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welcome to the best interest podcast
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where we believe Benjamin Franklin's
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advice that an investment in knowledge
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pays the best interest both in finances
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and in your life every episode teaches
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you personal finance and investing in
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simple terms now here's your host Jesse
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Kramer hello everybody and welcome to
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episode 62 of the best interest podcast
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my name is Jesse Kramer today on the
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podcast we have a fascinating guest he's
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a gentleman by the name of Fritz Gilbert
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he runs a blog a website called the
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retirement Manifesto and as you might
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guess from the name of Fritz's blog it's
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all about retirement now yes Fritz
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covers some of the nuts and bolts some
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of the numbers of retirement but the
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thing that I really love about this
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conversation is about how we talk about
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the the softer side of retirement the
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things that retirees ought to be
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thinking about when it comes to just
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day-to-day life that they probably
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aren't thinking about and Fritz is
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really trying to get people to think
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about these topics sooner now if you're
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younger like me this might not quite
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apply to you yet but I bet it applies to
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your parents and to your aunts and
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uncles to your older mentors at work
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there are important people in your life
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who will benefit from from knowing the
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kind of stuff that Fritz and I talk
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about today and potentially even from
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listening to this episode themselves so
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I I encourage you to share it if you
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think it's worth sharing now before we
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get into Fritz's topics I have a couple
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retirement topics that I thought I would
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touch on quickly because um again it's
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interesting stuff that even if it
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doesn't apply to you right now it will
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someday and I think it's worth thinking
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[Music]
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about I saw a headline recently stating
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most people don't understand life
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expectancy data which means they don't
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understand the fundamental aspect of
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retirement planning how long will you
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live after all a 20-year retirement is
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drastically different than a 30-year
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retirement so let's answer that question
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right here now how long will you live so
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first we can look at the data as of 2020
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the average American male born in 2020
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lived for or will live for 74.5 years
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and the average American female the
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numbers 80.2 years so let's round those
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for the sake of ease men live for 75
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years women live for 80 years but
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there's more to this question today than
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just that plain data because let's
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imagine you're 55 years old and let's
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say you are planning your retirement how
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long should you plan for well we can go
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back and think to those numbers before
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75 for men 80 for women so if you're 55
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today then men should plan for a 20-year
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retirement women should plan for 25-year
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retirement maybe you want to add a few
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years on there as a buffer cuz after all
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you know if those are the averages half
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of people live longer than average so
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maybe you add five or 10 years of buffer
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and that's how you get to your
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retirement timeline but that's actually
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not quite the right approach now I like
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the buffer aspect of it but if you're 55
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today and you think that the average
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55-year-old lives to 75 that is not the
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right way to interpret this data and
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it's important so the average death ages
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75 and 80 we said they account for all
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deaths at all ages including all of the
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unfortunate deaths that can occur before
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the age of 55 once you've hit age 55
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you've already avoided all of those
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premature deaths you've avoided all the
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deaths that drag the average down to 75
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and 80 meaning that your most likely age
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of death will actually be above average
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you've already avoided the the premature
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deaths before 55 and that fact that
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statement that I just made that's backed
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up when we look at the Social Security
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administration's Actuarial data set and
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it helps us see this truth in action the
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average 55-year-old man today will live
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another 24 years to age 79 that's four
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years above the the average that we
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talked about for all males the average
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55-year-old woman she live another 28
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years to age 83 again that's 3 years
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above the average for all women so maybe
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you haven't planned much and and now
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you're sitting down let's say you happen
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to be listening to this podcast you're
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sitting down at age 65 to figure out
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your retirement 65-year-old men have on
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average another 17 years of life left
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and women another 20 they'll live to 82
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years old and 85 years old respectively
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so that's huge every year matters in
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retirement planning the difference
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between dying at age 74 versus 79 versus
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82 that's a really big difference and as
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we already talked about before you might
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live longer than those averages so as a
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really quick example the average
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55-year-old American man has the
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following we'll call them death age
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probabilities there's a 64% chance that
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that man will live to at least age 75 if
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you're 55 years old you have a 64%
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chance of living to age
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75 what do you think the probability is
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living to age 80 the answer is
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48% how about to the age of
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85 the answer is 30% and finally for a
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55-year-old man the odds of living to
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age 90 that's about 133% now 133% is
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small but that's nothing to ignore
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that's a one in8 chance one in8
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55-year-old men will live till age 90 so
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in short the lesson here is that you
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can't look at the average life
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expectancy for for all people instead
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you have to look at the average life
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expectancy of people your age and then
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probably bake in some conservatism on
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top of that because there's a 50% chance
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you'll live longer than the average this
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is just a simple but vital financial
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planning
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tip and now on the topic of financial
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planning for retirees we're going to
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Pivot to a recent listener question sent
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in by Lawrence Lawrence wrote dear Jesse
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my wife is 70 and I'm about to turn 70
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and we've been retired for 8 years and
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even with the tough Market in 2022 our
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portfolio is up 40% from when we retired
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from about 3 million to 4.2 million I
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can't bring myself to spend more we
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spend exactly what we want to spend but
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now I'm wondering what if we die with
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these millions instead of putting them
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to some sort of good use so ask any
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retiree or any financial planner who
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works with retirees they will tell you
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that most retirees struggle to change
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from a saver to a spender they built
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Decades of strong savings habits they
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have years of frugality and budgeting
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and Buy and Hold investing and it's hard
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to flip that switch overnight from
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saving to spending so as a real example
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there's a great data set that Michael
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kitus published to show retiree savings
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that actually went up during the 2000s
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the 2000s were this famously bad time to
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be invested in the market and certainly
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some people who were invested did see
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their accounts go down throughout the
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2000s but what this data set shows is
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that especially for people kind of at
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the middle to the upper end of wealth
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brackets they gained money during the
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2000s they they saved more than they
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ever had saved before now another part
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of this particular chart that's scary is
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that the bottom two quartiles or the
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lower 40% of retirees have zero assets
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have zero assets they are living
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exclusively off of Social Security and
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their pensions the third quartile so
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that's from people from 40% to 60% they
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have less than $100,000 in assets those
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two stats right there are pretty scary
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and pretty sad so a lesson that I take
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away from this that I hope to impart on
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you guys is to save early save often and
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to stay the course so we have to go back
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why is it the case that at least for the
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top 40% of people in this study their
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portfolios grew during some of the worst
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times in Market history and that for the
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average retiree portfolios tend to grow
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in retirement well the reason is
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actually pretty simple is because most
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of the time standard retirees and
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retirement planners are vastly over
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saving they're saving too much and
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they're spending too little for example
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we can take a look at the 4% rule 4%
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rule was created to avoid uh retirement
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failure running out of money is
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retirement failure and that we can all
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agree is a pretty bad thing but here's
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an absolutely crazy stat the 4% rule
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over the course of uh historical back
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tests has been shown to more likely
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quintuple or 5x someone's retirement
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portfolio than to deplete it by $1
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that's just crazy that the average
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retiree using the 4% rule if they retire
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with a million bucks they're more likely
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to die with $5 million than they are to
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die with less than $1 million that 4%
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Rule and I've said it here on the
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podcast before it is outrageously
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overconservative about 90% of the time
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it just so happens that in like 2% of
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the time the 4% rule has actually been
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shown to be too aggressive which that's
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a whole other other different
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conversation about why the 4% rule is a
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a coarse tool but certainly not a fine
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tool but anyway let's get back to
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today's topic the required conservatism
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to avoid retirement failure that is
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vital in about 5% of test cases if you
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saved less so if you Ed say a a 5% rule
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where you you retire with 20 times your
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annual spending needs instead of the 4%
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rule where you retire with 25 times your
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spending needs you are more likely to
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fail you're more likely to fail if you
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use the 5% rule instead of the 4% rule
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so For Better or Worse retirement
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planner's first rule of thumb is the 4%
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Rule and what we're talking about here
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today with Lawrence with his question
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Lawrence who's now lived off of
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retirement funds for eight years and
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he's seen his nest egg grow from 3
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million to 4.2 million he's an example
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of that over conservatism but he's the
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example of someone who maybe could could
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or should have been using the 5% rule or
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the 6% rule instead of the 4% rule or or
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at the very least uh Lawrence could have
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retired a few years earlier and used the
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4% rule to great success but now as we
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sit here 8 years into Lawrence's
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retirement it's too late for that it's
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time that Lawrence can't get back so
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let's pause that little diet tribe for
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now and really go to address the meat of
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Lawrence's excellent question what if he
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dies with these millions of dollars
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instead of putting them to good use now
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first and foremost lawen should go work
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with a fiduciary cfp financial planner
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and an estate attorney Lawrence should
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discuss his options and his preferences
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for this money while he's alive but then
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also after he passes away questions like
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how do you want your assets to
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positively change the world who in your
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life is most important to you and do you
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want to leave some of your assets too
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are there any Charities that you want to
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leave assets to in some way or a bequest
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to your University to your alma mater
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and to uh leave a scholarship to Future
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young bright Minds these are the types
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of questions to ask and then answer the
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next point I would make to Lawrence is
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to not let Society force you into
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spending your money on yourself if you
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derive Joy from helping others I'm sure
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there are terrific philanthropic uses
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for your money uh while you live the
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next one if you have children or
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grandchildren remember Warren Buffett's
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thoughts leave them enough money so that
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they feel they could do anything but not
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so much that they could do nothing in
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other words if you leave your kids say
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$500,000 each that's enough money that
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they could do a lot of interesting
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things with it but that's not enough
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money so they could sit around for the
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rest of their life and do nothing leave
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them enough money so that they would
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feel they could do anything but not so
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much that they could do
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nothing and the next one is something I
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call running the McDonald's tests on
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your favorite things so the McDonald's
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test real quickly as a quick aside it
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comes from a story of a client who I'm
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actually working with at work where one
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of his favorite things to do is uh
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literally to go eat burgers and fries
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it's like his favorite meal we were
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talking about it one time and this
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gentleman is a multi-millionaire so I
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asked him I said oh cool are there any
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like you know great burger and fry
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restaurants that you've been to recently
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and his answer was no not really I just
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I like
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McDonald's and so my response to this
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gentleman was well that's totally fine
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if you like McDonald's if you like the
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flavor if it's convenient for you I mean
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I'm not going to talk you out of it but
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you're sitting on a couple million
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dollars so if you want to you could take
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a road trip to any Burger and Fry
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restaurant in Upstate New York and spend
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an afternoon spend a weekend getting
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there and go have a terrific fstar our
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burger and Fry meal and maybe that would
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actually be more enjoyable to you than
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McDonald's so this gentleman thought
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about it we ran the numbers and I showed
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him how it was totally within his
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financial plan to do so and it ended up
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being a terrific recommendation for him
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he really enjoys the fact that now he
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takes these road trips on a regular
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basis to go eat burgers and fries all
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over Upstate New York so I call that
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running the McDonald's test where you
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take something in your life that you
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really enjoy and you ask yourself do I
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have the financial means to actually
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pursue this passion even more than I
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already am so to Lawrence who asked
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today's question to Lawrence who is
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worried about dying with millions of
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dollars run the McDonald's test on your
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favorite things in life trust me so one
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of the principal duties of financial
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professionals albeit a subjective and
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hardto measure duty is to imbue
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confidence in their clients to spend
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money it's called Cash Flow planning
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when you do cash planning for a client
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you're telling them that they should be
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confident in a certain amount of income
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but for retirees it's really a certain
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amount of expenses that they'll be
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making throughout their retirement you
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should spend money you should enjoy the
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fruit of your labors you should trust
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the math you should trust your portfolio
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and enjoy your life now if you do that
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and you still have lots of money left
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over while you're alive and while you're
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mentally spry you need to determine what
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you want to do with that leftover money
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so laurren work with the cfp work with a
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state attorney and enjoy these golden
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years of your life here's a quick ad and
00:15:37
then we'll get back to the show one of
00:15:39
the more common questions I hear is
00:15:41
Jesse what do you like in use books
00:15:43
blogs podcasts even Banks and brokerage
00:15:46
firms what are your recommendations so
00:15:49
to answer that question I put together a
00:15:51
web page you can check it out at bestin
00:15:54
interest. blog reccommendations again
00:15:57
that's bestter interest. blog SL
00:16:00
recommendations to check out how I'm
00:16:02
improving my financial life all right so
00:16:05
now let's throw it over to a really fun
00:16:09
conversation with a really fun guy Fritz
00:16:11
Gilbert who I mentioned before Fritz
00:16:13
Gilbert is the Creator and author of the
00:16:16
retirement Manifesto widely considered
00:16:18
one of the best retirement blogs on the
00:16:20
internet and winner of numerous Awards
00:16:23
and accolades Fritz also wrote the book
00:16:26
keys to a successful retirement which is
00:16:29
a top selling Financial book on Amazon I
00:16:32
really enjoy Fritz's ability to cover
00:16:34
both the the hard financial topics but
00:16:36
also these soft lifestyle topics for his
00:16:39
retire readers and I'm really excited to
00:16:42
share Fritz his fun viewpoints here
00:16:44
today on the best interest
00:16:47
[Music]
00:16:54
podcast Fritz I was listening to you on
00:16:57
a recent morning St podcast excellent
00:16:59
podcast we will throw a link in the show
00:17:01
notes for everybody but Fritz you
00:17:02
mentioned a statistic that had to do
00:17:05
with how pre-retirees tend to focus on
00:17:08
financial matters but that post retirees
00:17:11
end up thinking a lot more about
00:17:13
lifestyle matters in retirement so I'm
00:17:16
just curious how did you first learn
00:17:18
about that and when you first learned
00:17:20
about it how did you react and and then
00:17:23
what exactly are the the main issues
00:17:27
that you think that post re Diaries
00:17:28
really are thinking about yeah wow what
00:17:30
a great leadoff question Jesse first of
00:17:32
all happy to be on your show I love your
00:17:34
content and uh I I really enjoy being on
00:17:36
but you know it's interesting I you know
00:17:39
I've gone through the retirement
00:17:40
transition I've been retired five years
00:17:42
now I've been writing for eight so I
00:17:43
started writing three years before I
00:17:45
retired and at the time like everybody
00:17:47
else I was very much focused on the
00:17:49
financials and if you read the first
00:17:50
year of my posts almost every one of
00:17:53
them were financially related right it's
00:17:55
what you're focused on you know in your
00:17:57
working years you're just when can I
00:17:59
retire don't obsess on when you can
00:18:01
retire enjoy the journey as well you
00:18:03
know that's my biggest caution to the
00:18:04
fire Community which I I was a member of
00:18:06
I'd say I was 55 when I retired so I was
00:18:08
kind of late fire but still fire yeah
00:18:11
and and and the one concern I have with
00:18:13
that lifestyle is you can get so
00:18:15
obsessed on when can you achieve fire
00:18:17
that you forget to enjoy the present so
00:18:19
that's just a a word of recommendation
00:18:22
or advice I guess to the younger folks
00:18:23
that are on a journey but regardless
00:18:26
you're focused on the financials you
00:18:27
have to be because you know you're not
00:18:29
going to be able to retire until you get
00:18:31
the financials in order and you're
00:18:32
looking at the retirement calculators
00:18:34
you're trying to figure out the you know
00:18:35
4% safe wood raw rate and all that kind
00:18:37
of stuff that's natural and what I say
00:18:40
is that's necessary but it's not
00:18:42
sufficient so when did I first discover
00:18:45
that reality that you have to focus on
00:18:47
the non-financial as well and I would
00:18:49
say that was probably about a year or
00:18:52
two before I retired I'd done writing
00:18:53
for about a year paying a lot of
00:18:55
attention to the topic doing a lot of
00:18:57
research writing a post every week and
00:19:00
it the more I read from people who had
00:19:02
traveled the journey before me I started
00:19:05
seeing more and more about the
00:19:06
importance of the non-financial stuff
00:19:08
I'm like yeah yeah yeah okay okay you
00:19:09
know you it takes a while to be
00:19:11
convinced but I listened to the stuff I
00:19:14
was reading and I I applied it and I
00:19:15
started writing posts about the
00:19:17
non-financial side you know we moved to
00:19:19
a cabin up in the mountains so we had a
00:19:20
pretty major lifestyle change and we
00:19:22
started thinking about it quite a bit
00:19:25
about a year before I retired we really
00:19:26
knew okay we're good to retire June of
00:19:29
2018 you know this was like in 17 okay
00:19:32
June of 18 we're out we know we're good
00:19:34
but I still had a year to go so rather
00:19:36
than just continue to refine the numbers
00:19:38
they're they're kind of what they are at
00:19:39
that point yeah you're still investing
00:19:41
you're looking at returns you're trying
00:19:42
to build up your cash you know for the
00:19:44
transition but essentially it doesn't
00:19:48
get you a lot more benefit to continue
00:19:49
to grind on the numbers so I spent that
00:19:51
last year starting to really focus on
00:19:53
the non-financial stuff which we can
00:19:55
talk about but what it really hit home
00:19:58
is is as I went through my retirement
00:20:00
transition it was incredibly smooth and
00:20:03
I started reading more and more research
00:20:05
about the highest correlation they found
00:20:08
for people that have a successful
00:20:09
transition to retirement it's a huge
00:20:11
transition you know don't underestimate
00:20:12
how big of a change it really is and a
00:20:14
lot of people struggle with it but the
00:20:16
research has shown that the people that
00:20:18
have the most successful transition are
00:20:20
those that have spent the most amount of
00:20:21
time planning and not just planning on
00:20:24
the financial stuff but they've
00:20:25
recognized the need to focus on this
00:20:27
non-financial area area so that's really
00:20:29
and that's what my book's all about it's
00:20:30
the you know keys to a successful
00:20:32
retirement and it really focuses on the
00:20:34
things you should think about as you're
00:20:36
preparing for retirement that will help
00:20:38
you have a better transition it's a
00:20:40
hugely important topic and it's not
00:20:41
something most people realize and
00:20:44
eventually you will right if you don't
00:20:45
think about it at all you hit retirement
00:20:47
you'll go through what what I like to
00:20:48
call Eric Weagle came up with the term
00:20:50
where he used it in his book The messy
00:20:52
middle you will have a rocky transition
00:20:55
it's not uncommon and that's what that
00:20:57
article in the Morning Star podcast was
00:20:59
about these blind spots that we
00:21:01
discovered right and a lot of people
00:21:02
struggle with that transition and most
00:21:04
of the reason that they struggle is
00:21:06
because they didn't realize the
00:21:07
importance of this non-financial stuff
00:21:08
you figure it out in time but it's a lot
00:21:10
easier if you think about it on the
00:21:11
front end yeah you you just mentioned a
00:21:13
term there Fritz blind spots that I want
00:21:15
to come back to and see if there are any
00:21:17
specific blind spots that that you and
00:21:19
Eric have found but it is it's it's
00:21:22
interesting concept because I think of
00:21:24
it I'm 33 so I've got some time ahead of
00:21:26
me but I think of as you know what I
00:21:29
know what a weekend feels like
00:21:30
transitioning into a weekend isn't a big
00:21:32
deal I've taken some even two we
00:21:34
vacations before maybe a little planning
00:21:36
goes in there but really transitioning
00:21:38
to a vacation then transitioning back to
00:21:40
work not that big of a deal so it's like
00:21:42
what what would the big deal with
00:21:43
retirement be all it is it's a
00:21:45
transition into free time I I don't see
00:21:47
what the big deal is I've done it before
00:21:49
but obviously there's there's more to it
00:21:51
right yeah and how do you summarize it I
00:21:54
I talk about how it's kind of like
00:21:55
marriage or having a kid or you know
00:21:57
some of these major transitions in life
00:21:59
you can't really appreciate it until
00:22:01
you've actually gone through it and I
00:22:02
was obsessively curious about what it
00:22:03
was going to be like I I really was now
00:22:06
I'm retired five years and I guess the
00:22:09
biggest thing I would say is nothing at
00:22:11
all like a vacation and and the reason
00:22:13
is because it never ends you know
00:22:16
vacations you're always thinking about
00:22:17
going back to work you know it's a
00:22:18
little break so you're really enjoying
00:22:19
it you're saving every minute because
00:22:21
you know you've been looking forward to
00:22:22
this for six months and you booked your
00:22:23
flights you know six months ago and blah
00:22:26
blah blah but retirement day after day
00:22:29
after day after day after day after year
00:22:32
you know it's years and years of this
00:22:35
and initially yeah it's like a vacation
00:22:37
and there's that honeymoon period where
00:22:38
it's just Euphoria you don't have the
00:22:39
alarm clock you're ecstatic you know I
00:22:41
never have to go back to work this is
00:22:43
amazing and that's really a nice period
00:22:45
and almost everybody experiences that
00:22:48
but when the reality sets in is is after
00:22:50
you've been retired it varies for most
00:22:52
people I'd say six to 18 months is
00:22:53
pretty much the norm and you start
00:22:55
realizing this is my life now you you
00:22:58
start losing appreciation for the
00:23:01
freedom losing is probably too strong a
00:23:03
word but you start recognizing that
00:23:07
there's more to life than just being
00:23:09
free and you have to find those things
00:23:10
that really keep you motivated and and
00:23:13
you know feel good about yourself and
00:23:15
productive and a lot of those things you
00:23:17
get from work that you don't realize
00:23:18
you're getting from work you start
00:23:21
missing and you start realizing how
00:23:23
important they are in your life and
00:23:24
that's when that quest to kind of fill
00:23:27
in these non-financial areas really
00:23:29
becomes important because it's those
00:23:32
areas that really turn it into a a
00:23:34
really enjoyable phase of life I'm I'm
00:23:36
loving retirement best years of my life
00:23:38
but it's but it's because I've been very
00:23:40
diligent in in the way I approached it
00:23:43
and all the research I've done since
00:23:44
probably by accident as much as anything
00:23:47
but the things I've focused on have
00:23:48
turned out to be pretty important things
00:23:50
to help with the
00:23:51
transition Fritz I was telling you
00:23:53
before we recorded that I've I've
00:23:55
listened to maybe six or eight podcasts
00:23:57
that you've been on in the last in my
00:23:59
last week podcast that you've been on
00:24:01
over the last couple years and for what
00:24:03
it's worth it sounds like you love
00:24:04
retirement you're your your joy comes
00:24:07
across in your voice on every podcast
00:24:08
but I think it's important to emphasize
00:24:10
that what you had just said is that it
00:24:12
didn't come without work it didn't come
00:24:14
without preparation you you had to sit
00:24:16
down and think about it prepare and and
00:24:19
maybe now we can transition back into
00:24:21
some of the blind spots that many
00:24:23
retirees have going into retirement
00:24:25
blind spots that it sounds like for the
00:24:27
most part you thankfully prepared around
00:24:30
and and they weren't blind to you but
00:24:32
what are some of these common blind
00:24:34
spots that can affect retirees yeah and
00:24:36
and probably a little bit of context
00:24:38
would be would be of value I guess to
00:24:39
The Listener Eric approached me he he's
00:24:41
another blogger and he's he's an author
00:24:43
he's written a book and he's more of a
00:24:45
financial coach I guess for retirees and
00:24:47
he said hey I'd like to do a survey
00:24:48
you've got a big audience can can we
00:24:50
reach out to your audience and do a
00:24:51
survey and what his goal was was to get
00:24:54
a population of pre-retirees and a
00:24:57
population of retirees post retirees ask
00:25:00
them the same questions and compare the
00:25:01
results I was like I love that Eric what
00:25:03
a great concept and let's see where they
00:25:04
differ you know so there's a whole
00:25:07
article about it there's there's a
00:25:08
there's actually like a 50-page study
00:25:10
that you can link to on my blog if you
00:25:11
just look up blind spots on my blog
00:25:12
you'll find it you can put a link in the
00:25:14
show not we'll do yeah we will link that
00:25:16
yeah but the two biggest takeaways if I
00:25:18
think about it now without looking at
00:25:19
the study but just what's stuck in my
00:25:21
mind now you know several months after
00:25:22
we've completed the work the first one
00:25:25
is the um reality that a lot more people
00:25:29
struggle with the transition than they
00:25:31
think they will if you ask pre-retirees
00:25:33
and I'm I'm rounding the numbers I don't
00:25:36
know the exact ones I could look them up
00:25:37
doesn't matter roughly 25 30% of
00:25:40
pre-retirees think oh yeah it's going to
00:25:41
be a pretty major transition you know
00:25:43
whatever but let's say 70% are like yeah
00:25:45
it's going to be piece of cake or you
00:25:46
know I'm not worried about it compare
00:25:48
that to the people that have gone
00:25:49
through the transition and over 50% of
00:25:52
them say boy that was a tough transition
00:25:55
so and that gu to my earlier point
00:25:57
recognize how big this transition really
00:25:59
is and and prepare for it because that's
00:26:02
one of the things that people that
00:26:03
haven't done it yet tend to
00:26:05
underestimate how big of a change it'll
00:26:07
be in your life the second one I would
00:26:09
say that sticks in my mind and this goes
00:26:13
to the non-financial benefits that you
00:26:16
receive from work and people don't tend
00:26:19
to recognize this you know you think
00:26:21
about your paycheck oh my paycheck's
00:26:22
going to be over I've got to be
00:26:23
financially independent absolutely true
00:26:26
but there are also
00:26:28
probably five or six non-financial
00:26:30
benefits that you get from work that
00:26:32
most people don't really think about one
00:26:34
is obviously you got your relationships
00:26:36
at work you know even even when you're
00:26:38
working from home you're still on Zoom
00:26:39
calls you have a relationship you're
00:26:41
texting your co-workers you know you're
00:26:42
involved with other people every day
00:26:44
common interest you're working on the
00:26:46
same projects whatever you've got a
00:26:48
sense of purpose you've got objectives
00:26:49
from your boss you've got deliverables
00:26:51
you get achievements you you nail a
00:26:53
presentation you feel good about it you
00:26:55
get some feedback maybe you know it's
00:26:56
rewarding you have a sense of identity
00:26:59
you know what what do you do right
00:27:00
everybody asks oh I'm a ex right you you
00:27:03
relate to what your job is as your sense
00:27:05
of identity it's those types of things
00:27:08
and the the biggest blind spot that
00:27:10
surfaced in this in the study was not
00:27:14
too many people that were still working
00:27:16
expected that they'd miss their
00:27:17
co-workers you know maybe again 20 30%
00:27:20
but if you look at the people that
00:27:22
actually retired almost 60% actually
00:27:25
missed those relationships and as as
00:27:27
much as you think oh we'll keep in touch
00:27:29
the reality of it is you really don't
00:27:30
you might have one or two particularly
00:27:32
close people that you keep in touch with
00:27:34
a little bit but everybody says oh we'll
00:27:36
keep in touch and nobody does right it's
00:27:38
just a reality so the importance of
00:27:40
building relationships with people
00:27:42
outside of your workplace that will
00:27:44
continue postretirement is probably one
00:27:46
of the biggest lessons that I took away
00:27:47
from the study right the social aspect
00:27:50
the identity aspect the positive
00:27:52
feedback aspect but that is loneliness
00:27:54
in retirement is is kind of what you
00:27:57
just touched on there that we get these
00:27:58
friendships these social bonds at work
00:28:01
that often times disappear in retirement
00:28:03
and transitioning from loneliness
00:28:05
there's actually some interesting data
00:28:07
when it comes to depression in
00:28:09
retirement which I found surprising what
00:28:11
what is that data yeah and and this is
00:28:13
kind of surprising I I wrote about this
00:28:15
when I was getting ready for the
00:28:16
transition I think I've written three
00:28:18
posts about depression and retirement my
00:28:19
most recent one was a couple weeks ago
00:28:21
and it was why 28% of retirees are
00:28:23
depressed and it focused on some studies
00:28:26
that were done that really tried to
00:28:27
quantify it and 28% is a pretty
00:28:29
legitimate number yeah which is high you
00:28:31
know if you look at somebody asked me
00:28:32
well what's how's that compared to the
00:28:33
population as Norm I was like oh geez I
00:28:35
missed that one I should have put in the
00:28:36
post so I did some Google searches looks
00:28:38
like it's about maybe 10% so 10% of the
00:28:41
general population are depressed 28% of
00:28:43
retire easier depress that's a huge
00:28:44
number right yeah and I think the main
00:28:47
reason is well the one of the biggest
00:28:50
factors which is kind of outside of your
00:28:52
control is those that are forced into
00:28:55
retirement earlier than they planned
00:28:57
tend to have the highest rate of
00:28:58
depression so okay what are you going to
00:29:00
do about that you could argue but the
00:29:02
takeaway to me and I put this in the
00:29:04
article I published today about why 72%
00:29:07
of retirees are happy right in that
00:29:09
study I include or in that article I
00:29:11
included a study that showed 56% of
00:29:14
people are forced into retirement
00:29:16
earlier than they plann huge number so
00:29:19
you're naive if you think I can work CL
00:29:21
65 I'll be fine I don't have to worry
00:29:23
about it 56% of people don't get to the
00:29:26
date that they wanted to get to so the
00:29:29
takeaway from that is be prepared
00:29:31
earlier than you have to be just in case
00:29:34
and if you still love your job and you
00:29:35
want to keep working for a while that's
00:29:37
fine but to be dependent on your job and
00:29:40
suddenly lose it can be a real trigger
00:29:43
into depression in in retirement the
00:29:45
other thing that I found article I
00:29:48
published today was the nine traits that
00:29:51
the happiest retirees tend to have in
00:29:53
common that aren't as common among the
00:29:56
depressed retirees
00:29:58
and those are things like we're talking
00:29:59
about now a lot of them are focused
00:30:00
there were three that were financial and
00:30:02
from the top of my head it was having at
00:30:03
least $500,000 in assets having your
00:30:06
house paid off and having multiple
00:30:08
sources of income okay those are those
00:30:10
are you know we've talk about those but
00:30:11
to me the more important ones were the
00:30:12
six
00:30:14
non-financials and they were actually
00:30:15
shown in some studies to have a higher
00:30:18
correlation to retirement happiness than
00:30:20
your economic situation so again it goes
00:30:24
back to the importance of these
00:30:25
non-financial ones and the character
00:30:27
iscs of the happy retirees were um a
00:30:29
sense of curiosity you know they're
00:30:31
they're really willing to try new things
00:30:33
they they they are exploring a sense of
00:30:35
purpose a lot of reference to West
00:30:37
Moss's work which he's done a lot of
00:30:39
work on happiness and retirement and you
00:30:41
know the difference between happy
00:30:43
retirees have an average of 3.6 core
00:30:45
Pursuits and depressed retirees have
00:30:47
like 1.9 right so it's it's double the
00:30:50
number of things that you're you found
00:30:52
that keep you engaged friendships
00:30:54
relationships we talked about that the
00:30:56
happiest retired iies have close to four
00:30:59
close friends the unhappier ones have
00:31:01
less than two so you know it it's really
00:31:04
good research and it and it helps people
00:31:06
that are planning for retirement think
00:31:08
about what are the drivers that I need
00:31:10
to be working towards in addition to the
00:31:12
financial elements to maximize my
00:31:16
chances of falling into the Happy Camp
00:31:17
as I call it Fritz let me just take a
00:31:20
step back because I'm thinking to myself
00:31:22
and I'm thinking of some of our younger
00:31:23
listeners when you were saying earlier
00:31:25
that a lot of times it was 56% of
00:31:28
retirees actually were forced to retire
00:31:31
earlier than they desired to what are
00:31:33
some of those forcing functions is it is
00:31:36
it a mean boss who pushes them out or is
00:31:39
it is it something else well there's
00:31:40
there's I would say three main things
00:31:42
one is you know downsizing people go
00:31:44
through downsizings at work and that
00:31:46
happens unfortunately so that that's a
00:31:47
percentage that's kind of the one you'd
00:31:49
think of immediately but the other two
00:31:51
are a bit more surprising and one is and
00:31:54
they're both kind of related they're
00:31:55
they're health related one is either you
00:31:57
you've got a parent that you need to
00:31:59
take care of that is taking more time
00:32:01
than you can afford so you have to quit
00:32:03
to take care of a a spouse or a parent
00:32:06
the other one is personal health you
00:32:08
know you get into a health situation and
00:32:09
you're and you're no longer able to work
00:32:11
so those three probably account for 80
00:32:14
90% of the reasons unfortunately the
00:32:17
downsizing one is a risk to everybody
00:32:19
you know you could argue the health one
00:32:21
is somewhat inside your control I know
00:32:22
you focus on exercise I focus on
00:32:24
exercise do what you can do and the
00:32:26
reality is most of us as you get into
00:32:29
your later working years have parents
00:32:32
that are getting older and a certain
00:32:34
percentage of parents require a lot of
00:32:35
care and you know some kids just my my
00:32:38
wife she was a stay-at-home mom
00:32:39
fortunately but she ended up giving
00:32:41
full-time care to her mom we were lucky
00:32:43
that we were in a position to be able to
00:32:44
do it some people aren't so fortunate so
00:32:47
yeah th those are probably the biggest
00:32:49
factors and again let me let me address
00:32:52
your earlier your earlier you started
00:32:53
talking about younger listeners and and
00:32:55
one thing I would encourage younger
00:32:57
listeners to do on the whole topic of
00:32:59
retirement is focus on maximizing your
00:33:02
savings rate automating everything and
00:33:05
every year that you get a raise let's
00:33:07
say you get a 3% raise increase your
00:33:09
savings 2% you know in your 401k or in
00:33:12
outside mutual funds whatever but
00:33:14
schedule that so that it's automated and
00:33:17
it happens on the same date that you get
00:33:19
that increase in pay so what happens
00:33:21
okay you get 1% more in your take-home
00:33:23
pay you feel like you got a little bit
00:33:24
of a bump you know feels pretty good but
00:33:27
you just increase your savings rate by
00:33:28
2% so if you do that year-over-year and
00:33:32
force those savings and live on the rest
00:33:34
minimize debt obviously you know pyramid
00:33:38
of how you prioritize your money you
00:33:40
know pay off your debt build your
00:33:41
emergency fund those are all good pieces
00:33:42
of advice but the biggest thing is find
00:33:45
a way to gradually over time increase
00:33:47
your savings rate every year and just
00:33:50
don't worry about it you know track your
00:33:51
not worth once a year that's all I did
00:33:53
and it was fine track your not worth
00:33:55
don't obsess on this stuff enjoy life
00:33:56
visually live it and and just give it
00:33:58
time because you know you got anybody
00:34:00
can retire in 15 years Mr Money Mustache
00:34:02
got a great article on that depending on
00:34:04
your savings rate but that's 15 years
00:34:07
right that's a long time even for a more
00:34:09
aggressive sa don't spend your whole
00:34:12
life in your late 20s early 30s through
00:34:15
your 40s thinking about retirement enjoy
00:34:17
it now enjoy your family enjoy your kids
00:34:19
take nice vacations every year use all
00:34:20
your vacation time right that was one of
00:34:22
my big things I was working so many
00:34:24
people burn burn vacation days don't do
00:34:26
that give them to you for a reason they
00:34:28
don't you know they don't care take them
00:34:29
it's self-imposed if you feel like you
00:34:31
can't take your vacation so take it and
00:34:34
and enjoy life and and save as much as
00:34:36
you can save find a way to increase it
00:34:38
and you know wake up in your late 40s
00:34:40
and start looking at the
00:34:41
numbers I like that for a couple reasons
00:34:43
Fritz one reason why is I I'm slowly
00:34:46
making that transition personally from
00:34:48
from if I look at myself five years ago
00:34:50
where I was you know looking at my
00:34:52
spreadsheets or looking at my budget
00:34:54
multiple times a week yeah you know
00:34:55
tracking paying attention ion and
00:34:57
tweaking savings rates rerunning
00:34:59
spreadsheets to see if I could increase
00:35:00
it here or there it did get a little
00:35:02
obsessive it got a little tiring and in
00:35:04
the long run did it give me any benefit
00:35:07
not really yeah there's nothing I can do
00:35:09
there's nothing you can do about what
00:35:11
the stock market is doing all we can do
00:35:13
is choose to whether we whether we buy
00:35:15
on a monthly basis or not I mean that's
00:35:17
all the decision- making we have in our
00:35:18
power but the choice to increase your
00:35:21
savings rate every time you get a raise
00:35:23
that's a phenomenal Choice it's well
00:35:25
within your power but only comes up once
00:35:27
a year so so there's no need to obsess
00:35:30
over it really any more frequently than
00:35:32
sure if someone wants to do I mean
00:35:35
personally I do uh end of the month I'll
00:35:37
just look at my budget make sure
00:35:38
everything's good we're good to go but
00:35:40
if someone said quarterly couple times a
00:35:41
year once a year whatever that's fine
00:35:43
yeah as long as you're it's somewhere in
00:35:45
the background and you realize that at
00:35:47
some future date you're gonna kind of
00:35:48
sit down and put in some work yeah and
00:35:50
then you know In fairness I think
00:35:51
probably most of the people that listen
00:35:52
to your content listen to you know read
00:35:54
blogs Etc they they they pay attention
00:35:56
to this stuff the the caveat I would say
00:35:58
is if you don't pay attention to this
00:35:59
stuff and you've got a big debt problem
00:36:00
and you can't get out you're you know
00:36:02
you're spending more than you make year
00:36:03
on year month on month you're just
00:36:04
digging yourself deeper those aren't the
00:36:06
people we're talking to right these are
00:36:07
people that are responsible that are
00:36:09
that are working their way through the
00:36:10
Journey and they're saving and they're
00:36:12
being responsible and those are the
00:36:14
people that don't get caught up in the
00:36:16
obsession about it it's easy to do I I
00:36:17
did it myself at times and uh and I
00:36:20
learned to your point other than keeping
00:36:22
an eye on your asset allocation you
00:36:24
think of a bare Market a bare Market
00:36:26
your age best thing that could possibly
00:36:28
happen you want the doubtful 90% you
00:36:30
want it the crater right it would be it
00:36:32
would be death to me but it would be it
00:36:35
would be Nirvana for you you want a bare
00:36:37
market right so you got to get your head
00:36:39
out of thinking about oh my net worth my
00:36:40
net worth growing no you just want to
00:36:42
buy buy buy continue to buy every month
00:36:45
I had a couple bare markets later in my
00:36:46
career and I I doubled down I said you
00:36:49
know what I can take I can take four
00:36:50
months and just Jack it to my savings
00:36:52
because I know the Market's really down
00:36:54
right now right you've gotta
00:36:55
counterintuitive against that fear a
00:36:58
bare Market is a great thing a big
00:37:00
long-term rally is not really what you
00:37:02
want right now you want to buy cheap and
00:37:04
give it 30 years until you need it so
00:37:06
totally I I I was trying to preach that
00:37:08
to the all the you know the 24 year olds
00:37:10
out there who in 2019 were so excited
00:37:13
that their two-year investment track had
00:37:16
had such positive returns and it's it's
00:37:19
good that they got enthusiastic for
00:37:20
investing it's good that they could see
00:37:23
that simple investing strategy into
00:37:25
index funds was yielding the big returns
00:37:27
for them but it was also to important to
00:37:29
point out a this is pretty abnormal you
00:37:32
know 20% a year for four years in a row
00:37:34
is pretty abnormal and then B if you
00:37:37
actually zoomed out to the time you
00:37:39
retired this wouldn't be what you wanted
00:37:43
in terms of when you were buing yeah
00:37:44
exactly but it's interesting Fritz so
00:37:46
you're a big diyer yeah I was and still
00:37:49
am a a really big diyer so much so that
00:37:52
now I'm kind of doing some of this work
00:37:54
professionally and helping people who
00:37:56
don't want to be diyers to some of their
00:37:58
financial planning work but I understand
00:38:01
that at least once kind of as you were
00:38:02
gliding into retirement and it might
00:38:04
have been more than once you did sit
00:38:06
down with a cfp simply to double check
00:38:08
some of your numbers some of your
00:38:10
thought process so I'm just wondering
00:38:12
what was that process like for you in
00:38:14
terms of the decision to sit down with a
00:38:16
cfp and just get everything double
00:38:18
checked and then actually logistically
00:38:20
what was it like you know to have that
00:38:22
help I have been a DI my whole life and
00:38:25
and I've always been a I call it a
00:38:26
passionate hobbyist in this stuff you
00:38:28
know I back when they had real magazines
00:38:30
I used to read Money Magazine and
00:38:32
klingers and all you know all the print
00:38:33
magazines I mean I've study this stuff
00:38:35
for for decades now so I I was
00:38:37
knowledgeable about it and I just
00:38:38
enjoyed it as a hobby and it was fine
00:38:40
you know for the first well I I started
00:38:42
22 and I retired at 55 so 33 years and
00:38:46
for you know the first 30 years that was
00:38:47
fine it was sufficient my reason for
00:38:50
reaching out to a cfp as I got close to
00:38:54
finalizing my decision on one to retire
00:38:57
was you know let's be humble and let's
00:39:00
not assume we know everything you know
00:39:02
cfps and professionals that do this for
00:39:04
a living they see hundreds if not
00:39:06
thousands of clients they they have a
00:39:09
process they they go through it with a
00:39:11
different set of perspectives than than
00:39:14
you and I possibly can there's value in
00:39:17
that right and and having somebody look
00:39:19
over what you've done and and I should
00:39:20
say earlier in my career we had a we had
00:39:23
a thing with Vanguard a 401k and you
00:39:24
could do a once a year check up with a
00:39:26
cfp so I did that a couple times and
00:39:28
they were always like yep you're on
00:39:29
track you're doing well you know hands
00:39:30
elocation looks good savings rate looks
00:39:32
good you know the basic stuff was was
00:39:33
good but my concern was the transition
00:39:36
from accumulation and building your
00:39:40
wealth through the career into
00:39:43
positioning yourself for the for the
00:39:44
withdrawal of those assets in retirement
00:39:47
which is something obviously I'd never
00:39:49
done before so it wasn't an area that I
00:39:52
had experience it wasn't an area that
00:39:53
I'd gotten feedback from Vanguard that I
00:39:55
was in good shape
00:39:57
and I felt like having a guy that's
00:39:59
walked many people through this
00:40:01
transition is worth the effort so the
00:40:03
process was good you know they they I
00:40:05
think all of them kind of have the same
00:40:06
process you know you send them all your
00:40:07
assets you send them your spending
00:40:09
estimates you know they work through
00:40:11
their they always have kind of a little
00:40:12
presentation they do at the end that
00:40:13
shows if you're on track or whatnot and
00:40:15
my biggest thing was am I missing
00:40:18
anything I I knew I could retire 54 or
00:40:21
55 and I was leaning towards 54 but I
00:40:24
also kind of had in the back of my mind
00:40:26
I wouldn't mind doing one more year just
00:40:28
to kind of pad everything I'm a
00:40:30
conservative guy you know I always
00:40:32
estimate a little high in my expenses
00:40:34
and estimate a little low on my returns
00:40:35
I always try to get some padding in
00:40:37
there so having a a professional look at
00:40:40
and say you know what you can make it
00:40:41
out by 54 if you want you'd be able to
00:40:43
do that I still decided to go to 55 but
00:40:46
having a professional that kind of
00:40:48
looked over everything and and could
00:40:50
talked to me about some of the things
00:40:51
that maybe I hadn't thought about turns
00:40:52
out I I hadn't really missed much I mean
00:40:54
I was pretty on track but having a third
00:40:57
party verify that is is money well spent
00:41:01
yeah I uh I recently saw just a really
00:41:04
quick social media post from a gentleman
00:41:06
named Peter lazerov who's a kind of
00:41:08
young upand cominging I think he's a CFA
00:41:11
so he's more on the investing side than
00:41:12
maybe the planning side but one of the
00:41:15
things he said is like just this this
00:41:16
kind of hidden value in doing what you
00:41:19
did is what he called objectivity yeah
00:41:21
and the fact is you know Fritz you're
00:41:23
you're so into your own personal
00:41:25
situation as you should be as we all
00:41:27
hopefully should be but sometimes it is
00:41:29
nice to have a third party come in with
00:41:31
fresh eyes with no sort of personal
00:41:33
relationship to you and just say hey I'm
00:41:36
an objective third party here here's
00:41:38
what I see and maybe it's a little
00:41:39
different than what you see yeah and and
00:41:41
I think the other the other value you
00:41:43
can get and not not so much from a
00:41:44
one-off but why in my mind it justifies
00:41:47
paying somebody to to you know help you
00:41:49
on your financial planning is really
00:41:51
more on the behavioral psychology side
00:41:53
of it if you panic in a down Market if
00:41:56
if you have total stresses Market
00:41:58
volatility which is a reality there's
00:42:00
always Market volatility I was always
00:42:02
like hey the Market's down great I'm
00:42:03
going to increase my investments right I
00:42:05
never worried about that but human
00:42:06
nature is to worry about it and the
00:42:08
worst thing you can do is sell after a
00:42:10
downturn right and then you got to
00:42:11
figure out when you're going to get back
00:42:12
in and you lose the upturn and it's it's
00:42:15
suicide and having a professional guide
00:42:18
you through those Market downturns if
00:42:20
they make you really uncomfortable can
00:42:22
save you a ton of money over the long
00:42:24
term because that's when you'll get
00:42:25
slaughtered if you make a big mistake in
00:42:27
your asset allocation due to Market
00:42:29
volatility that's probably the biggest
00:42:31
individual mistake people can make and a
00:42:33
professional typically help you avoid
00:42:35
making those kind of mistakes here's a
00:42:38
quick ad and then we'll get back to the
00:42:40
show every week I send a quick free
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email to thousands of readers that
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00:42:54
chart that explains some important
00:42:56
Concept in the news that week it's a
00:42:59
great primer to boost your financial
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knowhow but Jesse I don't want another
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again that's a free no strings attached
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subscription at bestter interest. blog
00:43:37
because that's when you'll get
00:43:38
slaughtered if you make a big mistake in
00:43:40
your asset allocation due to Market
00:43:42
volatility that's probably the biggest
00:43:44
individual mistake people can make and a
00:43:46
professional will typically help you
00:43:48
avoid making those kind of mistakes
00:43:50
exactly another quote that I recently
00:43:51
heard is that behavioral Finance is the
00:43:54
Last Frontier in terms of if you look at
00:43:58
the various services that a good
00:44:00
financial planner will provide a client
00:44:03
like financial planning has been solved
00:44:06
right like we know what the tax code is
00:44:07
we know how spreadsheets work there
00:44:09
might be some complicated math involved
00:44:11
but there's nothing new happening there
00:44:14
portfolio management diversification we
00:44:15
all know the studies on active versus
00:44:17
passive management and and why sometimes
00:44:20
you know why a certain stock or Bond
00:44:21
allocation makes sense that math has
00:44:23
been solved but behavioral Finance is
00:44:25
something that as far as we can tell
00:44:28
human brains will remain irrational for
00:44:30
from now to the end of time exactly and
00:44:32
there will always be a need for an
00:44:34
objective calm professional to step in
00:44:37
and say hey now's not the time to panic
00:44:39
yeah and and I guess the last thing I
00:44:41
would think about on this side one of
00:44:43
the things that brought value to me
00:44:45
doing this I guess just a confirmation
00:44:47
that we were ready was for my spouse
00:44:49
right she she knew I was doing this
00:44:51
stuff and she kind of pays the bills and
00:44:52
I do the longer term stuff it works well
00:44:55
but you know she trusts me and she's
00:44:56
like yeah good but you know getting
00:44:58
confirmation from an expert brings
00:45:01
confidence to those that aren't really
00:45:03
managing it day-to-day as well so
00:45:04
there's you know you got to think about
00:45:05
the relationship and the whole household
00:45:07
not just you as an individual if you're
00:45:09
managing your Investments totally and
00:45:11
that that happens to me once in a while
00:45:13
too it happens to us a diyer will come
00:45:16
to us and they say if I get hit by a bus
00:45:19
tomorrow just so you know I've informed
00:45:22
my spouse to come talk to you so you
00:45:24
know here's here are my numbers here's
00:45:26
my plan here's what I've done sometimes
00:45:28
they they want to sign on and work with
00:45:31
us sometimes they just say like as an
00:45:32
FYI if I get hit by bus you're going to
00:45:34
get that next phone call yeah and and
00:45:36
and it's important to have that backup
00:45:38
plan in place so let's talk about that
00:45:41
glide into retirement one more time I
00:45:43
love this quote from your book Fritz you
00:45:45
encourage your readers to make a
00:45:47
decision early in the process that
00:45:50
you're going to approach retirement with
00:45:52
optimism curiosity and gratitude real
00:45:55
quick can we dive into those those three
00:45:57
words optimism curiosity and gratitude I
00:45:59
know you've already you've already
00:46:00
mentioned curiosity a couple times in
00:46:02
this episode so far yeah and and really
00:46:04
this came from three months before I
00:46:06
retired I I wrote the Ten Commandments
00:46:08
of retirement it's actually hanging on
00:46:09
my wall back there and and they were
00:46:11
really kind of my guiding principles on
00:46:14
how I wanted to live life in retirement
00:46:16
and the interesting thing as I looked as
00:46:18
I thought through it and wrote the post
00:46:19
and wrote the Ten Commandments and and
00:46:21
look at it even now five years later the
00:46:24
interesting thing to me is how many of
00:46:25
those are mindset related and and really
00:46:28
having a positive mindset going into
00:46:31
this it it's almost a self-fulfilling
00:46:33
prophecy like many things in life right
00:46:35
and and the good thing is all those
00:46:38
those three things you just mentioned
00:46:39
those are all mindset related items and
00:46:43
the mindset is something that for the
00:46:45
most part we have control over right we
00:46:47
can choose to be negative or we can
00:46:48
choose the glass is half empty the
00:46:49
glasses have full it's your choice and
00:46:53
making a decision that you're going to
00:46:54
look at things from the optimistic and
00:46:57
not polyana unrealistic but just choose
00:47:00
to look for the good in life can go a
00:47:02
long way right so that was kind of the
00:47:05
basis for those for that quote and then
00:47:08
the specific things about curiosity
00:47:11
you've got to fill your time with things
00:47:13
that bring you purpose and bring you how
00:47:14
are you going to find those right you
00:47:16
you're suddenly 100% responsible for it
00:47:19
you've always had somebody telling you
00:47:20
since you were four or five years old
00:47:22
you've always had somebody telling you
00:47:23
what to do and how to fill your day
00:47:26
you're responsible for it and the best
00:47:29
way to do that is to listen to your
00:47:31
curiosity pursue things that interest
00:47:33
you take the first step and I've got
00:47:36
just a myriad of examples of of people
00:47:38
that have done that and and you just
00:47:40
start my blog is one you know I just
00:47:42
started writing a Blog just out of
00:47:44
curiosity and it's turned into a major
00:47:46
purpose in my retirement that purpose
00:47:47
now is bringing fulfillment and reward
00:47:49
and recognition and sense of purpose and
00:47:51
all those things we talk about but it
00:47:53
all started with pursuing curiosity
00:47:56
you know the other thing I would say
00:47:57
about gratitude you know recognize if
00:48:00
you're able to retire earlier than
00:48:02
average you're a very blessed person
00:48:05
right I mean how can you not be thankful
00:48:07
for that and what I found is as you make
00:48:11
that transition from your working years
00:48:13
to what am I going to do with my time
00:48:15
finding a way to take that time to help
00:48:17
other people and and be gracious that
00:48:19
you're in a position where you don't
00:48:21
need anybody else's help but guess what
00:48:22
now you're free you can help other
00:48:24
people so we started a charity my wife
00:48:26
and I and freedom for Pho we build
00:48:28
fences for free for low-income families
00:48:31
that have dogs on chains and the reward
00:48:33
of not only being outside with a group
00:48:35
of volunteers doing the physical labor
00:48:38
and having that sense of community of
00:48:39
like-minded volunteers but more
00:48:41
importantly seeing the help that you can
00:48:43
you know inject in a community is
00:48:45
rewarding Beyond work again that comes
00:48:47
from the mindset and pursuing things and
00:48:49
seeing where they
00:48:51
lead that's awesome Fritz that's awesome
00:48:54
you might know this by now but my wife
00:48:56
and I we Foster dogs so we're big dog
00:48:58
people yeah I saw that in your email
00:48:59
yeah I was going to mention it yeah yeah
00:49:00
that's awesome we're both dog guys so
00:49:02
yeah that's cool well first this has
00:49:03
been excellent and I I'd love to put a
00:49:06
stamp on this last question for you and
00:49:09
it's very much in line with what we've
00:49:10
been talking about but I'm thinking
00:49:13
about my my typical listener is probably
00:49:15
in that 25 to 40 range but that means
00:49:18
that their parents are in that 50 to 70
00:49:21
range so if you had one quick tip to
00:49:24
give to a child of a pre-tie and then a
00:49:28
second quick tip to give to a child of a
00:49:31
post retiree what would those tips be oh
00:49:34
you know I've done hundreds of podcasts
00:49:36
and I've never had that question that's
00:49:38
a that's that's a very good question the
00:49:40
first thing that came to my mind when
00:49:41
you said that is when I talked about
00:49:43
depressed versus happy retirees the
00:49:45
chances of depression are four times
00:49:47
higher if you're divorced than if you're
00:49:49
married now if you get remarried one
00:49:51
time the odds are the same you're okay
00:49:53
but if you're if you're divorced the
00:49:55
odds go go up what
00:49:56
changes the odds for a divorced person
00:50:00
is how strong their social network is
00:50:02
and as a child you are a key piece of
00:50:06
that social network for your parents so
00:50:09
Number One support them you know be
00:50:11
encouraging show an interest ask them
00:50:13
what they're going to be doing you know
00:50:15
share a podcast with them say hey I just
00:50:16
listen to this guy you know you might be
00:50:17
interested in him you know share
00:50:18
resources help them fine they're
00:50:20
struggling with the journey whether they
00:50:21
tell you about it or not everybody's
00:50:23
anxious about retirement so try to find
00:50:26
a way to have that discussion with them
00:50:28
and the other thing is you know I'm
00:50:31
thinking now more people that are into
00:50:33
retirement encourage whatever they're
00:50:35
discovering and whatever they're you
00:50:37
know experimenting with encourage them
00:50:39
to continue to pursue their dreams and
00:50:41
and live a great life the other thing at
00:50:43
some point as they start getting older
00:50:45
make sure you have the discussion with
00:50:46
them about Legacy and Estate Planning
00:50:48
and things like that a lot of kids don't
00:50:50
I had it with my dad before he passed
00:50:52
and it was very helpful because I heard
00:50:53
directly from him what his wishes were
00:50:56
and after he passed having his input on
00:51:00
what you know he would like us to do
00:51:02
with the estate and things like that
00:51:04
gives you Freedom after the fact to like
00:51:07
we we built a uh we built a warehouse we
00:51:10
bought four acres next to our property
00:51:11
and we bought a big barn but I did that
00:51:13
because I know my dad was saying look
00:51:14
you I know you're financially set if you
00:51:16
receive any money from me you might not
00:51:18
right we might spend it all who knows
00:51:19
but if you get any money from me I want
00:51:21
you to spend it I want you to do it for
00:51:22
something that brings good purpose in
00:51:23
your life and and here in his voice in
00:51:26
the back of my head even after he was
00:51:28
gone was really helpful you know to help
00:51:31
encourage you that that's an okay thing
00:51:34
to do that's what he would have liked so
00:51:36
have that discussion with them about
00:51:37
their wishes for you you know after
00:51:39
they're gone at some point so yeah stay
00:51:42
engaged with them if you've had
00:51:43
arguments with them and you've kind of
00:51:44
got a distraught relationship get over
00:51:47
it you know once they're gone you're
00:51:48
going to regret it if you don't so you
00:51:50
know bury the hatchet find a way to make
00:51:52
amends take them out to a nice dinner
00:51:53
and say look I know we've had some rough
00:51:55
patches but you know what I really want
00:51:57
to reestablish our relationship together
00:51:59
because to a parent there aren't too
00:52:02
many things in life that matter more
00:52:03
than your kids and based on my
00:52:05
experience I've been a child and I've
00:52:06
been a father parents probably love
00:52:09
their kids more than the kids realize so
00:52:11
give your parents a break and and make
00:52:13
the first step in reestablishing a
00:52:15
rapport if it's you know gotten weak and
00:52:17
and make the effort to call them every
00:52:18
week take the time yeah I know it's a
00:52:20
hassle it's Sunday I'm off work I don't
00:52:21
want to talk to Mom and Dad talk to Mom
00:52:23
and Dad take the time to call them you
00:52:25
listen to this podcast call Mom and Dad
00:52:27
and just touch base with them it it's
00:52:29
worth it I love that answer Fritz on a
00:52:32
couple of the estate planning things
00:52:34
listeners you can go back to episode 55
00:52:36
the title was conversations with aging
00:52:39
parents and it was all about that kind
00:52:40
of topic but uh I really like that Fritz
00:52:43
where you know most of those tips most
00:52:45
of those conversations had to do with
00:52:47
the non-financial side of retirement and
00:52:49
that really is such an important thing
00:52:51
so Fritz Gilbert of the retirement
00:52:53
Manifesto thank you for coming on the
00:52:55
best interest podcast hey Jesse I really
00:52:57
appreciate love your show and love what
00:52:58
you're doing and I'm really honored to
00:53:00
be on it I appreciate it very
00:53:02
[Music]
00:53:04
much thanks for tuning in to this
00:53:06
episode of the best interest podcast if
00:53:09
you have a question for Jesse to answer
00:53:10
on a future episode send him an email at
00:53:13
Jesse bestin interest. blog again that's
00:53:16
Jesse bestter interest. blog did you
00:53:20
enjoy the show subscribe rate and review
00:53:22
the podcast wherever you listen this
00:53:24
helps others find the show and invest in
00:53:27
knowledge themselves and we really
00:53:29
appreciate it we'll catch you on the
00:53:30
next episode of the best interest
00:53:33
[Music]
00:53:35
podcast the best interest podcast is a
00:53:38
personal podcast me for education and
00:53:40
entertainment it should not be taken as
00:53:43
Financial advice and is not prescriptive
00:53:45
of your financial
00:53:47
situation
