Better Retirement Decision Making - The Retirement Choices You Have to Make

08/05/20 • 45 min

I’m excited to share with you this next series of episodes. Over the next 4 episodes, we will explore how to make better decisions for yourself in retirement. Today we’ll examine what a decision is and think about all the different choices you have to make in retirement. Learn how to evaluate your decision-making process and discover how to make better retirement choices on this episode of Retirement Answer Man.

Decision fatigue can wear you down

Every day we are faced with so many choices. Have you ever looked at the number of different kinds of toothpaste there are to choose from? Even that small choice is overwhelming.

If you don’t have a framework in place to help you make decisions you can easily get worn down. This type of exhaustion is called decision fatigue. The more decisions you have to make the more your willpower becomes depleted. When decision fatigue sets in people often turn to the choices they have always chosen in the past. What do you do when you become overwhelmed by choices?

There are so many decisions you face in retirement

Think about all the decisions you need to make surrounding retirement.

When are you going to retire? Will you retire fully or ease into it? What will your spending look like? How will you create a paycheck for yourself? How will you protect against inflation? How will you pay taxes? Who will you spend your time with? Where do you want to live?

The list goes on and on.

And with each of those big decisions a decision tree with massive roots and limbs sprouts with new questions. It becomes easier to simply ignore all of those retirement choices and stick with the status quo.

Is there a better way to make decisions?

The goal of this series is to help you build a framework to harness decisions. You’ll learn how to make good incremental decisions so that you don’t become overwhelmed. You’ll discover how to focus on the right decisions, the ones that really impact your life. You will develop a structure to get to the result that serves you the best. As a result, this framework will help you improve the quality of your life in retirement.

Are you ready to learn how to start making better decisions? Don’t miss this series, it could change the course of your life in retirement!

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT'S THAT MEAN?

[2:16] What is a decision?

PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT

[3:55] There are so many choices to make
[9:04] Set some rules to combat decision fatigue

Q&A WITH CHAD SMITH

[16:10] What is the Financial Symmetry podcast about?
[18:12] Does it make sense to have a high yield savings account?
[27:45] How you can access webinar replays
[28:41] What about the SWAN ETFs?
[37:36] Jane did a direct transfer from a 401K to an IRA
[41:16] What’s on Financial Symmetry this month?

TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT

[42:30] Premake one decision for yourself

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

PODCAST - Financial Symmetry with Chad Smith

BOOK - The Behavioral Investor by Dr. Dan Crosby

Rock Retirement Club

Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That

BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney

Work with Roger

Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

Decision fatigue can wear you down

Every day we are faced with so many choices. Have you ever looked at the number of different kinds of toothpaste there are to choose from? Even that small choice is overwhelming.

There are so many decisions you face in retirement

Think about all the decisions you need to make surrounding retirement.

The list goes on and on.

Is there a better way to make decisions?

Are you ready to learn how to start making better decisions? Don’t miss this series, it could change the course of your life in retirement!

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT'S THAT MEAN?

[2:16] What is a decision?

PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT

[3:55] There are so many choices to make
[9:04] Set some rules to combat decision fatigue

Q&A WITH CHAD SMITH

[16:10] What is the Financial Symmetry podcast about?
[18:12] Does it make sense to have a high yield savings account?
[27:45] How you can access webinar replays
[28:41] What about the SWAN ETFs?
[37:36] Jane did a direct transfer from a 401K to an IRA
[41:16] What’s on Financial Symmetry this month?

TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT

[42:30] Premake one decision for yourself

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

PODCAST - Financial Symmetry with Chad Smith

BOOK - The Behavioral Investor by Dr. Dan Crosby

Rock Retirement Club

Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That

BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney

Work with Roger

Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

Previous Episode

Estate Planning in Retirement: Lessons from Handling My Parents’ Estate

Have you ever had to deal with closing an estate? Mark Ross happens to have the unfortunate experience of helping to close out 4 different estates in a short period of time. Since experience is the best teacher, Mark joins me today to discuss his experience with the probate process. He’ll share how he dealt with his feelings during the process, how long it took, how he managed, and what he thinks you can do to organize your own estate. Give your heirs the gift of an organized estate by learning all you can now to help ease the probate process.

Organization can be a gift to your heirs

In helping to close out 4 different estates in a short amount of time, Mark Ross learned a lot about the differing levels of organization in estate planning. Probate is a long and complicated process that can be even more challenging if you don’t have all of the pieces of the puzzle. Mark learned that when an estate is well organized the process is so much easier. He feels like that organization was a gift that helped him through the probate process.

How should you organize your own estate plan?

Mark’s main piece of advice in organizing your own estate plan is to get an attorney that is a good fit for you and your personality. He also recommends that you keep meticulous records of all conversations regarding your estate.

Since family dynamics can play a role when money is involved it is important to be clear about the flow of money.

One last piece of advice he has is to never be a coexecutor. He found that that situation could drag out the emotional journey even longer than it needs to be. An executor needs to be able to have the accountability to make difficult decisions.

How organized is your estate plan? Is it updated to reflect your current situation?

3 things you can do to gain confidence in your financial plan in retirement

If you don’t have confidence in your financial plan you won’t be happy in retirement. There are 3 things you can do to gain more confidence in your plan.

Understand how your financial plan reflects your personality. There are a couple of different ways that you can go about planning your finances in retirement. With a probability-based or investment based plan, you will have a portfolio that generates enough income to live on. The second style is the safety-first style. This means having your basic expenses covered by guaranteed income like social security or a pension. These two very different planning styles optimize for different things. Make sure the style you choose to follow reflects your personality.
Educate yourself. Many families have one who invests and the other doesn’t. Both partners need to be educated to have enough understanding to be confident in the financial plan. Hope isn’t good enough. Get a plan you are both comfortable and have confidence in.
Have an emergency fund and a “fun” fund. Sure, this is just a psychological trick but it could give you peace of mind.

How confident are you in your retirement plan?

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT’S THAT MEAN?

[2:07] What is the difference between information and knowledge?

PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT

[7:41] How do you balance the obligations of the estate with your feelings?
[13:04] They have been able to learn and prepare for the estate closure over time
[14:36] How should you organize your own estate plan?
[16:54] How to deal with differing interests?

COACHES CORNER WITH BW

[20:27] If you don’t have confidence in your plan you won’t be happy in retirement
[23:01] Paying off your mortgage can mean so much to some people
[27:45] Have an emergency fund

TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT

[33:03] Think about the past year: what were the best and worst decisions you made

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

Rock Retirement Club

Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That

BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney

Work with Roger

Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

Next Episode

48 Days to the Work and Life You Love with Dan Miller

What is your retirement strategy? Do you have one? A strategy is born from a process and tactics are born from that strategy. This is why it is so important to make sure that you have a process and strategy in place when planning for retirement. Your strategy will help you drive those important decisions.

Your decisions during the accumulation phase of life were much different than they will be in retirement. This is why I’ve got Dan Miller joining me to discuss his book 48 Days to the Work and Life You Love. Why did Dan decide to change the title of his book?

Dan Miller recently changed the title of his best-selling book from 48 Days to the Work You Love to 48 Days to the Work and Life You Love. He changed the title to reflect the fact that work is just one tool in a successful life. What people really want is a successful life. His book can help you discover what drives you and how to dig in and strive toward building a life you love. Why 48 days?

Dan mentions that although 48 is a somewhat arbitrary number, it is enough time to get you on the road to change your life. No, it isn’t scientifically tested, but if you work at it those 48 days can give you a roadmap to build a life you love. It is enough time to assess where you are, create a plan, and act on it. When making decisions and changes in your life it is important to have constraints. It is much too easy to sit back on your heals and wait for changes to act upon you. By setting a deadline of 48 days you are able to take control of your life. How do you deal with your identity when you leave your work behind?

Our identities are so wrapped up in the titles of our jobs. In retirement or upon leaving any job, it can often feel like we are leaving our identity behind. But this shouldn’t be the case. Who you are should include more than just the work that you do. I

t is important to realize the difference between these three things: vocation, career, and job. Your vocation is who you want to be remembered for, this should include your mission, your purpose, your destiny, and your calling. Your career is simply a subset of that vocation. Your job has an even smaller role; it is just what you do from day to day.

So, what is your identity? How do you define your vocation? There are 3 main problems in retirement

In retirement, three of the biggest problems that people experience are no friends, no money, and no purpose. The lack of money and friends can easily be changed, but what about the lack of purpose. It’s important to really define what your purpose is and what it will be in retirement. You can use your background, training, and network to help you figure out what you really want to do, who you really want to be in retirement. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT

[7:31] Why did Dan Miller decide to change the title of his book?
[12:12] Why is there a deadline of 48 days?
[16:20] How do you deal with your identity when you leave your work?
[27:32] Procrastination is the enemy of change

Q&A SEGMENT WITH FRITZ GILBERT