Think You’re Behind On Retirement? You’re Not Starting From Zero

0:06Welcome 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, Dailene Higgins, money coach and retirement strategist to help you gain clarity and confidence with your money by creating a spending plan that aligns with your financial goals and dreams so you can spend intentionally, save consistently, and feel at peace about your future. Join me every week to understand your money, simplify your decisions, and take intentional steps toward the life you want.

0:49Welcome to today's episode. So I'm sure you're someone like most here who have been working for quite a long time, 40 years or more. Gen Xers have been working since childhood. But as we fast forward, maybe a career putting into retirement, that was a little bit later. And so now that we've been working for quite a long time, the subject of retirement seems to be on our mind a lot more. We're like, ah, okay. And the first thing I want to tell you is you are not starting from zero. You're not the 25 year old just getting into a career. You've had some years behind you. You've been doing the thing you might still feel behind.

1:42You might think I could have been a better saver. Yeah, I could have as well, right? We're not talking about perfection here. It doesn't need to be. And honestly, you are not too late to start creating a retirement journey, getting active on it. What you need is a plan. Now I know you're like, how do I create a plan? And this is most of the people I talk to, they just want a plan. They're like, if I would just knew what to do. Okay, I think there's still some caveat to that. Yeah, as a coach, I'm going to call you out here. Having a plan and then taking action is two different things. But honestly, the very first step is to have a plan.

2:29It's to know exactly where you're at, what progress have you made all these years working, and how does that stack up, and what do you need to do next? That is your starting point. We're not starting from zero. Our starting point is somewhere further down the journey, but we've got to figure it out. We've got to pinpoint it. And honestly, at this point, it's time for you to quit guessing that you're behind, quit assuming that you're too late to do anything. And it's time to stop hoping it's just going to work out. Like I said, you need to jump on this journey. You need to be actively involved.

3:19And that first step is creating the plan. And if you're like, okay, what do I need to do to create a plan? I want to first offer up my workshop, the Retirement Ready Workshop, June 27th. So if you're interested, head to elevatefinances.us backslash workshop. this is where we're going to take a peek at your progress because all of you have made progress. And then we're going to create a clear path forward. We're going to create the plan, but we're also going to create that action step. Having a plan is one thing. It's just like looking at a map in your living room until you create that plan of where you're going and then decide how it's going to happen.

4:04That's the same with your retirement. So let's talk about your progress. You have saved. Again, it might not have been consistent. That's okay. But you have saved something. You've also been able to manage your debt, meaning that you're in the plan to pay it off. It's not over consuming you. You're not sure how to make the next debt payment. And this goes for your bills as well, that you're paying your bills. This is the situation most of my clients are in. They're not looking as how to pay that next bill or how to get the debt more under control. Really, they are just, I want to be able to retire.

4:50And so as a way to start helping them get to retirement, we do need to look at where they're at. And that does take all of those things into account. So you've saved, you've managed debt, you're paying your bills. And at this point, you have been watching your savings, your retirement savings grow. Maybe not as much as you wanted. But you're like, okay. And most of the advice is just keep saving, just keep saving. And you're like, okay, but, and this is where you are at a fork in the road. You either allow fear to come in. I'm not going to have enough. The market isn't going to do well. I shouldn't have my money in the market.

5:43Those are fear-based statements. And inside my Facebook group, I talked about how to change statements you hear, how to avoid them to become your beliefs. So you hear these things. We don't want them to be your beliefs if they are not true. And so another way to do that is if you start hearing these things. Okay, fear-based statements typically come from individuals selling a product that is opposite of, let's say, the market. Somebody's selling an annuity and they're going to tell you the stock market's going to crash. So you instantly believe that. Okay, I don't know about you, but the last market crash was over 100 years ago.

6:33And the other thing I tell my clients when they do come with these fears to me, especially a huge fear like that, okay, stock market crashing. First off, you've got to get clear what does that mean to that person? Because a crash to me means it is going to belly out. That's a crash. And if that's to happen, we are all in it together. Nobody is better off than somebody else. It's a different economy. So we've got to come back to reality as this economy. And as I was saying, you might be having a salesman selling you an annuity that they want to make it better than the stock market. And there's reasons for investing in different things.

7:22So what I'm trying to say is, at this point, instead of just allowing the fear to take hold and to hold it as your truth, this is where it's time for additional knowledge. Okay, this is when you're at the fork in the road of, okay, I'm going to let fear take over me, which means you're going to stop really getting on that course for retirement, or I am going to get more knowledge in the things that I can control, the things that I understand, so that I know how to put my best foot forward and really have skin in the game. Because the minute you just stop and don't do anything, you don't have an opportunity.

8:01You don't have a chance. So really understanding the different areas and start learning. Again, it doesn't need to be, you don't need to go get a degree. You don't need to go get a certification. You just need to start understanding these different elements and what they mean. So while I do believe that retirement savings is the number one thing to do, right? So this is me giving you knowledge as to other elements instead of just waiting for that number to grow. There are other pieces of the puzzle that are going to help move the needle. Easier, or at least give you that whole idea of what your economy is.

8:48Having debt. That's the first one I want to talk about. And it's not bad to have debt. I'm not that believer. But if you think about debt going into retirement, if you don't have the debt, you don't have that much demand on what you need in retirement. And so thinking about okay, I've got money going to savings and I'm paying off debt. If the debt is gone, that's going to close your number quicker as well. You're already taking two action steps at the same time without really knowing it. But the other thing to also think about, and I know maybe people are going to come at me for this, but as you think about you're over 40 over 50, and you're headed and planning for retirement, it's not about getting retirement paid off fast.

9:50Okay, so let me clarify what I mean by that. If your goal is to have it paid off before retirement, but you also need to grow your savings, at this point, you need to continually be watching as you're stacking. I believe debt snowball, debt avalanche, debt stacking is crucial and key. I love those strategies. But as somebody over, especially over 50, it's time to reassess, like, where does that payoff date come? And if it's having you pay off five years before retirement, can we balance to grab more of that money that's going towards debt, put it to savings sooner, because we know that compound interest is a big factor.

10:38So understanding the place of time that you are, what your overall goal is, and how all of these elements affect, you can start strategizing differently to then increase your retirement savings, but still continue to pay off debt. And as you function through those next 10 years, you're going to get further ahead with that savings amount by just making a small shift and having somebody look at that with you. So really at this point, I believe get debt paid off as soon as you can, unless you are about 10 years away from retirement. What does the plan say? What is that payoff plan? At this point, balance is key.

11:28The quicker I can get money into savings, it will have the ability to compound over time. And I can still make my goal of having debt free before retirement. Whatever that goal is. I'm not saying that has to be your goal. That's just something I'm demonstrating as to how this works. As honestly, I believe that we, and I say we as a the general census of all people are struggling with money because there are too many people telling you have to do all of these things. You have to do this or you have to do this to be successful with money. And that's just not true. That's just not true. There are some things that are going to give you a leg up, have a better stance.

12:18But if they are telling you have to do this and you're like, I don't want to, you're never going to do it. So why don't we find something that you're going to like to do that's going to get you the same result? That is the type of coach I am. I don't believe in have-tos. I don't believe that we should have a list of these are the things I have to do or I'm going to be successful with money. Now, it takes me to my last point. What you need to be successful with your money, and I'm not just saying money, with your money, is that you need to have a reality of your goal. To want to cut back on eating out, ordering DoorDash, all of those conveniences, you're not going to stop or change that habit until you know what the future beholds.

13:17so controlling spending is not making the progress that people think it is where goal reality should so from this episode i know i've talked about a lot i hope you'll join me in the workshop but what i want you to do is i want you to get clear on your goal and if you're like yes that's retirement that is not clear okay though that's a word i want you to start leaning into it a little bit more. And if you need help in clarifying what all of that means, I would love for you to come join me in my Facebook group, the Retirement Ready Hub, which is a community for Gen Xers, where you can share, you can get your questions answered.

14:03Join me every week as I go live on a topic to help support you. But it's really important to move away from those have tos to what you want to do. And by doing that, it starts with choosing your goal. And going back to what I talked about at the very first of this episode, is that you are not starting from zero. I hope this episode was helpful and supportive in helping you understand that number one, your starting point is not zero. Number two, your end goal gets to be whatever you want. And the steps that you do in between are the ones that you are going to do. We're going to leave the half-dos behind.

14:46We're going to find what works. And we're going to all make it to retirement. Thank you for joining me.

14:56Thank 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 Gen Xers. 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.