Why “Starting Late” Isn’t Too Late for Retirement Planning

0:00It's not about when you started. It's about when you decide to start. And the longer you wait in fear and stay stuck that it's too late, the less progress you'll make. Your confidence begins with you choosing to start today. In this episode, I will share three tips to help you make getting started late no longer a factor. 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, Dailene 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, 5 Must Do Steps to Start Retirement Planning Now at elevatefinances.us backslash must do. And remember, let's make retirement possible together. Welcome to the episode. I'm excited to dive into the topic of starting late. So obviously you found me because I talk to women and couples over 40 and with that comes a lot of thoughts about starting late and it's too late and you know I'm sure you're thinking yeah that's why I'm here. And this episode is going to help you acknowledge that, understand that, but be able to take action in moving forward.

1:49Please stick with me. This is part one of a three-part series. Several episodes back, I did cover one about starting late. Specifically for savings, you can go look for that one as well. But I really want to help listeners kind of find a neutral position with this idea of starting late. Prior to having the thought about, oh, man, I've got to get started, you know, planning for retirement. And oh, my gosh, I'm late. Because we probably see with social media and all of that, 25-year-olds, 30-year-olds, they're planning, they're preparing. But that's okay. We are a different generation. And it's okay if you feel like you're starting late.

2:37You've probably been raising family, maybe a caregiver, maybe stuck between, you know, sandwiching of caregiving children and your parents. There's a lot of things that our generation, number one, is dealing with right now, but number two, we didn't have a lot of the accessibility to the knowledge, accessibility to the information for everything money. We also dealt with a generation prior and maybe even one prior to that, where talking about money was very taboo. It's not what you did. Most of the things, you know, prior generations dealt with in life on a scale of, you know, handling their life and moving ahead, they didn't speak of that, you know.

3:31So this was money, obviously sex, and obviously politics. It's just not something that was discussed. And now on the flip side today, these things are talked about quite often, but money does still have that, well, we're not going to quite talk about it. If you are that individual who was like, yeah, my parents didn't talk about it, I want you to understand their placement as well. A 401k was not new until the boomers were coming into the workforce and getting up there. So the generation, if you were raised by a boomers, that was new. My dad did participate one. My parents were silent generation as I'm a younger child to them.

4:21But not everybody probably understood what a 401 was. The availability may not have been there. Pensions were the huge thing. And this was the way to kind of start segwaying away from that to help companies be more viable. And so the reason I say that is the Roth was new to our generation. And as I was on my planning journey, when it came out, I'm like, okay, what is this? It's not making sense. And I'm trying to learn about it. And, you know, I was like, I don't get it. Your parents may have done the same with a 401. And even if they were open to talking with you about money, this accessibility to the knowledge and the understanding wasn't there for them like it even was for me on a Roth.

5:09So putting that aside, you have a different starting point than generations now. And what I really want to challenge you with right here at this point is don't let your children have a late start like you. And it's okay to be at this point and starting. realizing that it's time to get something going is step one. We've got to realize that, okay, we're here, we've dealt with what we've dealt with, and we've got to get going. Really being stuck in that idea of it's too late can really cause you to pause, to delay action, to think, well, what difference is this going to make? This episode is one of three to help you move through all the points of, quote, getting started late.

6:01And what I want you to do in this episode is I want you to recognize your starting point. It's okay that you didn't start saving at 25, or maybe you did haphazardly. But retirement isn't only for those who started saving in their 20s or their 30s. Retirement is for everyone. And if you stick around long enough, or you've been here long enough, you know that I say retirement is possible for anyone. The first thing that you need to do is lose the idea that you're starting late. And I want you to reframe that to I'm starting now. Starting now is better than never starting. While it can be easy for me to say, and I'm not saying that that's what I want it to be, but you've got to stop thinking about starting late.

6:51And it's going to take, you know, some ideas, some reprogramming of your thoughts and ideas as things pop up and like, oh, well, there's another reason and I'm too late. We've got to squash that. This is your starting point. And so I'm going to give you actually four steps in the intro. I said three, but I've got four steps, four tips to help you begin seeing your starting point and begin looking ahead and taking the advantages that you have now. You're mature, you're able to do things, whatever it was that had you go, I need to start my retirement planning and it back ended with this, I'm starting late.

7:35That's okay, but we're starting now. Tip one, get serious. It's time for you to realize this is your starting point, and you're going to just get serious about doing this. In a sense, if you are an empty nester or nearly an empty nester or feel like you now have the time to get the planning, this should be a quote job that fills that time. It's that seriousness about it, but it's, and I'm going to give you some different ideas to fill this get serious thing, but it's, if you want retirement to happen, tip one, make that retirement happen. You phrasing in your head, I am going to retire. And if you can add on a, you know, year or a date or, you know, something more solidly, that means you're serious.

8:34And that is tip one. That is step one. That is getting your mind to believe like I am starting now and I'm getting serious. Think of the individual who has learned how to swim. They swim over in the two foot all the time because, you know, it's easy to, oh, I think I'm struggling. I'm going to put my feet down. For them, they've got to choose a point to get serious to swim in that 10 foot. Now, headed straight to the 10 foot without learning how to swim is not a wise idea. That's what I don't want you to do. But I want you to get serious about educating yourself, learning, growing, understanding what all of the steps are in retirement planning.

9:20I have a checklist down in the show notes. Go grab that. It will get you started very basically. But, you know, those are the areas that you need to start learning and growing. I have several episodes covering a lot of the different, you know, things with Social Security, Medicare, you know, all the different types of savings. But understanding where to start is important as well. We're going to get serious. We're going to learn how to swim in that 10 foot, but not before we have a knowledge base that is going to help us make wise decisions. You know, making wise financial decisions at the point where we're getting serious is very key.

10:02We don't need to just jump all in and cause havoc and problems in the future for us. Even though I say get serious, it doesn't mean that we're all in quite yet, okay? This is your head. You're all in in your head. Tip number two, it's time to start thinking about trade-offs in purchasing now more than ever. When you want to spend your money and, you know, maybe you have a remodel or you want to buy a new car or, you know, things like that that maybe aren't, quote, broken. And you're like, well, I just would like a new car. What is the trade-off in waiting? I love the word delaying purchases, but what is the trade-off in waiting a couple of years?

10:50Your car's fine. You want a new car, but do you need a new car? How does this fit in your plan of getting serious about retirement? I hear a lot of people, I'm just going to buy a new car right before I retire. It'll last me. It's going to last you for 20, 30 years. That's a whole different mentality, a whole different episode, but it's important to start thinking about those trade-offs. The remodel, okay, is it necessary? And it might be. If you've been in your home for a while, and I get that, but start evaluating your purchases, especially the big ones, especially the big ones. And what is waiting a year for that?

11:30Or what is doing it in a different way? Really exploring the power of your purchasing, the power of your money at this point is going to support you in that tip one of getting serious and, you know, reaching your goal. Think about trade-offs. Tip number three. I get this with my clients a lot. I hear it a lot on free calls. And it's time for you and everybody listening, time for you to quit using the word only. I hear this on both sides of, well, I have some money left over for savings, or I have an expense. It's done on both sides. And they're like, well, it's only$10. Okay. And if you only times 10, how much does that equate to?

12:27So if it's 10 times 10, that's$100 a month. $100 times$12,$1 ,200. So quit using the word only and start exploring what that$10 can mean. If you can invest that$1 ,200 into whatever, again, not a financial planner, not a financial advisor here, but if that is in the stock market, on average, you're seeing a rate of return of 8%. And I know I'm low-balling that for those people that are financial advisors, financial planners, but for those of you who are maybe scared of the stock market or things like that, don't understand that, that is how you compound your money. You take that$1 ,200 and it is going to grow.

13:22It's not going to grow in 20 days. It's going to grow in five and 10 years. That$1 ,200 at 8 % can turn into who knows what. That is the mentality that you've got to start thinking about. You've got to start looking forward to. And I want to throw in, since I've talked about, you know, you got to get serious and this is where you grab your knowledge. I want Throw two terms in here, asset allocation and risk tolerance. Those two terms, understand those when you're working with a financial advisor, a financial planner that you understand. Don't let them tell you what to do. Understand what they want you to do and understand if it fits who you are.

14:08Those two terms, kind of some homework, but get your knowledge growing about these types of things. Again, back to my tip, quit using the word only. That is limiting you. Just like starting late is limiting you. We're getting rid of the limiting here. We've done a lot of limiting episodes. And really, that is just negativity. It's holding you back. It's not allowing your brain and your mind to believe in what you truly want. And that's where I want you to go. Tip number four. it is time for you to create a values-based spending plan. And what do I mean by that? It is so important at this stage that you need to identify truly those expenses that bring you the most joy.

15:01Joy in now and joy in the future. Understanding where you can draw lines, boundaries, give yourself rules, give others rules. I heard one of my previous coaches say, I spend$300 to$400 a month on wedding gifts and baby showers and this or that. And I'm like, I just wouldn't do it. You've got to understand what brings you the most joy. And maybe there's people you would do that for. But every invitation I receive, if I can't afford it, not doing it. And we've got to learn to draw those lines. We've got to learn what is supporting our joy now and our joy in the future. We've covered a lot, but I hope I have helped you understand that it's not about starting late.

15:53It's about this is your starting point. I invite you to book a Clarity Connection call. There's a link down in the show notes or head over to elevatefinances.us backslash connection and let's chat about all of your thoughts and ideas about starting late. Let me support you in getting over those hurdles so that they're not limiting you, so that you can find success. So again, elevatefinances.us backslash connection. It's a Clarity Connection call. All the information's there. Schedule a 30-minute call. Let's chat about what's going on. And let's see what steps you can take to resolve those thoughts and ideas.

16:39Again, it's not about starting late. It's about defining your starting point. And your starting point is essential for you. It's not essential for anybody else. It's not important to anybody else. It is what it is. It's just like qualifying for track and qualifying for a race. I hope you will take me up on that call. I hope you have enjoyed this episode. Stay tuned for the next two episodes as we dive a bit deeper in the starting to late ideas and how to help supporting those of you over 40 worried about that and being able to be successful and make retirement possible.

17:28Thank 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.