Why Don't We Feel We Can Retire With Numbers That Look Good? | Early Retirement Hotline

Retiring early is one thing. Trusting that you can stay retired is something completely different.

In this episode, Ari responds to a listener who retired at 48 while her husband prepares to leave work as well. The numbers say they are in a strong position, yet the doubt still lingers. Are we really okay. Did we miss something. Should we keep working just to be safe.

Ari explores why so many people struggle to trust their retirement plan even after years of disciplined saving and investing. Sometimes the issue is not the math. It is the emotional weight of making a decision that most people around you are nowhere near making.

The conversation also touches on the real role of a financial advisor. Not simply managing investments, but helping validate assumptions, pressure test decisions, and bring confidence to a transition that can feel far bigger than a spreadsheet.

Because retirement confidence is not about eliminating every doubt. It is about understanding your plan well enough to move forward anyway.

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Advisory services are offered through Root Financial Partners, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. This content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. Viewing this content does not create an advisory relationship. We do not provide tax preparation or legal services. Always consult an investment, tax or legal professional regarding your specific situation.

The strategies, case studies, and examples discussed may not be suitable for everyone. They are hypothetical and for illustrative and educational purposes only. They do not reflect actual client results and are not guarantees of future performance. All investments involve risk, including the potential loss of principal.

Comments reflect the views of individual users and do not necessarily represent the views of Root Financial. They are not verified, may not be accurate, and should not be considered testimonials or endorsements

Participation in the Retirement Planning Academy or Early Retirement Academy does not create an advisory relationship with Root Financial. These programs are educational in nature and are not a substitute for personalized financial advice. Advisory services are offered only under a written agreement with Root Financial.

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Ari Taublieb, CFP ®, MBA  is the Chief Growth Officer of Root Financial Partners and a Fiduciary Financial Planner specializing in helping clients retire early with confidence.

Transcript

New Voicemail Series And How To Submit

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Over the last few months, you have heard me speak with real retirees as well as people who want to retire early, and I hope that that has been helpful perspective. I love everything early retirement related, but I hope it's hit different hearing it from real people. So what you're actually going to hear now is a new series for the next few months where I'm actually responding to real voicemails for people who are asking me a wide range of questions, such as, how do I know I have enough money? When should I actually look at a Roth conversion? Should I be worrying about healthcare? And a million other things like that. And so these are people who are calling me to leave a voicemail hoping I respond in a future episode. If it's up to me, I'd respond to every single one of you. But fortunately, many of you have similar questions. So what I try to do is put them into one episode that I feel would be most helpful. So if 10 people ask, hey, what should I do about XYZ regarding healthcare? I try to do my best to address those, whether it's me addressing your specific point. But if you would like, you can of course call my number, 213-316-8397. I do read through every single one as well as my team. And if you say in there, hey, the truth is I just don't even know. When does it make sense work with an advisor? I have no idea. Should I even be looking at retirement? Should I have retired 10 years ago? Am I in a good spot? What you will hear from us is at a minimum, hey, here's absolutely what I would recommend considering in your situation. So not a formal yes, go retire, or no, why did you retire? We would never say it like that. But what we would do is say, hey, even though we're not going to maybe respond to your specific voicemail, here's a guide that I think is gonna be really helpful for you. Or here's a video that we've recorded in the past that went out a year ago that applies to your situation. Make sure to check that out. So I'm always gonna make sure that you feel the effort that you put in to make the voicemail to leave for me will be equally responded to with effort to make sure you're getting the help that you're looking for. So once again, if you would like, you can call and literally tell me anything. But the the phone number is 213-316-8397. The next few months you're going to hear voicemails and me specifically responding to those voicemails. I hope you enjoy this next series. I'm always trying to come up with new creative ways that are helpful for you. As always, if you're wondering, okay, am I in a good spot to retire? Email me and put in the subject line the word retire. Very simple, just the word retire. And that my email is ari at rootfinancial.com. That's R O O O Tfinancial.com, and I will respond with that free guide just for you. And thank you in advance for always listening to the podcast episodes and hope you enjoy these.

A Listener Retires At 48

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Hi, Ari. My name is I recently, very recently, started listening to your podcast with my husband. He is 55 years old and just uh retired for his notice to the company to retire. Um I am 53 years old and have been retired and 48 years old. Um would love to be on your phone. So uh call me and um uh I would love to hear more uh your input. Thank

Head Trash And Trusting Your Numbers

SPEAKER_00 3:21

you.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

I have to say right off the bat, I'm impressed. I don't think I would have been able to retire if I was not confident in my numbers. You retired at 48 and your husband just put in his notice. So I think you guys are stronger mentally than you think. So before we get started, we're obviously only hearing a very small portion of this person's situation. I am a certified financial planner. I'm gonna walk you through what someone like me might typically consider in a scenario like this. And as a reminder, this is not personalized financial advice. That's important. I'm Ari, a CFP certified financial planner and host of the Early Retirement Podcast. I'm also the chief growth officer here at Root Financial. So if you want to retire early and aka not work forever, make sure to hit subscribe. Now there's a phrase I'm gonna talk about to address your question, which is head trash. And this concept of, oh my gosh, can we really retire early? Look how old we are compared to our friends and neighbors. And I just heard my neighbor said they have $5 million. We have nowhere near that. So does that mean like we can't retire? No, that's just head trash. If your plan says you're in a good spot and you trust the inputs and understand the outputs, you're in a good spot. So I don't want you to have imposter syndrome for all of you watching right now, going, What a second, this feels a little bit like me. Why is it I don't trust the numbers? Well, quite frankly, you might not be a certified financial planner, so you might always have that little doubt. I'm gonna tell a quick story before I address this further. But I personally know my body very well. I played college soccer, I know what it's like to have a lot of injuries, unfortunately, which I didn't have so many injuries. But when I played and I got an injury, I would know, okay, this is one of those injuries. I know I can push myself a little bit. Yes, it hurts, but I'm not gonna make it worse. Versus other times I'd go, Yeah, I don't really know, but I think I really want to play, so I'm just gonna play anyways. And I did that more often than I should. The reason I'm telling you this little dopey story is I would get a level of comfort from having the physical therapist say, You're right, Ari, you can go play because right now, although it hurts, you're not gonna make it worse because of the type of injury it is, versus, you know what, you really shouldn't play. And if you do play, you're at a higher risk than you think because the pain is this type or it's in this area. I can never know that if a professional did not tell me that. So you might go to a professional and you might already think you're in a good spot and they might just validate it. And that validation might be enough for you to go, wow, yep, we put it in correctly. Good to know. We're probably not gonna run on money assuming we do everything we should. Or you might receive other feedback. Hey, here's something you put in that that one variable is off in a big way. And just by shifting this dividend strategy, it means this. Or just by considering Roth conversions and potentially implementing them means you might spend less than you actually could. Yeah, don't make that mistake, consider this. So we're gonna address this in more detail, but those are the immediate thoughts coming to me. So honestly, I'm gonna be super selfish here without knowing a lot about you. I just want to actually know how you retired early at 48. And I would love to have you on my show in the future. And if that means you coming on and sharing, hey, you know, I saved and invested really well. Here's how I did it, and we're confident with our numbers because we did X plan. Maybe we'll have you on a future episode. But for those of you out here going, oh my gosh, the numbers say this. How can I trust it? Look, you there's a peace of mind that comes with having a professional. And I'm also the weird advisor that says everyone doesn't need an advisor. I trust you guys so much who watch my videos. There are advisors out

When A Financial Advisor Earns It

SPEAKER_01 6:34

there. I've seen your guys' comments. There are things you guys have said to me that I go, just based off what you shared there, I'm confident I would trust you more than many advisors I know. And the tricky thing about our world is it's unclear about what's the right time to hire an advisor and where's the exact value in relation to the fee. And it should be very simple. If the value that you're receiving isn't outweighed by the fee, by some multiple, I mean, you should be receiving so much value that you go, oh my God, it's so worth it. I'm over the moon. How much, how quick would you let me pay you? If that's not where you're at, I don't think it makes sense to hire an advisor. Because if you're like, yeah, I just don't know. Maybe I could do it on my own, great. That means you haven't experimented enough to make the mistake. That also means you're not losing enough sleep. This person is, hey, they've put their numbers in. They've maybe heard some episodes from someone who's obsessed with an early retirement. Maybe it's piqued their interest enough to go, okay, do I really trust what I've got in there? But I would say that they're not at the pain point yet. And that's that's okay. In fact, that's a good thing. They're not losing sleep over it. But if you're like, yeah, I just don't know. I mean, what do you guys think based on the voicemail? Do you think this person needs help? What would you tell them? I'm curious, so let me know. And then if you're watching right now, going, look, I just want to make sure I didn't forget something. I think that's where this person's at. I think they have that. Have you ever been to the airport and you're like, where's my phone? Where's my wallet? Where's my keys? Where's my water bottle? How do I drink it before I go through TSA real quick? You know what if it means I have to pee 2,000 times on the plane, um, which nobody wants to do um unless you're an ILC. Even then, you don't really want to have to do that. So I'm always very careful about how I drink my water before I travel. I'm not a big travel guide. So I don't know why on Earthhouse tells you that, other than you don't want to feel that you're forgetting something. So if you are going to retire early or you just put in your notice and you're wondering, was that smart or am I gonna have to beg for my job back? Make sure to comment the word retire below because I'll send you a free guide with everything that you could possibly think of when it comes to retiring early. And if you like that guide I sent you, then send me an email, Ari at Root Financial, and I can send you a hundred more just like that. I just don't want to overwhelm or spam you because I've gotten a million emails from random people where I'm like, will you please stop emailing me? And then of course you can call the number on your screen right now. I'll also read it 213-316-8397. It would be very difficult to call that number if you're also watching this on your phone. So grab your friend's phone and submit your situation for the chance of having me respond to your voicemail in the future.

Free Guide Offer And Final Disclaimers

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Thank you all, as always, for listening to the early retirement podcast. I love getting to host these shows and make different content for you guys every single week. I've not missed a single week in years, and that is because I love getting to do this. Now, please be smart about this before you actually execute any strategy that you see me talk about or hear me talk about, should I say, please talk to your financial advisor, your tax preparer, your estate attorney. Please be smart about this. None of this should be construed as financial advice. This is for fun, educational, informational purposes only. Once again, just quick disclaimer here, guys, please be smart about this. Appreciate you listening as always. And you can, of course, submit a question on my website, early retirementpodcast.com. If you, of course, want me to address a specific case study or topic. I will not promise I can get to it, but I respond to every single person. And if I find it will be helpful for a lot of people, I will absolutely make an episode on it. At the very least, give you some insight. That's it. Thanks, guys.