrom doing things that might
actually make your life betteror more fulfilling.
And given that my job, as I seeit, is to help you live a life
that is as fulfilling aspossible, I want to use today's
note to explore opportunitiesthat may truly make your life
(04:42):
better.
I'd love it if you spend alittle time pondering the
following question what are afew things you have always
wanted to do or to buy in yourlife that you have not done or
bought, for whatever reason?
And if you're married, whatabout for your spouse?
I'd enjoy exploring it if wecan make it a reality sooner
rather than later.
And that's the end of the email.
So I know I read a lot in there.
(05:03):
A lot of that was justbackground building up to the
question, but the real questionwas what's something you've
always wanted to do or to buy,and then why haven't you done so
already?
And once I sent that email, Igot a great deal of feedback
from clients and the resultswere very interesting to see.
And why was that?
Well, many of the things thatpeople said they wanted and this
(05:24):
was subconscious, I think.
In most cases they wereassuming that they wouldn't do
these things until they retired,or at least until the time was
right, which always seems to besometime later, but definitely
not right now.
So I want to offer you some ofthese responses because they can
help to trigger desires in yourown mind, because a lot of
times, the hardest thing isn'tdoing what you want, it's
sometimes just knowing what youwant.
(05:44):
So I hope that by offering someof these examples, it might
stir up some thoughts in yourmind.
And the reason I say this is themost important part of your
retirement is because, if youget to the end of your life, it
will not matter how large yourportfolio is, it will not matter
how many millions of dollarsyou saved in taxes through the
right tax strategy, it will notmatter how much you maximize
your social security benefit.
(06:04):
If you're unhappy and if youlook back on regret because of
the things that you didn't do.
None of that will matter.
What does matter is livingintentionally, and living
intentionally comes down toasking yourself the right
question, which is what do Iactually want, what do I want my
life to look like, and how canI do the things that align with
that so that I can have thatmore fulfilling, more enjoyable
(06:27):
retirement?
Hey everyone, it's me again forthe Disclaimer.
Please be smart about this.
Before doing anything, pleasebe sure to consult with your tax
planner or financial planner.
Nothing in this podcast shouldbe construed as investment, tax,
legal or other financial advice.
It is for informationalpurposes only.
So let's take a look at some ofthe responses I received from
clients when I sent out thisemail.
(06:47):
Now, some are exactly whatyou'd expect.
One client said she said James.
One of the first items thatcomes to mind is I would love to
stay in an overwater bungalow,perhaps in the Maldives, fiji,
tahiti, bora Bora or any otherdestination that offers this
luxury.
Another client says I'd like togo to an SEC football game, or
I'd like to watch a game atYankee Stadium in Fenway Park,
(07:07):
so two iconic baseball stadiums.
Now here's the interesting thingwith these, I think, when I ask
people, what do you want to doin retirement?
They say, oh, I want to travel.
But then you think about it.
You say, well, why only inretirement?
Why not start doing some ofthese things today?
Today, when maybe you have moreof your health, more of your
energy, the financial means todo so?
And when we think about it thatway, one of the reasons that we
(07:29):
say we want to travel inretirement is because it's a
sense of procrastination, of I'mjust not getting around to it
today.
And, to be clear, there areobviously financial trade-offs
for doing this.
The more you spend on stufftoday, the less you can save for
retirement.
But the interesting thing withthese specific client responses
is, for these clients I'veeither met with them already or
will do so in the future.
But in these cases this wassomething that did not have to
(07:52):
be deferred until retirement.
This is something that did nothave to be deferred until some
indefinite point into the future.
These are things that couldvery much start happening now.
So one of the reasons I'msharing this is because, like I
mentioned at the beginning ofthis, this is my natural
inclination as a person.
Is it so easy to get in a rutand it's a healthy rut in some
(08:12):
ways of save to the 401k, saveto the Roth IRA, put in the time
at work, plan, prepare, do allthese things so that you can
travel, so that you can enjoylife, so that you can do an
engaging experience that aremeaningful to you.
But if we're constantly in thatmindset of these experiences
and this travel and these thingsthat we want to do are in the
future, then you're losing outon some of the richness of life
(08:36):
along the way.
So that's why I love some ofthese answers is, once we really
start to understand what we'redoing it all for, we can then
ask ourselves why is it thatthis isn't until my retirement,
at least in my mind?
Why isn't this something that Icould do sooner rather than
later?
And many times this issomething you can do sooner
rather than later.
Now there's absolutely afinancial trade-off, and I just
(08:57):
mentioned that.
So that's why it's so importantthat you have a financial plan,
that you have an understandingof what's required to meet your
goals.
But also, how do you ensurethat you don't pass up on these
amazing opportunities andamazing experiences before you
retire, to make sure you havethat more well-balanced life?
So those were just a coupleexamples I received from clients
A lot of other clients thatemailed me back and they said
(09:18):
I'm just not quite sure.
This is a really good questionand we spent so much time saving
and investing and planningfinancially for retirement that
it's difficult to actually thinkabout what would we want to
spend money on.
One client said this and he putit really well.
He said it's not easy to shiftfrom savings mode to spending
mode.
I think we'd like to travel.
There's an Arkansas home,charity, work, self-improvement,
(09:40):
they all come to mind, butlet's discuss this at our next
meeting.
So that's another reason I wantto talk about this now.
Many of you might be thinking,gosh, I've spent so much time
just thinking about making moremoney or saving more money.
You're investing more money.
I haven't done as much thinkingor planning around.
Who am I?
What do I enjoy doing?
What is it that I want out oflife?
So sometimes you're not goingto have an immediate thought
(10:03):
here of I want that new car or Iwant that vacation or I want
this experience.
If you do, great, you have avery easy goal and easy target
and you can start to quantifywhat will that cost and when can
I realistically do that?
But if not, then these arehealthy questions to begin
pondering.
What is it that I want to spendmoney on?
Money is just a tool.
Money is not the goal by itself.
(10:24):
So how can I understand how tobest use this tool?
Well, to understand that, Ineed to understand what I want
my future to look like, or, heck, even, what I want my present
day to look like, so I can makesure my money is aligned with
that.
So understand that that issometimes difficult thing to
even recognize.
What do I want to spend my timedoing?
What do I want to spend mymoney on?
But it is crucial that we startto think through those things,
(10:46):
because this next response I'mgoing to share highlights the
somber reality of what couldhappen if we don't.
Another client, in response tothis email that I read you, said
this.
She said my husband and I haddreams of traveling throughout
Canada by train, continuing ourlove of trout fishing and just
being together and enjoying life.
Unfortunately, he passed awayand I would give anything to
(11:07):
have him with me now.
So this is obviously the mostdifficult part of planning and
the most difficult part of lifeis it's unpredictable.
None of us are guaranteedtomorrow, none of our spouses
are guaranteed tomorrow.
So the last thing that we wantto do is defer everything to
some indefinite point in thefuture and then realize one day
that the opportunity to do thosethings that we love, or those
(11:29):
opportunities to do the thingsthat we really cared about and
create memories, those aren'tgoing to be around forever.
So how can we, in a responsibleway, balance planning for the
future but also doing the thingswe want to do today because
we're not guaranteed tomorrow?
So I know a lot of people inthat situation and that's a sad,
unfortunate reality of thisworld that we live in.
(11:51):
And that is why, as a financialplanner, it's not actually the
money that I care about, it'show can we use our money to get
the most out of life.
And I think this last story,this last response that I want
to share, highlights thisperfectly.
It's just the perfect exampleof how do you use money to get
the most out of life.
And this comes from Steph, andSteph gave me permission to
share this.
She said this in response to myemail Many years ago 2006, I
(12:15):
believe, when Dave's great auntpassed.
She unexpectedly left us $30,000.
We were shocked and blessed.
We obviously consideredinvesting it, but instead we
bought a boat.
Yep, we bought an old 1974fishing boat and kept it in Dana
Harbor.
This changed our quality oflife.
We had some of the mostrelaxing times, some hard and
some scary times.
It was hard work keeping itclean, safe and functioning.
(12:37):
Crazy fun times, romance,adventure, seeing David the Helm
using his Coast Guardnavigation skills.
We made incredible family andfriend memories on that boat.
We connected with nature.
The memories are endless.
We sold it when we bought thefarm.
We miss it in a lifestyle.
Often that is our spin story noregrets whatsoever.
Sure, we could have investedresponsibly into the market, but
(12:59):
, like you said, it's allrelative and the value of that
boat season is priceless to us.
So this was an absolutelyperfect answer to the question
that I asked of how can you useyour money to enrich your life.
What's one thing you couldpurchase today to do so?
Now, obviously, in Stefan andDave's example, that wasn't
something they purchased today.
This was an example from 15plus years ago.
(13:21):
But this illustrates what goodspending can do.
So often we talk about goodinvesting and good planning and
good deferring, but there's alsosuch thing as good spending.
We don't invest and save andplan forever just so that we can
grow the largest portfolio.
We do that so that we can dothe things that are meaningful
to us and to others and impactthose around us in a wonderful
(13:42):
way.
So, as you're listening to this,maybe right off the bat, when I
ask the question, what's onething you can buy or do that
will immediately add quality toyour life, you might have an
answer right away.
Or some of you might be morelike me, or, without the help of
my awesome wife, it would bedifficult sometimes for me to
bring myself to spend, eventhough I know how important it
is.
So, whatever the case might be,some of you know this on your
(14:04):
own.
Some of you need someone elseto pull it out of you.
If that's you, I hope thisepisode is the thing that's
going to help pull it out of you.
So your homework for today isto do this Turn off the podcast,
turn off social media, turn offthe news, turn off any
distractions.
Just spend a couple minutesthinking what's one purchase I
could make or what's one thing Icould do.
Well, it might not even costmoney, but that would add
(14:26):
quality to my life or would addrichness to my life.
For me, it was an amazing tripwe just took to Colorado with
family.
I know there's going to be somememories there that I will
remember forever and look backfondly on.
For Steph and for Dave, it wasusing that $30,000 they
unexpectedly received as aninheritance to buy a boat, and
the memories and the adventureand the experiences that created
(14:48):
for them.
For you, it might be travel.
For you it might be a differentexperience.
For you, it might be somethingyou've been looking to buy for a
long time now.
How can you work that into yourplan so that, yes, we need to
prepare for the future, but, yes, we also need to make sure that
we're living today and findingthe appropriate balance between
those two?
So I hope this episode hashelped.
I know this is a littledifferent than what we're
(15:09):
typically talking about.
What we're typically talkingabout is maximizing returns or
saving taxes or when to collectsocial security or all those
things that are important, butonly in the context of living
better.
We're living in the context ofgetting more life out of your
money.
So ask yourself this questionand then be intentional about
doing the things that will leadto better living.
(15:29):
So that's it for today'sepisode.
Thank you, as always, forlistening and I'll see you all
next time.
Thank you for listening toanother episode of the Ready for
Retirement podcast.
If you want to see how RootFinancial can help you implement
the techniques I discussed inthis podcast, then go to
rootfinancialpartnerscom andclick start here, where you can
schedule a call to one of ouradvisors.
(15:50):
We work with clients all overthe country and we love the
opportunity to speak with youabout your goals and how we
might be able to help.
And please remember, nothing wediscuss in this podcast is
intended to serve as advice.
You should always consult afinancial, legal or tax
professional who's familiar withyour unique circumstances
before making any financialdecisions.
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