Create Your Custom Early Retirement Strategy Here
MyoDetox -> FutureProof your body and book a session at Myodetox today.
Decrease tension, reduce pain, better align your posture, and increase your range of motion while building your strength. Mention "ER Pod" or "Early Retirement podcast" when you book!
Are you ready to align your retirement with your core values and ensure financial peace of mind? We're here to help you navigate the complexities of early retirement planning, from understanding your unique lifestyle to managing your financial assets. We dissect the importance of evaluating your health, life expectancy, and job satisfaction, providing you with a five-step process to chart your way to a satisfying early retirement. Plus, we tackle the psychological hurdles, the 'head trash', that can obscure your vision for the future.
Navigating your finances in retirement is no small feat, but we've got the insights to make it simpler and more secure. In this episode, we delve into the nuances of crafting a flexible withdrawal strategy to sustain your nest egg. We touch on how health insurance costs, inheritances, and changes in expenses like property taxes can influence your cash flow. Our discussion goes beyond theoretical knowledge, sharing real-life stories and client experiences that highlight the importance of being strategic with your core expenses and the liquidity of your assets.
Create Your Custom Early Retirement Strategy Here
Ari Taublieb, CFP ®, MBA is the Vice President of Root Financial Partners and a Fiduciary Financial Planner specializing in helping clients navigate the nuances of an early retirement.
PS: Before anyone decides to move forward with our services, I want to ensure we're the best fit to help you reach your goals and I personally have the first conversation with you.
Create Your Custom Early Retirement Strategy Here
MyoDetox -> FutureProof your body and book a session at Myodetox today.
Decrease tension, reduce pain, better align your posture, and increase your range of motion while building your strength. Mention "ER Pod" or "Early Retirement podcast" when you book!
Are you ready to align your retirement with your core values and ensure financial peace of mind? We're here to help you navigate the complexities of early retirement planning, from understanding your unique lifestyle to managing your financial assets. We dissect the importance of evaluating your health, life expectancy, and job satisfaction, providing you with a five-step process to chart your way to a satisfying early retirement. Plus, we tackle the psychological hurdles, the 'head trash', that can obscure your vision for the future.
Navigating your finances in retirement is no small feat, but we've got the insights to make it simpler and more secure. In this episode, we delve into the nuances of crafting a flexible withdrawal strategy to sustain your nest egg. We touch on how health insurance costs, inheritances, and changes in expenses like property taxes can influence your cash flow. Our discussion goes beyond theoretical knowledge, sharing real-life stories and client experiences that highlight the importance of being strategic with your core expenses and the liquidity of your assets.
Create Your Custom Early Retirement Strategy Here
Ari Taublieb, CFP ®, MBA is the Vice President of Root Financial Partners and a Fiduciary Financial Planner specializing in helping clients navigate the nuances of an early retirement.
PS: Before anyone decides to move forward with our services, I want to ensure we're the best fit to help you reach your goals and I personally have the first conversation with you.
How on earth are you supposed to know if you are on track to retire early? That's what we're going to talk about in today's episode. It's a very fun episode. These are the concepts that I think most people don't talk about when it comes to retirement, and the reason for that is if you want to retire early, there's just more nuanced. So most of you listening right now you're not hoping to retire at 65 and pass away at 95 and pass away never. But you know my point. You want to make sure that you retire early. You do prioritize time with family, friends, relationships, your health, you name it, and that is why I love this stuff. So, yes, I do talk about tax planning and withdrawal strategy and estate planning, because all of that relates so you can go live your best life. It's not taxes that I love for tax sake. It's the fact that if you can be smart with numbers and retire six months here earlier, or two months earlier or one year earlier, you just can't quantify that impact of your health on a spreadsheet. So I want you all to retire early. I just don't want you to retire too early. So I'm very big on making sure that you're in a great spot to retire so you don't have any head trash. That head trash is hey, I think I'm in a good spot, but if markets do this or if my tax strategy moves here, does that mean now I'm not in a good spot? I have to cut my spending later on in retirement, because what if I'm loving traveling? What if I want to travel more? So I want to make sure all that head trash is gone by the end of today's episode. You should have a good sense. If you are on track to retire, you will know. So today's episode will be a little bit of a longer one, but because it's very important, so I hope that this is helpful.
Speaker 0:I am going to start with a review of the week. So I'm just pulling that up right here on my phone for those of you that are listening to this. Of course you cannot see me, but if you are watching on YouTube, I will put up sometimes some graphics and different things, and sometimes just seeing me it can make this a little bit easier. So let's go ahead and go to the recent review. This comes from fantastic podcast for earlier time at from Robert 2025.
Speaker 0:I recently started listening to Ari's podcast and find extremely informative, very concise and easy to understand. Thank you, robert. I try to be concise, even though today might be 25, 30 minutes. You might have to back that comment up. In addition, I reached out to Ari in email and he was very helpful with the timely response. Thank you for such an informative and educational podcast. I look forward to listening every week. Keep up the good work, best wishes. Very nice, robert. Thank you very much. I had another review coming recently and just wanted to allude to this from KD 22522. Ari has such a wonderful way of explaining complicated retirement planning topics. Thank you for your expertise. You're all very welcome.
Speaker 0:I love doing this, and so someone recently asked me why I love doing this. I won't do a tangent on this because we've got some stuff that I have some stuff to get to guys. But they asked me hey, why do you love doing this? And I was like because it's too important. The idea that you could retire earlier and you're just good with numbers, like that's just a magical thing in my head. But if you just plan well, you're not working any longer. The same way I first got into investing. It's, hey, compound interest. Just seeing how that works over time, you go, hey, that's powerful stuff. So that's why I love it to be quite simple. So let's hop in the five really easy steps, really really easy.
Speaker 0:Okay, part of my job as an advisor is hey guys, here are things I need you to think about. I'll tell that to my clients. And then here are a hundred things that are all head trash. Don't worry about this stuff. Yes, it's there, but you don't have to worry about it right now. So part of my job is to simplify and tell hey guys, here's what you need to worry about, here's what you don't. So here are the five super easy, super simple steps to know if you are on track to retire early. So I am on YouTube right now. If you see me reading down my list here, um, if you're on podcast app, of course, you can just hear me.
Speaker 0:So the first one I have here is review your values before your numbers. What does that mean? Most people review their numbers and go, hey, I feel like I need a million retire. But you know my neighbor, he has five million, so I think he's in a really good spot to retire. All that's head trash. Okay, you might want to spend the double amount as your neighbor and therefore you're not in a good spot to retire early. Your neighbor might want to spend five times more than what you want to spend, and so the truth is it just depends Okay, it completely depends on what you're looking for, but I want you to start with your values before your numbers. Here's what I mean by that.
Speaker 0:Most people will say hey, you know already, give me an assessment in mind, a good spot to retire early. And they're thinking that I'm gonna say how much do you have in your Roth IRA? How much do you have in your IRA? And I don't. I go what's health like in your family? And I'll say what's life expectancy like? And how are you feeling today? Do you like your job? And I start there, because some people love their job. I say, great, you don't need to save to the same degree If you're gonna work until your 70s and 80s. Other people go hey, I don't wanna work that long, I'd rather sail the world or I'd rather do these fun stuff. I say, great, let's talk about that. And then, what about health and life expectancy? So I start with reviewing your values before your numbers. Time with family, physical health, faith or spiritual health, relationships, freedom and independence how much do you value those things.
Speaker 0:Most of you are sending me a note via email or when you download my ebook and you say yep, I'm tired of my boss, I'm tired of commuting, I'm tired of XYZ, I just don't retire too early. And that thought of trying too early is that most people don't retire and then they keep pushing it back. And it's called goalpost planning, where you're like, yeah, once I have one and a half million, yeah, then I'm done. Yeah, two million, I'm done. Three million, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna be so out. And then they don't. Or then, by the time they do, five, 10 years went by and they're kicking themselves. So I don't start with how much are you saving. I don't start with your asset allocation. I don't start with Roth conversions. I start with reviewing your values before your numbers. So that is step one of all the easy five easy steps.
Speaker 0:To you know, am I in a good spot? Review your values, what matters most to you? Now, it can sound woo-woo, I get it, but the truth is, if you don't do that, you're not gonna be in a good spot. Meaning one of my clients said hey, I just want to golf when I retire. I'm like okay, great. So like, what are you gonna do throughout the week? And they're like, hey, I just want to golf. I really don't know what else I want to do, but I'll figure it out. They didn't figure it out and they went back to work and they're like, hey, my identity was you know they really. And, by the way, guys, fun announcement I have clients that are gonna be coming on the show this year and you're gonna get to hear it from them, so it's gonna be different from me just telling their story.
Speaker 0:So, number one, please do review your values and ask yourself what is most important from a time with family physical health, faith, spiritual health. We're gonna get into the financial stuff. You know I love it. I just have to start here. Then I say, okay, now you know your values, now create your goals. So goals, what's the difference? That is the manifestation of your values. So, for example, time with family is that a value? Well, I'll say, okay, if that's a value. In time with family, are you scheduling two trips a year? Is it four trips a year? In retirement? What would it look like?
Speaker 0:Most of you don't want to decrease your standard of living. You want to increase it and start to do more of these things. I say, great, how much can you do? So some people it's like, hey, I want to redate my spouse, I want to take a walk every single night, I want to do whatever it is. The values is like what matters most those family, those friends, relationships. And then putting goals and saying, okay, great, some of you, okay, are gonna laugh at what I'm gonna say right here, but I'm from Malibu, california. Okay, I'm telling you that my parents are burned by multiple financial advisors. It's the reason I became an advisor. But there's a lot of characters in Malibu okay, I'm putting that nicely. And the listeners, a lot of my clients listen right now and they're like, hey, you keep calling me a character. I'm like, yeah, I am, because you said I could. And they're like, you're right.
Speaker 0:The idea here is they want to spend 30,000 a month. Okay, some of these characters, they love spending money. Nothing wrong with that, and if you have a healthy portfolio that can sustain it, happy days. But the premise here is I don't want you to just go spend 30,000 a month, to spend 30,000 a month if you can't do so. So I ask clients, hey, what does your dream retirement look like? And if they're like, hey, I'd love to fly first class and take five trips a year, like that's what would light me up.
Speaker 0:I say, great, you can retire in eight years. And they're like, all right, I want to retire in two years. I go, I know, but here's what you're on track to do, even with good strategy. And they're like, okay, you're really not the nicest early retirement guy. I go, that's right, that's not my role. In fact, I'd rather be the meanest early retirement guy so that when you do retire, you are in an amazing position and not retiring on hope that markets do this or tax strategy or whatever it is. I want you to retire with total confidence. So really ask yourself time with family. How much would that cost to get it back if you retire too late? See, can't exactly quantify that.
Speaker 0:So, freedom, independence how much do you need in savings and your investments to be financially independent? Because that is a number? I don't believe retirement is a number or it's. Yeah, once I have one million, I can retire. But freedom and independence, which is one aspect of your values that can be quantified and you can go great. Yep, once I have $3 million, I can bring in X amount of income and that's what I need to live. Great Some of you, you need a million because you have rental income or a pension or other income sources.
Speaker 0:And so the premise here get really clear on your values and then create specific goals for those. Most people do the values they go yeah, I want to retire because my spouse or my child don't know how long they're going to be in this level of health. I want to spend time with them, but they don't actually Map out what do they want to do with them and how much will that cost. We are going to be right back in just a second talking about everything you need to know to retire early with total confidence. But I need you all to know that if your financial strategy looks great through good tax planning or withdrawals or investments everything I talk about on the show but your actual physical health will not allow you to live your dream retirement, then all that financial stuff goes out the window pretty quickly. So today's episode is brought to you by Myo Detox, which takes a holistic approach to your body In the same way I take a holistic approach to your finances.
Speaker 0:Myo Detox is currently located in Canada, as well as primarily, in Los Angeles. They have three locations one, which is in Brentwood, which is where I go for all my soccer needs. Number two, they also have one in West Hollywood and then, finally, number three they have one in Studio City. So I am reading this for Myo Detox, because I personally go to Myo Detox. I love them. They have transformed my body. I am sleeping better and I have clients that are telling me hey, some people listen to Rocky when they go to the gym. Other people like myself I am just trying to prepare for retirement, I want to hike, I want to spend time with grandbabies, I don't want to be in pain, and that's why I'm recommending Myo Detox. Now, I do fully recognize that not all of you live in Los Angeles, so not all of you are able to work with Myo Detox, but I do invite you to start taking your health seriously through a holistic approach, and I find Myo Detox does a wonderful job of that for physical therapy needs. I personally go there weekly. They keep me accountable so that I can do everything I want to do. Once again, if you are looking for holistic guidance on your body, please do check out the link in the description of today's episode and you will see a link you can click on which will let you learn more about their services.
Speaker 0:Now let's get back to the show. Number three is that cost aspect. Understand your cash flow. Let me say it again understand your cash flow. The way that you win in an earlier time is by not losing. You might need this income for 30 or 40 or 50 plus years. I have clients coming to me retiring in their late 40s, early 50s, late 50s, early 60s. Those clients might need this money for 30, 40, 50 plus years. So if you're basing anything I talk about and you're like, hey, I like everything. I heard your show, you know it makes sense to me. I'm going to go retire and you use the 4% rule, you're going to be in a dangerous spot. The way that you win in retirement is by not losing, and you don't lose by having a dynamic withdrawal strategy.
Speaker 0:That is the number one, in my opinion, most important aspect to an early retirement. Do you know how much you want to take out of your portfolio every single year? And you're like well, the first 10 years I'm going to travel, so I'm going to do this and that, but oh wait, I've got health insurance. I've got to add that factor in there and then, all of a sudden, I know I'm going to have this inheritance, but I don't want to rely on that. And then people get analysis, paralysis, and then you don't retire early, so don't do that, but still plan well.
Speaker 0:So cash flow, cash flow what is it? The movement of money in and out of your life? Very simple. I want to make sure that you know where your money is going. How much is going to essentials, how much is going to fun, how much is going to things that will no longer be there. For example, maybe you're going to pay off a mortgage, but property taxes will still be there. And insurance and maintenance Is your plan factoring all of that into it differently, as well as understand the timing? So so security that will come on. Oh wait, that's not for five, 10, 15 years. And are we going to rely on it to the same degree as all of our other income sources?
Speaker 0:So why do I say this? Because, yes, family is important, but all your money is not just going to go to family and travel and vacation. It's going across all these different variables and I need to make sure that you actually understand when are you in a spot. That is true. Financial independence Not, yeah, I did it, but really I'm being stingy because I'd love to spend more, but I just want to stop working so bad. And then you do stop working and you're like, oh my gosh, I wish I worked six more months or just one more year. Maybe it's something that pays a whole lot less, but it helps bridge that gap. So, getting creative, that's what early retirement planning is all about. It's not the sake of retiring early for early sake, it's creative planning.
Speaker 0:Someone once said I love this. They said, hey, show me your calendar and show me your bank statement. I'll know what your true values are, because you might say I value time with family. I'll say, let me see your bank statement and you're like, okay, it really doesn't look like it. And so that's not me shouting at anyone out. I have no clients that. I've said that to Just an example.
Speaker 0:Understand your core expenses and where your money is going. Number four this is the truth. This is knowing your numbers. Where do you stand today? So if you have a million dollars, you go yeah, I want to retire early. Okay, do you have a million dollars in a pre-tax account, meaning you really have 800,000 or $900,000 after taxes? Or is that all in a Roth IRA or is it all in a brokerage account? Did you sell a business and now you've got 2 million that you're sitting on and you're going? Hey, I have no idea how I should allocate that. Should I dollar cost average in? How do I create income in retirement? I know I should pull from certain accounts, but which ones and when? And when markets change, does that change? The answer is yes to all of that. What's the value of cash you're sitting on brokerage accounts, the value of home equity Not saying you're going to sell a home.
Speaker 0:But some clients come to me and I'll give you a personal example my parents. I've shared this on a previous episode. But my parents, they're house rich, cash poor. They are working in their 70s. They tell me to use them as an example for the show. They love what they do for a living, so they're very lucky. But if they didn't want to work, I think they, if they didn't have to work, should I say I think they'd feel a whole lot better. And they're working because they have to. They have a home. It's in Malibu, california. It has a lot of equity. They do not want to sell that home. They love it there. So, yes, you have equity in the home, but that's not really a retirement asset If you're not going to sell it Not saying you can't take money out of it and do cool stuff.
Speaker 0:I'm just saying, quite simply, understand what assets you have, the liquidity of those assets and if you're going to retire early. I don't want you to fall in the nightmare case and this is a real story Client came to me $3.5 million you may have heard this story before but $3.5 million all in a 401k, one to retire early couldn't Now, not couldn't, as in logistically couldn't. They could, but it was going to be 10% penalty plus normal ordinary income taxes. And they're like, hey, that's a lot and I just don't know if I'm willing to take that hit. And we went through a planning projection. They were in a fine spot to take that hit and still do everything they want to do, but they just couldn't do it. The idea of taking that 10% hit they could not live with. And so what I wish they would have done I wish a lot of you would do and now maybe you are going to do this is getting out of this concept of maxing out your 401k just because it's what you've done your whole life. Maybe I'm going to want you to get the full match, because I love free money and redirect other funds to paying off, you know, an upcoming home improvement project or a new car or this big expense, so that once retirement happens now, instead of me having to send you additional income for retirement and markets are down and oh, by the way, we've got to now fix the car or do a bathroom remodel In one year, you might have to take out a lot of your portfolio.
Speaker 0:That's very dangerous. So, getting really clear, on, what sources do you have to create income in retirement? Knowing where you stand, I do not believe in any of that. Yep, you need one million or two million or five million. What's a sustainable withdrawal rate? Well, a sustainable withdrawal rate, if you're doing really good portfolio management, is five percent Within an early retirement. It is clear you can easily do so when you do good planning. So if you have $2 million, that's pretty simple. You can take $100,000 out every single year and not run the risk of running out of money. But what about health insurance? Gotta add that on. What about travel in the first few years? Gotta add that on. What about the fact that maybe you're going to go? Wait a second, I never thought about doing part-time income. Maybe that's gonna help bridge the gap. Maybe the part-time income pays for my travel and I can still do Roth conversions that Ari talks about in his episode.
Speaker 0:So some of you laugh and go hey, don't refer to yourself in the third party. That's weird. I know it's weird. I try to be weird because it makes you guys remember this. So if that's annoying, let me know. I won't do that. Okay, I'm just trying to make the most helpful and engaging content. I can't. That's number four. Knowing your numbers, where do you stand? Number five is make the necessary adjustments. So, both short-term and long-term. Here's what I mean.
Speaker 0:Client came to me oh my gosh, ari, I don't know if I'm ever gonna be able to retire. I go, what do you mean? Looks like you have like $2 million, you have a pension, you're in a good spot. They go, yeah, my future retirement looks good, but I've got kids and they need college. I go, that's right, they go. So I've got a ton of retirement assets, but I don't know how I'm gonna pay for my kid's college.
Speaker 0:So, although technically I could retire today if my kids were not in college. I need to cash flow this In my retirement money that's locked up. I mean, here I am, I'm 55 today. I'm not touching my accounts for a while. I don't wanna keep working, but I have to because I need to cash flow my kid's college. I have no other way to create that income. I go that's right. That's a predicament you're in. And if you would have, instead of maxing out that 401K a little bit more, put a few more dollars away in a brokerage account, yes, you wouldn't have got the tax deduction, but you could have retired earlier. Good luck quantifying that on your health or redating your spouse, or you name it.
Speaker 0:So just because you're in a good spot to retire long term doesn't mean you're actually in a good spot to retire because of cash flow needs. So long term is making sure that, yes, you're never gonna run out of money. Yes, you're not gonna overpay in taxes. Yes, that's long term planning. Short term is what about cash flow for college, for kids? Or you're saying, hey, I've got home improvements, I've got projects and this is the dream home I want to be in. Or I'm going to downsize. When should I time all of this stuff? That is the short-term aspect to making the necessary adjustments. So those as I see it, those are the five basic steps. That's all you need to know. Those are the easy steps knowing are you in a good spot to retire? No, I didn't do a specific recommendation on here's the Roth conversion you should do, or should you do, this charitable giving strategy. All of that that's extra pro tips. I have separate videos and podcasts. I'll do for that.
Speaker 0:Today was a little bit wider range of hey, am I in a good spot? Like, am I thinking about all the right things? And if you're listening, going, yeah, I'm thinking about all this stuff. Then, good, some of you listen and you're like, oh my gosh, I just feel like there's so much for retirement planning. I don't know. I don't know if I'm ever going to make it happen. And sometimes you guys need to listen to this and I'm telling you this because you're smart and go, yeah, actually you know what? I considered all five factors that I went through here and I'm in a good spot. Now there's more to this. I know I can optimize, but good to hear that this validated that I'm in a good position.
Speaker 0:Sometimes I find that if I go to a doctor. I'm almost waiting for this like secret sauce that they're going to tell me and that's going to fix all my issues, when in reality, like, nope, it's pretty simple yeah, make sure you go exercise, take care of your health. Yep, make sure you do those things and then don't forget. And then they'll say one thing that I take away, that I wouldn't have considered, like when I went to the doctor my physical therapist, a few weeks ago, like, hey, don't forget the fact that if you're just naturally going to be in the shower already, make sure to stretch your calf. And it's like okay, yeah, I know what, I stretch my calf, but that's a good reminder that every time I'm there I have to do this one weird exercise. So it's those little things that maybe you take away today.
Speaker 0:Yeah, you know, I'm not going to max out my 401k. I'm going to just do a little bit more to the brokerage account. I know I want to retire early. That's going to help bridge the gap. Yes, there's no deduction, but yeah, I just never really considered that. So that is my goal of doing these shows is that maybe you consider things a little differently, but it's specifically related to an early retirement, which is why I don't speak to everyone. It's for people that want an early retirement. Hopefully, this is helpful. Of course, if you want to custom strategy, you want to retire early with confidence.
Speaker 0:We help our clients do all of this and I'll tell them very clearly. Anyone who reaches out I go, hey, I. It does not make sense to pay us any fee if we cannot quantifiably add significant value in excess of the fee by some multiple. And even then don't hire us. Like, what do you mean? I go, I want you to pay us for higher quality of life. If you love tax strategy and you want to read tax law in retirement and that's what gets you going and you love withdrawal strategy, then don't hire us. You will not enjoy the experience.
Speaker 0:Okay, people reach out to us. They are delegating your financial needs, but they are. They are understanding the why and when. They're not. It's not someone handing over a portfolio and we say we're sending you income every month. We're doing that, but we're saying, hey, here's exactly why we're sending you what we're sending. It's an educational approach.
Speaker 0:So we do all these podcasts and YouTube videos and my partner James and I, we love this stuff. So you reach out to us and go yep, oh, my gosh, I cannot wait to get started. Not, I think I should do this, but I don't want a boring advisor to talk about numbers and graphs. If that's what you're thinking, this is not going to work out. So we are not your traditional advisor. We love what we get to do. We're excited about our meetings. We'll ask you in our future meetings hey, how well are you sleeping? What's something you're so glad you spent money on? And what's something your spouse is just thinking about right now. They've always wanted to buy, but they just haven't. What's the? What is that thing? And let's assume you did it this year. What would happen? What would happen? It's not saying you get to go do it. It's them going wow, okay, that makes a big difference to the plan. Maybe I'll do that in four years. And then they're looking forward to it versus hey, I don't know if that's ever even possible.
Speaker 0:So I hope that this podcast episode was helpful. This is all I want to go over Five easy steps to confirm. Are you thinking about what you need to think about if you want to retire early? Um, finally, of course, I've got my ebooks. You heard it on the show today. I have that partnership with my Ody talks, get your body in order and make sure that you guys are all feeling good. That's all I got for you today, thanks guys.
Speaker 0:Thank you for listening to another episode of the early retirement show. If you have a question that you want answered in a future episode, you can always go to my website, early retirement podcastcom. That's early retirement podcastcom, and you can go ahead and submit a question that I'll look to answer in a future episode. Thank you all for listening. Please do rate it, review it and share it with someone who you think would benefit from this information. If there's anyone out there that you know, I certainly appreciate it and I will see you all each week. Hey guys, it's me again. Please be smart about this. Nothing in this podcast should be construed as financial, tax or legal advice. Consult with your tax preparer or financial advisor before taking any action. This podcast is for informational purposes only.