James, I've never had someone wake up and say, today is the day I've decided I'm going to retire. I've had people, however, say, I'm over commuting. I'm over deadlines. My boss is just, oh, I'm at the brim. I just don't know how long I could do this. And then all of a sudden, that starts to increase. And then there's the, hey, maybe I do have enough. But it's very rare that someone

wakes up and says, today is the day, I have 2.2 million in assets and I have my withdrawal

strategy ready and plan for health care. That doesn't happen. So some of you are thinking,

it's a light switch. There's a retirement light switch. That's really not how it works. It's more

of a dimmer where it's over time, you're starting to feel maybe I do have the pieces to make it happen. Maybe it's been on your mind since you were in your 20s or 30s of I've always wanted to retire early. I just didn't know when that day would come. And now all of a sudden it might be closer than you think and it's hard to make that decision. Why? You've just

worked the last 30, 40 years. It would be weird if it was not hard. If you were to come to me and I was your advisor and you said, Ari, I'm just not worried. Yeah, I'm going to retire and like markets will do what they'll do and I just have no concerns. That would make me very nervous because I'd want to make sure you're aware that you're in a good spot, but here's how to make sure we're thinking through everything.

Today, what we're talking about is retirement and the choices around it. I believe, James, if everyone was told here's exactly when you have to retire, it would actually be easier on their brain.

They wouldn't have to make the decision themselves and it's easier to not have to do that. So what we're going to talk about today is exactly that. Agreed. I've told the story before of getting let go from my last firm. So incredibly grateful that happened. It was up to me to leave. Probably wouldn't have happened. Being let go, best thing in the world. I think you have an example, all right, and we can actually work through kind of specifics of this with some context. Do you want to share that example? I do. And let me say, I'm so grateful that you were fired. So this was from someone in the Root Collective. That's our free community with over 3,100 members where you can go

and not just hear from James or myself, but other people who might be in a more similar position

to you in life, in age, and assets. And this person says, my position has been eliminated,

and I have the choice to retire with 26 weeks severance or try to find another position in the company.

I'm 60.

And a quarter of my assets will come from stock and dividends that will be converted once the

company goes public, if they go public.

Take the 26 weeks and test out retirement or should I work a couple more years with reduced

pay.

He goes on to say he worked

a career for 25 plus years. So there's a lot to unpack there. Yeah, and let's start with what

do we not know. I have no idea how much he has saved. I have no idea what's in his portfolio.

I have no idea what it would cost to retire. I have no idea where he lives. So we have no actual idea of a lot of things. But what we do know is kind

of what framework should you think about this through or how should you approach this decision?

And to me, the first question is obviously, could you retire? You know, if this guy is asking this and he has

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