Retirement Planning Begins with a Dream, Ep #64

Do you have enough saved to fund your retirement lifestyle and only work if you want to? A lot of people are a few years away from retiring and don’t know if they’re on track to retire. What can you do to expedite your journey toward retirement? According to Napoleon Hill, “What the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.” I want you to start dreaming. Learn more in this episode of Retirement Made Easy!

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in…

• [2:45] What is your retirement dream?
• [9:05] Why it’s crucial to work with a financial advisor
• [12:56] Failure to plan is a plan to fail

What is your retirement dream?

In 1976, Arnold Schwarzenegger had just won Mr. Universe after winning Mr. Olympia—the younger man ever to do so. He came to America because his goal was to become the best actor in the world. His first role was as Hercules in the terrible movie, Stay Hungry. After the huge flop of a movie debuted, he was interviewed and asked what was next for him. He said, “I want to be the biggest box-office draw ever.” The Sports Illustrated journalist started laughing and then realized Arnold was serious.

So the journalist asked, “How are you going to do that?” Arnold replied, “The same way I won Mr. Universe. All I have to do is picture myself being the most famous actor and work towards that vision and it will come true.” Guess what? Arnold Schwarzenegger became a huge movie star, the governor of California, and married a Kenedy. There is nothing he can’t do.

Thomas Watson built IBM from the ground up. How did he do it? He imagined what he wanted and worked backward. When it comes to your retirement planning, that’s what I recommend. Start with your dream.

What is your retirement dream?

When do you want to retire? How do you want your life to be? How much do you want to live on? Do you want to travel in retirement? What hobbies will you pick up? You can work to achieve it. But if you don’t think about what you want, you won’t know how to plan for it. You certainly won’t know when you can retire. Everything starts with a vision.

Henry Ford was renting a garage with cinder blocks on both sides. When he had built his automobile, he realized it was too big to move out of the garage. So the owner of the garage knocked down the cinder block walls because he knew Henry’s dream—the invention of the automobile—would revolutionize the world.

Why it’s crucial to work with a financial advisor

A financial advisor should be able to work with you to build a plan based on your vision of retirement. They’ll advise you what it will take to get from where you are to where you want to go. Maybe you only need to do something small, like extra savings to Roth IRAs outside of a 401k. Or you can use an HSA through work.

What else can a financial advisor do? They will help prevent you from blowing up your plan. 80% of what we do is prevent behavioral mistakes. People naturally fall away from plans. Think about the last diet you embraced. How long did that last? An advisor keeps you focused on your vision.

The only way to get from A–Z is to follow through with your plan. If you don’t, you’ll have to delay retirement or change the vision you had. You have to have a dream to make it come true, right?

People don’t plan to fail, people fail to plan. If you’re still working, saving, and investing for retirement, think about your vision for your retirement. Then begin to work backward from there. You have to plan, you can’t just hope you have enough when you reach the finish line. Nothing is worse than telling someone they can’t afford the lifestyle they want in retirement because they waited too long to plan.

Resources & People Mentioned

• Arnold Schwarzenegger