How to Spend Wisely and Save Money For Retirement

0:00In today's episode, we're talking about how to find freedom with your spending while still saving enough for retirement. If you've ever felt guilty for spending money on something you love, like your daily coffee, because you think it's keeping you from being successful with money, I'm sharing today a few small shifts that can help you stop stressing and start making real progress. Welcome to the Wealthy After 40 podcast, the show for Gen X women and couples who are ready to ditch financial stress and feel confident about retirement. I'm your host, Dalene Higgins, financial and retirement coach, helping Gen Xers master their money and create a personalized retirement plan so they can stop spinning their wheels and step boldly into their dream retirement.

0:51If you're feeling behind, don't worry. Continue listening to this podcast, as well as be sure to grab your free guide, Five Must Do Steps to Start Retirement Planning Now. at elevatefinances.us backslash must do. And remember, let's make retirement possible together.

1:13Welcome to the episode. So how can you find freedom with your spending while making sure you are saving enough for retirement? I have a few small shifts I'm going to share with you that will help you stop stressing and start making progress. I was on a free call and she stated, I want to be able to have the flexibility where I can do those things. She says, put more into my 401k and not worry about a$5 coffee. Yeah. You know, this piece of advice is really blatantly out there everywhere, making individuals really hesitate at these enjoyment pieces with their money. Now, as we talk about further into the episode, you'll know what I mean.

2:12But a lot of people hear this, and they think they just need to be more disciplined, that they need to stop making those, you know, small purchases, those daily purchases, extra Amazon order purchase. And all in all, it just feels restrictive. Right? It just is like, okay, well, I can't do those things. So honestly, you're not doing anything else, right? It doesn't really lead to more savings. So the real issue isn't your$5 latte or enter in whatever it is that has you feeling that way. It's not having a framework for your spending, right? A budget, a plan that shows you where your money should go so you don't have to guess or feel guilty.

3:09Okay? Where your money should go, where you want your money to go. So I want you to think about this question. Why do you think cutting back on what you enjoy will help you be able to save more money for retirement? Is that really how it works? Stop doing these enjoyment pieces and you'll save more for 10, 15, 20 years down the road. I don't think like that. And I'm sure you don't. It's probably why you're still listening to me. So what do you need to do? Well, you need clarity. Number one, on what brings you joy with your money. and what will add to your confidence that you're saving enough for your future.

4:04So overall, when you know how much you need to save for your retirement and you begin defining those expenses that bring you the most joy, you are successfully achieving both ends. You're finding the balance of spending now, enjoying now, while preparing for the future. Really, as you start thinking about your expenses as, does this bring me joy? Does this support me? You will be surprised at how naturally your habits shift when your budget reflects your values. So if you're wondering how do you calculate how much you're going to need for your retirement, I answer that question episode 115, four questions and answers about retirement.

4:59So go give that a listen. That helps create the overall picture of this is how much you need to save. We'll be talking on this episode more of the current work that you need to do to fill in to get there. So I also help you do this inside my Retirement Roadmap session, where we create current and retirement budgets to calculate this number with a little more accuracy. But we also do a what-if scenarios to help you see how finding more money or making these changes or these adjustments can accelerate your progress to your retirement goal. So how do you implement this yourself? I have three steps to help you find freedom with your spending while also finding savings, right?

5:56Creating that savings stream for your retirement. And step one is you've got to use your budget or create a budget if you don't have one. this helps you know where your money is going. And you do need to know what are your expenses? Where am I? Where's my money going? What is it doing for me? Gaining this clarity around your expenses will help you see what is happening. No shame, no judgment. That's not what this is about. But I also want you to be looking in there for an expense called savings. We need to make sure that is in there as well. Now, it might be out of your paycheck and not necessarily in your budget, but you'll start seeing the kind of the connection here as we work through this.

6:49It's not about, you know, setting in restrictions. It's just laying out what is going on. And then we're going to start looking at it to create better intention. to work on the next two steps that I'm going to share with you. So as you've got your budget, as you've looked at it, right, no shame, no guilt, then I want you to start building awareness as you actually spend. Okay, our budget is what we are hoping to happen. This is what we lean into. This is typically what happens. But as we begin to build awareness, this is just a different way of tracking, right? We still need to be tracking against our budget so we know if it is accurate, correct, all of those things.

7:37But being able to build awareness is almost like a very simple way of checking in with ourselves. So as you do that, with a gratitude of heart, every expense, I want you to just start building the awareness. Checking in. Evaluating. How does it make you feel? Why are you doing this? What is the purpose? What enjoyment do you get? Again, with a gratitude of heart that you're grateful you have this money to be able to spend on these things, but really, how is it making you feel? Awareness is a soft skill, where tracking is a harder skill because you have to have the actual paperwork. You're doing that.

8:18But awareness can happen at any point of the purchase, any moment of the, you know, oh, I need to go get that. Build awareness by checking in. Oh, okay. I'm there. I'm with the price. All right. What does that look like? Checking in, just evaluating. Really build this awareness as you spend to see how it is supporting you now. Does it bring you joy? Does it bring you joy? I haven't talked about Maria Kondo in a while. We're going to talk about her in a minute, but it's really about bringing, you know, the joy, what your spending is and how that's affecting you. All right, step three. We need to think about what we value most in life and then begin aligning our spending with the values.

9:07So think about what you value most. Time, money, freedom, family. You know, there's a lot of different values you can have. and if you google values you'll have a list to go through right but you're looking for about two to three that will support the life you're trying to create right now you can also apply this to retirement what you're going to value there let me give you some examples so if you value health like it's one of your top ones then you're going to be spending money on things that help you increase your health, right? Have positive health, have good health. This may look like a gym membership.

9:52This may look like purchase of walking shoes once a year or, you know, eating organic foods, buying certain supplements, whatever it is, your spending is reflecting, I want to have good health. I want to support my health. Another example is if you value spending time with family, you work your husband works or you know you just are wanting to find more time doing doing different family things this could mean reducing the time in the kitchen because cooking takes some time so then maybe your spending is going to look like getting some convenience meals some prepared meals getting takeout more often you know and this is supporting you spending more time with family.

10:43If that is what you value, that is how your spending is going to flow. I also would hope that you're going to value reaching retirement at this point, that that's big. But I want you to think about your expenses as you have defined your values, as you review your budget or as you're building awareness, is this expense bringing me joy. Is it in alignment with my big picture goals? If yes, great. If not, then you just need to adjust. No guilt, no shame. You've already defined your values. Why are you guilting yourself over this purchase? It's just out of alignment because it doesn't matter. Just make the shift, right?

11:30You want to have more money supporting your values, which are supporting your goals, to help you get there quicker. So like I said, if you value reaching retirement, maybe as quickly as you can, your budget and spending needs to reflect this. But it isn't the only thing you value at this time. And that's how you begin defining your spending. And you don't let others define spending for you. So that when you hear someone say, well, you should or shouldn't be doing these things, deep inside, you've created your reason. You know why you stop and get that $5 coffee every day because you know you are supporting your value and reaching retirement goal as well.

12:22And you can just shut that advice out of your mind. You don't even need to say anything or you can, right? Because you know wholeheartedly deep inside why you're stopping for that$5 coffee every day, they don't see that you're saving on the backside. And you do know that. So it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. So let me share a quick message I received from a client. She says, Dear Daylene, I was thinking about our value spending discussion this morning and just wanted you to know it was so very impactful. Despite knowing the money is there And having built my nest egg, I still had fears and worries about managing it.

13:06Your coaching helped me feel more at ease and even excited about the future. So this client of mine had done a career pivot. She, in her first career, had saved her nest egg. Working with a financial planner, she was told you have enough. But her feeling, her rooted in, she had not done the work. and even with him saying, you're going to be fine, you're going to be fine, she did not feel fine until we helped her to find those values, bring in those tight things of why and how I'm spending my money. It's huge. So that's what happens when you're spending and saving work together. together. It's not about restriction or deprivation.

13:55It's about freedom. That is what we want, freedom with our money. So if you are struggling with this balance of now and future and really want to find the flexibility, find that freedom with your money, book a confidence kickstart call. You can do that at elevatefinances.us backslash kickstart to start and we'll start identifying your values on that call. Let's get going and start identifying your enjoyment items. So you can already take one step in working together and solving those challenges that you're experiencing right now, but what that will lead to in the future. Imagine feeling less stress and more control, not because you've cut everything out, but because your money has a purpose.

14:48I don't teach discipline. I don't. I don't do discipline. I am not disciplined. But I have a purpose with my money. And if life happens and presents me a different purpose, or I want to create a different purpose, I make these changes. I make them in my budget. I don't stay stuck. I stay in control. That is where you can find the power of really drilling in these things that we have talked about today. So these small shifts that we've talked about, you using a budget, you building a awareness and aligning your spending to your values, you will start to see a big change in how you feel about your money, specifically your spending and your saving.

15:40I have experienced natural shifts with my clients of stopping spending and saving more, not out of restriction, not again, not out of discipline, not out of me telling them they shouldn't be spending those things, this is a very, very natural thing to do as you implement these little shifts we talked about today. So again, if you're struggling with your feelings, you've got some shame, you've got some guilt, you've got worries about how is this going to support me in retirement, book that free confidence kickstart call. I want to chat with you. I want to help you and give you a resolution on that call and what it would look like to really find, less stress and more control of your future.

16:28So be sure you get started on using your budget or creating a budget and using it. It has power. That is how I was able to retire, was through the power of my budget. But as you use your budget, you've got to know what to do. It's not just a piece of paper telling you where to spend. You start looking at it where you're spending. How does it make you feel? Build the awareness at the purchase point, when you're buying it, and then look at those expenses and tie them to your specific values. Values are just three or four things that are building up what we want our life to look like. If I came and looked at your budget?

17:14Could I tell what your goals and your values are? That's what I hope to find. That is what I help you create in the Retirement Roadmap session, and we can discuss that on the Kickstart call. There's a reason my clients feel more confident after we work together. It's not magic, and it's not discipline. It's clarity, control, and confidence in a plan that reflects who they are. And that's possible for you too. Thank you for listening and until the next episode.

17:51Thank you for spending this time with me. If you're not already following the show, be sure to hit subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. And I'd love to stay connected with you between episodes. So come join me inside my Facebook community, Retirement Ready Hub for GenXers. It's where we're having real conversations about money, sharing wins, working through challenges, and building a clear path toward retirement. And remember, retirement isn't just a dream, it's a plan, and you get to make it possible.