Retirement Plan Secured
Retirement Plan Secured is the podcast where Allison and Jenn laugh, cry, learn, and strategize their way to early retirement—because why wait until 65 to live your dream life? Join them as they navigate their 40s with humor, honesty, and hard-earned wisdom, tackling hormones, fertility, career shifts, and everything in between. Whether you're plotting your own escape from the 9-to-5 or just love a good, real-talk conversation, this is your spot to dream big, plan smart, and retire early(ish).
Along the way, they’re manifesting the dream lives on their vision boards—Allison sipping iced coffees at a permanent resort, balancing water aerobics with running her own PI firm, while Jenn tends to her farm, complete with chickens, goats, a greenhouse, and a thriving wellness and life coaching business. Tune in and get inspired to create your own version of early retirement bliss!
Retirement Plan Secured
Self-Reinvention on Your Own Terms
The journey of reinventing yourself isn't reserved for a select few—it's available to everyone at any point in life. This revelation forms the foundation of our candid conversation about breaking free from the limitations of how others perceive us and the labels we've carried, sometimes for decades.
We share our personal evolution stories, from Jenn shedding the "wild party girl" persona to Allison's transformation from introversion to confident self-expression. Both journeys highlight a powerful truth: we are dynamic, ever-evolving beings who deserve the freedom to grow beyond others' expectations. The conversation explores how even our physical health responds to this authenticity, as demonstrated by improved sleep patterns and heart health when we align with our true selves.
Ready to start your own reinvention journey? Connect with us, share your story through the anonymous message link in our bio, and join us in breaking free from expectations to live more authentic, aligned lives.
Hi, I'm Allison and I'm Jen. Welcome to our podcast Retirement Plan Secured. Welcome. We've been on a little bit of a hiatus, but we're here, it's summertime.
Speaker 2:We've been busy in the sun doing our thing, enjoying a little bit of family time away from the internets. I feel like I definitely like taking a break on the internet. Have you? Yeah, I think I have. That's good, I think that's important. We were talking about that once before, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm actually on a vacation this week from work, so that'll be a nice little disconnect.
Speaker 2:Also, I won't have to like check my emails 300 times a day and so actually funny story, and I wish you had an aura ring because, um, it tells you so much, but I, as you know, not everyone else knows, but you know, I quit my job.
Speaker 2:The minute I quit my job, the first night, I slept so sound my heart rate decreased appropriately, like the aura ring tells you like how you're doing and like what your status of sleep is every night, and so, over the course of the last two and a half weeks, I've literally slept so well and it has helped my cardiovascular health be so amazing that it says that I'm 10 and a half years younger than what I am. No way, yeah, and it's mostly due to my heart rate decreasing where it should and like the timing of that, and just sleeping so well and not being consumed with anxiety and making sure that things get done, like I really don't give a shit because I have nothing to worry about for like the last two weeks, and it's been incredible. I mean, I have some things that I'm worried about, but nothing that's like kept me up at night.
Speaker 1:So I honestly want one so bad, but I already wear so many rings, yeah, you can get a big one and put it on your thumb, it would be so? No, I'm not a thumb ring person, but like, where would I put it on your thumb? It would be so?
Speaker 2:no, I'm not a thumb ring person but like, where would I put it? Where could I put it on? You could put it. I don't even know supposed to put it on your index finger. Yeah, that, um ends up being like where it reads your heart rate the best. I, mine doesn't fit there, so I have it on my ring finger on my right hand. I don't know, I wish they were a little bit skinnier. They like come up with new models.
Speaker 1:I'm sure at some point that will happen, but there's a sensor in it, so it needs to be able to read the vitals, right?
Speaker 2:Maybe I'll score it one day for it. I was so happy to see that, like being a old woman, my heart is actually more like 31, so I guess it's just a testament to us having to really figure out this retirement plan sooner rather than later, so we can live a really long life and pay for it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I need one of those for many reasons, and I just don't like to wear my Apple watch in the summer.
Speaker 2:Well, I just saw a horrible video about Apple watches and how it's like causing skin cancer right where the sensor is.
Speaker 1:Really, yeah, I stopped. I don't like to wear it in the summer because, one, I don't want a tan line of an Apple watch on my wrist. Two, I feel like I, just when I have it on, I feel like I cannot disconnect at all. Like the second, I put my phone in my bag or whatever it's like.
Speaker 1:If it's going off, I feel like I have to immediately check because, it's like popping up on my wrists and stuff, and then I feel like in the winter I could hide it better with, like, a long sleeve or a hoodie or whatever.
Speaker 2:But and then I forget to wear it to the gym though, because I like to wear it to the gym to see what I'm doing and yeah, I just check my exercises that way because it I like to see how high my heart rate goes. Yeah, but you could do it with the aura ring, right, you could, but I don't really know, like I don't do that in real time.
Speaker 2:Like when I'm doing a specific like strength training exercise, or on the Stairmaster, like I look at my watch and it tells me Right, I think it's good.
Speaker 1:Because sometimes I get up to like 174, which I don't know how healthy that is my heart rate is always like low as hell. Even when I'm like really pumping, like working out, like it's still like a normal. My heart rate never goes like yeah, like when I go to the doctor and they check my heart rate, my doctor's always like you have the heart rate of a runner.
Speaker 2:That's good, but when you're working out, when I work, out, it goes up.
Speaker 1:But like other people would be like, like, for example, when I'm at spin, they're like, oh, your heart rate should be like blah, blah, blah. And mine's like not blah, blah, blah, but I'm like out of breath, sweating, going crazy.
Speaker 2:Let's not say blah, blah blah. Let's be specific here. I don well, let's not say blah, blah blah, let's be specific here, like I don't know the numbers, there's zones when you're working out right. So if you don't go above, say, for your age it depends, and you can do chat tpt to look this up. But if you don't go like above 130 while you're doing tense cardio like I don't know that, you're getting the benefit of like well, I definitely go above 130, but they'll be like, oh, you should be at like 150, 160.
Speaker 1:Yeah, then I mean.
Speaker 2:I'm at like 140 high interval training, I would assume your heart rate gets much higher.
Speaker 1:I'm like at 145, get out of here. Yeah, I literally will do like some.
Speaker 2:I could be on the bike like spinning for my life and I'm at like 147 I don't think that that's like as intense like if I'm lifting weights and going fast with it I can get up to 170 my heart rate.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna have to, I'm gonna have to charge it and take more notice. You need to look, I will make a little for you.
Speaker 2:but when I'm on the stairmaster I have this crazy workout. It's um, I'll just like such a torture chamber, but but I love it and basically I'm going to fall off. Every time I do level four for five minutes, then I increase it to seven for a minute, then I increase it to eight for a minute and then I go to 10 for as long like less than a minute because it's really intense and then I drop it back down and you sweat like a beast and your heart rate goes so insane. I do that two rounds, so tense. It ends up being like 20 minutes and it's the most insane workout, you and Mike would have the best time at the gym.
Speaker 1:It's like such a good workout, though, like I do it he likes to stairmaster. I go on it for a couple minutes just. There's like at the gym we go to together. There's, you know, they're right next to each other. There's only two of them and I'll go on it. I'm like, I just feel like I'm gonna face plant every time. I don't know why.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you can't hold on, it's yeah it's like no, I don't know on it, you and Mike both have such long legs like I don't have as long legs as you guys. So like I'm like struggling for my life and he's like going as fast as he can, double stepping, and I'm like what it is?
Speaker 2:it's a really good workout, if you want.
Speaker 1:It's not even if we're on it for the same amount of time. He somehow was like 50 steps ahead of me every time. Well, really, oh, is he skipping steps? I don't know what he's doing.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I love the one I have at my gym that has like you can select, you can travel basically. So I go to New Zealand all the time because I love New Zealand. I used to go there for work a lot. Go through, like the hills in New Zealand and like it's legit, Like you feel like you're hiking.
Speaker 1:I don't think mine has like that little screen like that, but it is a good workout. I just don't, I'm not. I'm not. That's not not my best, I know I love.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you did it twice a week incorporated into your routine like, you definitely will lose a bit of fat. I need to. Once my surgery is done, which Wednesday, I need some weeks to recover and then I plan to get right back into it. Hopefully I lose some weight for not being able to eat too much.
Speaker 1:You'll be fine. Yeah, I need to start doing more like stepmaster and stuff like that. Yeah, I just can't get rid of this belly fat. Well, that's hormonal Mm-hmm my hormones are going crazy lately bitches.
Speaker 2:Turmeric will help with that and black pepper. So let's talk about reinventing yourself, because I feel like that's such an underrated situation where anyone can do it and you can choose to do it whenever the hell you want. And I think a lot of folks think that they're limited, based on what people think of them and how they should show up and what their considered personality type is like. But the truth of the matter is we're such dynamic beings and versatile and we do not need to uphold what other people think of us.
Speaker 2:And this is such a big deal for me in particular, because I feel like I've consistently reinvented myself over time, especially like someone who, as a younger, more wild girl, I feel like I've always been labeled like oh Jen's, like the party animal, a little bit wild, a little bit, you know, unique and feral, and I'm not like that Generally. That's not who I am. I think like my life circumstances sort of led me that way for a few years or maybe more, but that's not who I am. Right and so right. I think we and look at you like I feel like you were a little bit more introverted when we were younger in some ways, and now you're like way more open and like right, I agree at your TikTok thing, right like. I just feel like we can literally reinvent ourselves whenever the hell we want.
Speaker 1:I totally think that you could reinvent yourself multiple times throughout your lifetime. I feel like you're allowed to reinvent yourself. You're not locked into a version of you that someone expects or someone wants you to be.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly.
Speaker 1:Not beholden to what someone else thinks of you. Right, you can change, you can evolve, I mean.
Speaker 2:Consistently. I also, like I love the idea of the human design. Have you ever heard of that? No, so the human design is essentially you fall into, I believe it's four categories categories either a manifestor, a manifesting generator, um, a projector and or reflector, and it's based on your birth date I think also the timing of your birth date but essentially gives you direction around how you should approach life. It it's very interesting. I think we should link it so that people can explore it.
Speaker 2:I myself am a manifesting generator. I feel like I had asked you to do this, like years ago. I always send you some link through the years, so you might need to like get a refresher, but it kind of helps you to develop yourself and to reinvent yourself whenever you want, based on your human design, so that you're always in alignment and you're attracting the right people and the right circumstances to be able to do that. For example and I can only give this example because I'm aware of it as a manifesting generator If I experience any sort of frustration, then I know I'm in misalignment with who I am as a person, so like whether it's a relationship that continues to frustrate me, a job I have to leave, that I have to walk away from it because I will not be in the right alignment to my human design and it's you, you know. So you should really look into it. It's so cool yeah.
Speaker 1:I feel like we both have evolved so much, like after having our children and then hitting that point in our life where we're just like we need better. We deserve better, not as not as moms, but, yes, as moms, but also as grown women we finally know what we want, what we need in a partner in our life.
Speaker 1:I feel like we evolved. I feel like some people just feel like they're stuck and they're scared to change, or they're scared to evolve into something else, or they're just held back and I think it's also about timing too.
Speaker 2:Right, like it's not always easy to make those changes. Sometimes you have a small kid and you have to continue to do what you're doing, or you're in a relationship that's not healthy for you because you feel like at that point in time, like it just needs to be what it is. Like, listen, I have, I have, I myself had to do that, right, like personally, like raising a kid and like ending that relationship because it was really such a violent, unhealthy situation. Yeah, and I know that I had to play the long game with it in order to save money. Right, like there are people that have circumstances where they need to be in a situation for a period of time, but like that's okay. But like, come up with a plan, even if it's in your head.
Speaker 1:Right, come up with a plan of what you're going to reinvent yourself into what you want, what you want the outcome to be, where you want this version of yourself to be when you get out of this situation that you feel like you're stuck in or yeah, like I feel like that's a big thing too, people. Just I feel like writing things down really helps you clear your mind on where you want to go and what you want to do. Like if you have a million things going on and you don to go, and what you want to do, like if you have a million things going on and you don't know where to start, just start jotting everything down and then you could kind of just go from there.
Speaker 2:Like you know, you want to be this, you want to be that, you want to do this, you want to do that, you want to get out of this situation, you want this better of a situation like yeah, it gets confusing, right, because, like, sometimes you're in a situation where it's really a lesson and you need to learn that lesson, or it can repeat itself, right, um, and or you just have a lot of like, a lot of things are fear-based that you do, like your actions are fear-based, so you end up being doing what's familiar, and a lot of the times people stay in unhealthy situations because it's familiar, it's what they grew up with, right, and anything's different from that is unfamiliar and doesn't feel good, even if it is good for you.
Speaker 1:Right, it's scary to take that leap.
Speaker 2:It's huge. It's like the biggest thing you can do for yourself. But it's also terrifying. And listen, I still, to this day, feel like I do things that I'm like I don't want to do. This, it makes me uncomfortable, it's totally taking me out of my comfort zone. And then I do it. I'm like shit, I should have did this so long ago.
Speaker 1:Right, I 100% agree with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's just so funny. But, like it's always about timing, divine timing Listen, I am not who I want to be right now. I will be the first to admit that I think for me, I certainly am not living in the alignment of my potential or my life purpose, but I'm getting there and so writing it down, using like tools like AI to like help map it out for you, right? No shame in that, you know, right, it took me a long time to figure out my life purposes and I still am not fully there. But, like, funny enough, I used ChatTPT, just like for shits and giggles not too long ago to be like what is my life purpose? And it asked me to answer a series of questions.
Speaker 2:And it was like pretty incredible what came out. I was like wow, this is such a helpful guide.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's just mind clearing, if that makes sense, like write things down, even if you are just jotting it down for fun and shits and giggles. But you might really just, you know, not, you know not saying like I'm gonna write this all down and have my plan done and next month I'm gonna be xyz and blah, blah, blah, like this could be something that happens in five or ten years from now. But you had the idea, you manifested it, you wrote it down, you cleared the path for one thing to happen, or a series of things to happen, and you can't reinvent yourself overnight, no, but it takes time, and I feel like the time starts when you start thinking of things that you want to.
Speaker 2:That light you up, not necessarily like things that you want, but more like what is your visceral reaction, like what helps you feel alive, what makes you happy, exactly Like content and like even if it's the stupidest little thing, like taking a walk on the beach, that makes you happy. Maybe you need to figure out how you can do that more and like what it is about that. Maybe it's that you need to like create seashell jewelry on the beach. Who knows? Right, like you, come up with anything that, like makes you feel alive, like, listen, I've toyed with all of those fun things, um, and we still need to pay our bills yeah, and I also feel like it could be something just as easy as being a nicer person, like just stop talking shit about people.
Speaker 2:Well, you know it's so funny. My mom used to say this and she still does. She says hurt people, hurt people. And I always like hurt people, hurt people. Right, like I hear her say this a lot, but it is so true. And like I actually always approach someone who's negative or shitty, even like a horrible, like driver in front of me, I'm always like this is a really hurt person and I feel bad for them and I hope that they have a better day. Or I, if they're really negative, I'm like well, karma, that's their karma, right. Like change people. But like it's true, hurt people, hurt people. And when I remind myself of that, I realized that they probably went through something horrific they've never healed from it and they're just projecting it onto others yep, yep, I completely agree.
Speaker 1:I feel like at a point you just have to like let shit go and just be a better person people are unhealed and negatively impact those around them, mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:But there's a need for there to be more self-awareness and more practice of that, and it's not available. It's not easily available or there's nothing that I am aware of that helps anyone to get to that point. They need to be still searching themselves and figure out how to do it on their own. I do wish there were more resources. You know, a lot of the times people go through very horrible, tragic, difficult things that change them in their core. But maybe there's a way for people to kind of go on that journey and not have to go through a horrible situation or have a horrible story to be like. This is why I am the way I am now and I'm so proud of myself, but it's like there needs to be more, and maybe it's fucking therapy, I don't know, but I don't know, maybe we could.
Speaker 1:We could be their therapy, unless it's therapy, but yeah, um, all right, so on that note, we will leave you with that, yeah maybe we'll be a therapy.
Speaker 1:We don't know, we can wear each other's therapy. We could be somebody's therapy, okay, so follow us, like us, leave us a review. Also, in our bio we have like a little link where you can click on it and send us like an anonymous message. So that would be cool. If somebody wants to like, send us something, share a story. Yeah, share your story. Send us something and we'll see you next week. See you later. Bye.