All Episodes

July 13, 2026 โ€ข 19 mins

A retirement plan can look flawless on paper and still feel wrong the moment real life changes. We start with Tom and Janet, a couple with a paid-off home, no debt, and a strong nest egg, who originally planned to work a few more years and claim Social Security at 67. The numbers checked out. The stress tests looked great. Then Janet hit burnout and gave herself two days to confirm whether walking away from work was actually possible.

What reshaped everything was time. After Tom’s father was diagnosed with a terminal illness and passed sooner than expected, Tom stopped thinking of retirement as a date and started thinking of it as a limited window of health, energy, and freedom. We walk through how that mindset shift changes the goal of retirement planning, from chasing the biggest possible portfolio to building a sustainable retirement income plan that supports a life you love.

In this episode I break down the key retirement planning levers in plain language: How their net worth and investable assets fund retirement, what a Monte Carlo probability of success really tells you, how retiring at 61 compares with waiting until 67, and how Social Security timing at 62 versus full retirement age affects the plan. We also discuss the practical realities people forget to model, like spending more in the early active years and covering healthcare costs before Medicare.

If you’re exploring early retirement, worried about running out of money, or stuck chasing “perfect” certainty, this conversation will help you think more clearly about tradeoffs and choices. 

๐Ÿ—“๏ธ Meet with me: https://paradigmwealthpartners.com/begin-your-journey/#calendly
โ†”๏ธ Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbednarii/
๐ŸŒ Paradigm Wealth Partners (website) – Financial planning for career professionals who want to retire and stay retired: https://paradigmwealthpartners.com/
๐ŸŒ What the Wealth (website) – Adding clarity to difficult financial topics: https://whatthewealth.com/
โ–ถ๏ธ YouTube: Paradigm Wealth Partners

If you or someone you care about could use the help of a financial advisor and sees the value in establishing a financial plan, please reach out to me. 

Thanks for Listening! 

Jonathan

Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
About a year ago, Tom and Janet came into my
office to build their retirementplan.
At the time, everything waspretty straightforward.
Janet wanted to work three moreyears, Tom would work seven more
years, both claimed SocialSecurity at age 67.
They had about 1.6, 1.55, 1.6million saved in retirement at

(00:27):
that time.
Their home was paid off, theyhad no debt, and they wanted to
spend roughly$72,000 a year inretirement.
So we built the plan, we stresstested it, we ran multiple
scenarios, and everything lookedgood for Tom and Janet.
Problem solved.
Or so we thought.

(00:56):
She wasn't sick, she wasn'tinjured, she was just simply
tired, tired of her employerdemanding more and more from her
and not showing up to supporther the same way she was showing
up day in and day out tosupport.
In fact, they were asking her toget additional credentials and
learn new systems and softwares,which is fine.

(01:25):
She didn't want to continue topour into them when they weren't
going to continue to pour intoher.
So we met on a Wednesday, andshe told me, you know, Jonathan,
I want to meet and review thisplan because Friday is my last
day.
We had two days to review thisto confirm or figure out if this
was even feasible.

(01:47):
But what happened next really uhkind of shook the room and made
us all uh realize that uhultimately our time is finite.
Tom, her husband, Janet'shusband, shared that uh his
father had been recentlydiagnosed with a terminal

(02:08):
illness, and they thought theyhad more time with him, but
things uh changed quickly, andand Tom's father had passed away
in his early 80s.
And so for the first time, Tomhad started questioning whether
working an additional sevenyears was really what he wanted.

(02:28):
Um he he actually said to me,you know, when when when my
father passed uh at 81 and me at60, I was just concerned, you
know, how much time do I reallyhave?
And if I you know work sevenmore years, I'm I'm losing seven
more years of my retirement thatI could be doing the things that

(02:50):
he loved.
So he was starting to reallyinternalize, you know, time
being his biggest asset, anddoes it make sense to continue
working if the numbers can workout today?
He had already actually builthis dream garage on the back
side of his property.
He wanted to tinker on cars,he's a self-proclaimed gearhead,

(03:11):
and so he wanted to be under thehood and and and tinkering and
and you know have the ability todo the things and the hobbies
that he loves, and then alsospend time traveling and doing
the things that Janet loves andthen doing those together.
So you know, just suddenly foundhimself wondering what if I'm

(03:33):
spending some of my best yearspreparing for retirement instead
of actually living it.
Now, the retirement plan webuilt a year ago didn't uh quite
feel so perfect anymore.
In fact, we're we're we're Iactually had kind of done a 180,
like we're we're over it.
We we want to retire if the plansays we can retire.

(03:56):
So, what I want to do today iskind of pull up the original
plan uh that and so you can seeit, um, and then show you and
walk through what we've done tokind of show, you know, can
retirement be successful todayat 67 and 60, and uh how can we

(04:19):
continue to provide them theclarity and confidence they need
in uh in their you knowfinancial planning, their
retirement plan, their incomeplan.
Uh what I'll say is we'vechanged their names.
Their names are not actually Tomand Janet.
We do that for uh clarity andprotection, and we've changed a

(04:40):
little bit of the scenariosagain to protect them.
So uh, you know, you couldconsider this a hypothetical uh
case study, but this has comefrom real conversations with
people where we are kind ofdisplaying to them how can we
take your nest egg today,provide that retirement

(05:00):
paycheck, and let you retireearly so that you can live and
create the life you love.
We'll answer these questions,we'll walk through, and what we
want to do is make sure we pointthese out so that you're you can
be thinking about how do youoptimize your money and your
life so that you can create thelife and retirement that you

(05:24):
love.
And by the way, if we're meetingfor the first time, I'm Jonathan
Bedner, certified financialplanner, co-owner of Paradigm
Health Partners in Knoxville,Tennessee.
And we help individuals andfamilies build retirement plans
designed around their life.
And we believe time is yourbiggest asset.
And so we're not trying to justgrow the biggest portfolio,

(05:46):
we're trying to create a lifethat you love, full of
experiences and hobbies and uhtraveling, doing things with
your friends and family.
So, with all that said, let'sdive into Tom and Janet's
original retirement plan andlet's see what changed.
All right, so now we're gonnadive into uh the planning part

(06:07):
of Tom and Janet Joan, uh,excuse me, Tom and Janet Davis.
We're gonna kind of just walkthrough kind of the base facts
of what they originally wereplanning for, and then I'm gonna
walk through and show you thewe're ready to retire today
scenario.
So I'm gonna run through thesefacts real quick.
Net worth today is about$1.7million, investable assets of

(06:29):
$1.2 million.
So there's roughly$480,000,$500,000 in equity in the house
here, and that leaves them$1.2million in retirement accounts.
So that's what we're trying tolook at for funding their
retirement.
So uh Tom is 60, Janet is uh 65.

(06:52):
We are looking at uh retiring uhyou know, really uh today,
walking away from retirement, uhJanet to retire uh effective
immediately.
Tom uh the original plan was forhim to work 67, and uh what
we're going to do is actuallykind of show you uh he is going

(07:14):
to finish out the remainder of2026 and maybe some of the first
quarter.
So he's 60 today, he'll be 61 inOctober, and so we're gonna show
him essentially working for youknow kind of nine more months.
But what does it look like toretire at 61 versus continuing
to work till 67?
Um, net worth, uh, there's someAfflex stock, they have a joint

(07:37):
account worth about 440.
There's some Pepsi stock.
Janet has her current 401k,there's an IRA, Tom has his
current 401k, and then Tom hashis IRA that leaves uh their
primary house, their only home,their only rental, uh not
rental, their only um realestate asset is their home at

(08:00):
$482,000.
Current income today, Janetmakes about$87,000.
Tom makes about$168, uh if Tomgoes till$67, his Social
Security will be$46,000.
Janet Social Security uh at$67,000 would be$29,000.
Current expenses are$72,000.

(08:23):
They're in Tennessee.
Tennessee has no state incometax, they would still be due
federal income tax uh if thatapplies to them.
So they have a really simple uhlife uh expenses, there's not a
lot of expenses, they have nodebt, that's they're in really
good shape from that standpoint.

(08:44):
They are contributing to theircurrent plans.
Um, what I want to do is justkind of I want to show you those
facts, and then what I want todo is kind of show you where
they were projecting when westarted this plan a year ago, so
that you can see how would thatmap out for them uh if they

(09:04):
chose to you know retire andleave their current plan in
place under their currenttrajectory.
You can see that from a linearstandpoint, we're projecting
them to live to uh to 95.
And so here we have uh Janet'sretirement, which is next year
in 2027, and we have Tom'sretirement scheduled for 2032

(09:29):
when he is 67.
So you can see assets steadilygrow.
Um their uh Monte Carlo score,which is you know kind of
probability of success, showsreally, really high.
They have a 99% probability ofsuccess.
So all of these things look goodif they continue on their

(09:50):
current plan of retiring at 67,turning on Social Security at
67.
But if I remind you, their planshave changed.
You know, Janet is ready to go,she's ready to hang it up.
Um in fact, again, when we meton that Wednesday, she said
Friday's my last day.
She's over it, she can't handleit.
And then with Tom's health scareor Tom's dad's health scare, and

(10:14):
then Tom just realizing that youknow he doesn't want to give up
seven more years of his life, hetoo, in fact, is burnout and
he's ready to go.
So we have looked at how can wehang this up today?
How can we go ahead and uh cashout of work and move into

(10:38):
retirement?
So we planned out kind of earlyretire, uh retire hooray is what
I'm calling this scenario.
And what we're gonna do is justkind of walk through uh a couple
of situations so you can seethis.
So the first thing that we didwas instead of both of them

(10:58):
retiring at 67, uh what we didwas we changed this for Tom to
go ahead and finish out thisyear and retire when he's 61.
And then we've got uh Janet alsoretiring at 67.
So they're both essentiallygoing to retire uh this year.

(11:21):
Um and you can see that that hasan impact in their overall plan.
In fact, they've lost$2 millionin net assets over the life of
their plan by going ahead andretiring now instead of working
another couple of years.
Right out of the gate, what wewant to see is how does this
impact us?

(11:41):
Because we were at a 99%probability of success.
If they retire now and donothing else, they're still at a
98% probability of success.
So they could retire today, hangit up, put in their termination
or their uh retirement noticesto their employees and walk
away, and their plan still looksreally good.

(12:02):
The next thing we talked aboutwas go ahead and starting Tom's
Social Security at 62 instead ofwaiting until 67.
Uh Janet will go ahead and takehers at 67.
And as you can see, their planstill looks really good.
It's it's marginable, marginalimpact on the overall success of

(12:23):
their plan by going ahead andretiring now.
They'll use their portfolio togo ahead and provide income for
the year that Tom is going toretire from 61 to 62 and then
turn Social Security on at 62.
But overall, they're in a reallygood position to do so, and
their probability of successremains strong.

(12:45):
From there, what we want to dois realize that time is your
biggest asset.
We cannot let me switch this toaverage market.
A lot of times that's justeasier to kind of uh see.
Markets don't go straight up ina straight line.
They ebb and they flow.
Uh sometimes we have goodmarkets, sometimes we have bad

(13:07):
markets.
So what what this is showing iskind of uh varying returns every
year.
From there, we're planning on$72,000 a year in living
expenses.
This plan is very successful atas it is today.
If retiring early, startingSocial Security essentially
immediately, uh, or at 62, 67,they have a 97% probability of

(13:32):
success.
What we try to get people tounderstand as they are building
out their lives and envisioningwhat that retirement looks like,
we are not just trying to hit anumber for the sake of hitting a
number.
You need to think about yourretirement plan.
In this case, Tom and Janet bethinking about their retirement

(13:53):
plan so that they can plan fortheir life and their uh their
retirement years, their goldenyears with sufficient money.
But what a lot of times peoplelook at these Monte Carlo plans
and they want perfection.
They want 97, 98, 99, 100%success because that feels good.

(14:13):
Reality is, is if we areplanning for this high of a
number, then odds are we'regonna leave money on the table
when they're both dead.
And in this situation, at 95,there's$6.8 million.
That's three or four times theamount of money they have today.
Um, I guess pushing more thanthat, pushing five times the

(14:36):
amount of money they have todayin investable assets.
And so if the goal is not toleave a huge lump sum to your
kids, uh, and in this situationit's not, if there's money left
over for their kids, fine.
But the goal is not to leave abig pile of cash.
They want to be able to helpfamily along the way.
They want to enjoy their lifethat they've created to this

(14:58):
point.
And so we don't need to bestriving for a high probability
of success.
What we need to be doing isfiguring out how we can go ahead
and retire earlier, how can westart doing some more of the
things we want to do?
Travel, you know, buy a new uhJeep to tinker on and to work
on, uh, learn a new hobby.
Uh we will have to pick up somehealthcare expenses from uh 62

(15:22):
to 65 until Tom can get on, or61 to 65, until Tom can get on
Medicare.
So what I did was I adjusted theliving expenses here to go from
$72,000 a year up to uh$90,000 ayear in retirement.

(15:42):
And so what we want to make surewe're fix uh factoring in is
spending more of that money sowe don't leave as much at the
end of the plan, but also uhaccount for maybe some of the
additional healthcare expenseswe're gonna have for Tom's
health insurance premiums thathe's gonna have to cover, and
then maybe any out-of-pocketexpenses he may also have on top

(16:05):
of that.
So when we increase theirspending from 72 to 90, they
still have an 83% probability ofsuccess.
And so, what I want to try toshow you, and when I showed this
to Tom and Janet, there was abig sense of relief.
Janet was very concerned abouthow are we gonna make it?

(16:26):
Now, am I gonna be okay?
Uh is there enough money to lastus our lifetimes?
And obviously, there's gonna besome big uh impact decisions
that get made, and your spendingis gonna play a major role in
this.
I mean, if we're spending$150,000 a year, it's probably
not gonna look as good.

(16:47):
But you can have, you know, giveyourself the permission to take
a step back, you're in a muchbetter uh situation than you
think.
And the last video I did, Italked about the perfect age to
retire uh might be 59 and ahalf, and that way you're not
giving up some of those healthyyears in retirement.

(17:09):
And that's exactly what Tom andJanet have decided to do.
Instead of chasing the next, youknow, the next comma, the next
big number in their net worthbucket, in their investable
asset bucket, we're thinkingabout what's most important.
And that is living a life todaywhile they have their energy,

(17:31):
their mobility, their health.
And so that's exactly what we'vebeen able to show them.
And as an example, things thatyou should be thinking about
when you're planning for yourretirement.
Can't take any of this moneywith you.
You should be thinking aboutliving a life that you love,
creating the life that you loveso that you can sustain your

(17:54):
retirement and enjoy it.
Be confident in your retirement.
Have a wonderful day.
Thanks for joining me on anotherepisode of What the Wealth.
If you enjoyed the episodetoday, smash that subscribe
button.
It helps me more than you think.
Also, if you found this episodeinsightful and a light bulb went
off, share it.
Your friend Aunt Judy, therandom guy in the office who's

(18:16):
always talking aboutinvestments.
Wealth isn't about just the chipchain.
It's about our choices, chances,and changing our financial
futures.
The information in this podcastis informational and general in
nature and does not take intoconsideration the listener's
personal circumstances.
This podcast is not intended tobe a substitute for specific in
financial, legal, or tax advice.

(18:37):
You should consult the approvedqualified professional prior to
making a final decision.
Securities are offered throughLPL Financial, member FINRA
SIPC.
Paradigm Wealth Partners is theother business name for
Independent Advisor Alliance.
Investment Advice offeredthrough Independent Advisor
Alliance, a registeredinvestment advisor, Independent
Advisor Alliance, and ParadigmWealth Partners are separate

(18:57):
entities for LPL Financial.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club

The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

ยฉ 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.

  • Help
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • AdChoicesAd Choices