Replay: How to Manage Your Scarcity Brain

Retirement Answer Man

Roger Whitney, CFP®, CIMA®, RMA, CPWA®

Lifeplanning, Retirementplanning, Financialplanning, Saving, Careerplanning, Self-improvement, Education, Retirementpodcast, Investing, Business, Investmentmanagement, Retirement

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Roger Whitney welcomes Michael Easter, New York Times bestselling author of 'The Comfort Crisis' and 'Scarcity Brain.' They delve into the concept of overcoming frugality and the evolutionary mismatches that affect our resource management in retirement. Discover how short-term discomfort can lead to long-term growth, the importance of taking the stairs in life, and the psychological implications of our modern abundance. Tune in for insights that can help you not just survive retirement, but thrive in it!

*Episode originally aired March 27, 2024

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN

[01:04] Today we have Michael Easter, author of Scarcity Brain, on the show.

PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT WITH MICHAEL EASTER

[02:20] Roger introduces Michael Easter to the show
[03:14] The Comfort Crisis falls into the Energy Pillar- building energy so you can show up for your life.
[04:30] Roger asks Michael what his objective was in exploring the Comfort Crisis
[09:40] Why is it a bad thing to be comfortable?
[12:40] How do we start being more uncomfortable?
[16:11] The Scarcity Brain falls into the Vision Pillar.
[18:00] Why do we have a constant feeling that we don’t have enough?
[25:25] Quantifying goals is not always the best thing to do.
[29:01] Michael defines what the scarcity loop is.

TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT

[33:21] In the next seven days, take the stairs! Do something that most people don't do.

RESOURCES

BOOK - The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter
BOOK - Scarcity Brain by Michael Easter
Stutz
Rock Retirement Club

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You are not your job.
0:03.3	You're not how much money you have in the bank.
0:06.8	You are not the car you drive.
0:10.6	You're not the contents of your wallet.
0:14.1	Chuck Palinick.
0:19.4	Hey there, Roger Whitney here.
0:21.8	Welcome to the show that is dedicated to helping you not just survive retirement,
0:26.3	but to have the confidence, because you're doing the work,
0:29.3	to lean in and really create a great life and rock retirement.
0:34.1	Now, by day, I am a practicing retirement planner walking this journey with people like you,
0:40.4	with decades of experience.
0:42.1	And by night, I've used this podcast for the last 10 years as my own mastery journey of
0:46.7	honing my craft in helping people create great lives.
0:50.7	And in turn, helping you organize this stuff and get focused so you can create a
0:57.3	plan that you have confidence in. So welcome to the show. Now, today we're going to have
1:02.8	Michael Easter, New York Times bestselling author of The Comfort Crisis and Scarcity Brain,
1:08.3	is the most recent book, to explore overcoming frugality, what we talked about
1:13.6	last week with Dan Crosby from a little bit different perspective. Michael is a very thoughtful
1:18.8	journalist who does his work, and so we're going to explore some of the evolutionary mismatch
1:23.8	that might be hindering us from using our resources to create a great life in retirement.
1:30.3	In addition to that, we're going to answer some of your questions, as we always do.
1:33.8	Warning, though, this is not a Roth-free zone.
	...

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