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 nuance. 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 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 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'm going to 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 traffic. 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. 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, 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 retirement from Robert 2025. I recently started listening to Ari's podcast and find it extremely informative. Very concise and easy to understand. Thank you, Robert. I try to be concise, even though today might be 25, 30 minutes, so you might have to back that comment up. In addition, I reached out to Ari in an email and he was very helpful with a 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 want 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. 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 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 that 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 um the five really easy steps, really, really easy. Okay, part of my job as an advisor is say, hey guys, here are things I need you to think about. I'll tell that to my clients. And then here are 100 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, if you're on podcast app, of course, you can just hear me. 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 to retire, but, you know, my neighbor, he has five millions. 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 to start with your values before your numbers. Here's what I mean by that. Most people will say, hey, you know, Ari, give me an assessment. Am I in a good spot to retire early?

And they're thinking that I'm going to say, how much do you have in your Roth IRA? How much do you have 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 going to work until your 70s and 80s, other people go, hey, I don't want to 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? 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 why most people don't retire.

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