How to Overcome Retirement Decision Overload

[Ep 199]

When you ask, "How much do I need to retire?" you're asking the wrong question first.

In this episode, I'm sharing why retirement isn't one big decision, it's hundreds of small decisions that shape your future. Instead of chasing one magic number, you'll learn why the better question to ask is, "What kind of retirement do I want?" From there, every financial decision becomes clearer.

By the end of this episode, you'll understand how gathering the right information, not searching for one perfect answer, helps you make confident retirement decisions, create a realistic plan, and move closer to the retirement you actually want.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why retirement feels so confusing even when you're consistently saving. (Ep 193 - Why Your Retirement Number Should Be Personalized dives deeper into this concept.)
• The biggest mistake people make when planning for retirement that may be keeping you stuck in overthinking and not taking action.
• How to identify the next financial decision that will move you closer to retirement.
• A simple way to start creating a retirement plan by focusing on your vision before your numbers.

Episode Highlights

00:00 Retirement Is Many Decisions

03:44 Start With Retirement Clarity

04:16 Steps To Retirement Planning

06:56 Five Retirement Actions

10:00 The Only Big Retirement Decision

12:01 How To Take Action

Link to full show notes HERE

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Transcript

Retirement isn't one big decision. You may be thinking retirement happens because you save enough money, but in reality, retirement is a result of hundreds of small decisions over 10 to 20 years. But this also means that one bad decision will not throw you off course either. That's why I created the Vision to Action Sprint.

We're not going to try to solve retirement in five days. We're creating a vision and identifying the next steps that move you closer to retirement. So head over to elevatefinances.us/webinar to learn more and get registered. So the challenge for you isn't that you don't know that retirement is important,

you know it's important, and inside you're like, "Yeah, I need to do this." But the challenge is knowing which decision matters most today And the problem of not knowing what decision to make comes because we think we need all of the answers before we can act, we want to see that this is going to be this and this.

We're almost looking for assurance. And you can't necessarily do that, although seeing a path is very helpful, and I've talked about this before, and that is what we do inside my coaching. But as you are thinking about what do I need to do you're thinking am I saving enough? But you honestly aren't sure how much you actually need.

And every financial decision, to you, feels like it could be the wrong one. So you hesitate. You don't take action because you don't know the, quote, "right answer." So you just sit in consuming mode consume, and not actually taking action. When everything feels important, nothing is going to be clear, or it's gonna not feel urgent either.

So you may be constantly wondering if retirement is going to work out. You're almost like I'm just gonna give up," or, "It's just gonna be what it's going to be." I don't want you to do that. Other things you're doing is you may be feeling guilty whenever you spend money, because as you spend it, and when I'm talking about spend, this is going with family or going on a trip or, buying something for the house, and you think, "Ugh, is this gonna di- detract from retirement?"

You're in a space when others are talking about retirement, and you immediately feel behind or you're like, "Yeah, they're, they know more," just with the words, the concepts that they're sharing. And as you think back, you're like I've tried to consistently increase my savings. I thought that would help me feel more confident, make me feel like I was on the right path."

And when you look at your retirement accounts, that doesn't help either because you're like, "I'm not sure what this means." PS, they don't mean anything in that context, so all of these actions or thoughts are not creating a clear enough picture, in your mind, you're thinking, "I just need to try harder.

I just need to be more disciplined." That's not the answer. Honestly, what you need to help you to move forward is you need more clarity. I know. Talked about it before. This is a hard space to be in. You wanna deal with the practical and the hard stuff, r- the tangible, and you're just like, "Ah, okay."

So that feeling that you just need to try harder and take d- different actions maybe, you still feel lost or behind, it doesn't do anything to settle you. And the reason this is because you've skipped the first step, most people ask, "How much do I need to save?" And the right question that you should be asking is, "What kind of retirement do I want?"

There's an order to, quote, retirement planning. Retirement planning is not hard, but there is an order that is going to help you understand how to get there more easily. And as you think about this order, it's going to give you, again, more clarity and peace. The first thing you need to do is have a vision.

Numbers come second. Budgeting comes third. And decisions come last. Decisions on what actions to take can't come first, we've gotta know what vision is, what our numbers mean, how is our budget going to build around that, and how are we gonna make decisions to get there? Without that order, every decision is going to feel random.

And inside the Vision to Action Sprint, we are going to be not only diving into that vision piece, but that order as well. And you'll understand why vision is so important t- for the numbers, we're gonna piece that together so it's easier to create that vision. So instead of trying to figure out your entire retirement today,

that one magic step. I did have a client come to me and she's like, "I know I just need to find that one thing that's going to make it happen." And honestly, this is what you should be doing. You need to ask yourself, "What's the next action step or next decision that moves me closer to retirement?" So I've got five examples for you, okay?

To think through this, to help you focus on what does that mean? What does decisions mean? How can I move closer? And these are small, said there are several and hundreds, maybe even thousands of decisions that are going to get us to retirement. It's not just a magical number. It's not just a magical formula,

there is a path we go down, but understanding these decisions can come in any order for you. So as I read through these, I want you to think about s- one or two that you can actually do, that maybe are like, "Oh yeah, I need to do that," or, "You know what? That would be helpful." All right, the first one, and I talk about this all the time, and if you haven't done it yet and you've been a listener for a while, this is your call to go and do it now.

But you need to increase your retirement contributions by 1%. Inside my coaching I either have a fast track or a more moderate track, and it's up to clients to decide how quickly are they going to raise this contribution in the percentage of one, whether it's monthly or quarterly or maybe even slower than that,

what feels good is what's important. The second thing you could try is if you have that feeling about spending whether you're like, "Okay, is this going to s- you know, put me off track?" Or, "I really should be better with my spending." I know a lot of people feel that way. But I want you to track spending for two weeks.

Yep, it doesn't need to be long, and honestly, it doesn't need to be all of your spending either. Thinking through what causes you the most grief or what you're like, "Wow, that's a lot of money. I need to be better," track it first. Track it before you make that decision of what you're going to do to, quote, "fix it."

The third thing is get to work on paying off one debt, just one at a time. It's not all of your debt, just one thing, and how are you gonna do that and start moving forward. Number four is open a sinking fund. So get yourself a high-yield savings account, that is important. Make sure that is what it is and not just a regular savings.

And open an account and start saving for one of your sinking funds. What's most important to you? "If I had money for this set aside, I would feel better," and then start doing that. Very small decision, and you're thinking, "But what does a sinking fund have to do with retirement?" You need them in retirement.

There's been a couple of times where we have been almost out of all of our sinking funds due to life happening, but as life gets back to that slower pace, we're able to build that up again. So sinking funds are important pre-retirement and post-retirement. The last thing you can do, which we are covering in the Vision to Action Sprint, is decide on your retirement age.

Does that get you closer? And I don't want you to hesitate as you think about that, decide on what you truly want. So each one of these decisions help build momentum, but you only need to focus on one action at a time. Always making sure you are improving one area of our money is how you move forward.

Getting good on one thing. Getting good, instead of being consumed by all of it, one thing at a time. The only big decision associated re- with retirement, honestly, as you work through all of these little ones, is actually pulling the plug. Not setting the date, not saying it's going to be that, but actually leaving.

And so if you've done everything else, that is your big piece and you're gonna get through it much easier. So if you're looking for peace and control and making better decisions, the Vision to Action Sprint is for you. You're not going to leave wondering what retirement might look like someday.

And again, remember that's the first piece. So from the sprint, you'll walk away with an understanding on your retirement timeline and the lifestyle you want to create, and how to create that. The long-term numbers that support your vision, again, vision is so important, how your budget becomes the tool that helps you make confident decisions instead of something that restricts you, which I know is what kind of comes with budgeting, but there's ways to do that to help you see where you can make good decisions.

And then at the end of the sprint, you will determine the next few action steps that will get you moving closer to retirement. So head over to elevatefinances.us\webinar. You can learn more there and get registered, but what this is a five-day sprint. So four days you will receive emails with just small action steps that are preparing you for the live day, where we're going to put it together and have an action plan.

So having all of those pieces prepped will give us more time on that webinar, which is only gonna be 60 minutes, to help you understand what you should focus on with your retirement journey today So as I like to do, I give you one action step from the podcast. What is one thing you can do today? Now, I gave you that other list, but this one I think is more important.

I want you to finish the following sentence: "In retirement, I want enough money so I can..." It's those last three words, "so I can," not a dollar amount. A dollar amount will make this happen, a dollar amount will make that happen. I want you to say, "I want enough money so I can travel, be with my grandkids, I can volunteer, I can move, I can buy a second home," or heck, "I can just stay home."

And understanding this will help you create your why for retirement, which is so essential. Then I want you to ask yourself, after you've got clear on that, "What is one financial decision I could make in the next seven days that future me would thank me for?" I want you to think about that.

What is future you going to thank you for doing? Keep it small. One decision, one action, not 10, just one over the next seven days. Don't overthink it. Get yourself moving. Retirement doesn't happen because you finally make one perfect decision. It happens because you consistently make the next right decision over and over.

And if you follow that order and you have all of those pieces, you're gonna have more decisions than wrong. But again, there are so many decisions between now and retirement that even one wrong decision is not going to upend our efforts. I thank you for joining me today, and I want you to remember that retirement isn't one big decision, but it is the next phase of life, and I s- hope you are preparing in every effort today.

Thank you for being here.