Retirement Goal Case Study

Retirement Answer Man

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

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

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

💬 Show Notes

In this episode, Roger Whitney wraps up our four-week series on smarter retirement goal setting. He dives into the ideas of buoyancy and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, showing how they play a role in planning a retirement that actually works for you. Using two relatable avatars – the Grinder and the Dreamer – Roger shares practical, real-world strategies to help navigate the twists and turns of retirement planning. Tune in for insights that will help you make your retirement not just secure, but truly rock!

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN

(00:00) This is the last of a four-week series on better retirement goal setting

PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT

(01:58) The first concept for today is the concept of buoyancy.
(04:50) Roger talks about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
(07:50) A look inside the Advice Lab Roger runs with his work team.

AVATAR CASE STUDY- THE GRINDER AND THE DREAMER

(10:10) Introduction of two avatars created by the team — the Grinder and the Dreamer.
(10:58) First, Roger breaks down the Grinder.
(14:27) What are triggers that might help a grinder reevaluate retirement planning?
(16:57) What do Grinders crave?
(18:50) How do you navigate as a Grinder or as someone in a relationship with a Grinder?
(21:50) The pillars of retirement are a helpful framework when it comes to Grinders.
(27:00) Next, Roger breaks down the avatar of the Dreamer.
(29:30) What are the triggers that a Dreamer faces?
(32:30) Roger breaks down the retirement pillars for Dreamers.
(37:00) Roger reflects on how his partnership with Tanya mirrors the Dreamer and Grinder archetypes, showing how balancing vision and execution can lead to better communication and more effective retirement goals.

LISTENER QUESTIONS

(38:14) You can submit questions at AskRoger.me
(38:40) Barbara shares thoughts on a recent episode.
(42:04) Roger shares an audio clip from Tom.
(44:27) One listener shares that drawing down the accounts is a mental challenge.
(45:49) Rod asks what portion of a 71-year-old’s $5–6M retirement portfolio could go into low-risk private credit.

SMART SPRINT

(48:38) In the next seven days, reflect on where you fall between Dreamer and Grinder and consider that when setting or refreshing your retirement goals, so you can better balance your approach.

REFERENCES

Transcript

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0:00.0	It isn't normal to know what we want. It's a rare and difficult psychological achievement,
0:07.3	Abraham Maslow. Welcome to the show dedicated to helping you not just survive retirement,
0:15.1	but to have the confidence to lean in and rock it. My name is Roger Whitney.
0:20.6	Hey, thanks for hanging out with me today.
0:22.3	This is the last of a four-week series on Better Retirement Goal Setting. I've really enjoyed this.
0:29.0	I think a lot, I'm getting a lot out of it. Hopefully you're getting a lot out of it.
0:32.8	Today we're going to end with some, a couple case studies that are really going to be
0:36.4	avatars, not an actual
0:37.7	individual, but based off of experience. We're going to do that. We're going to talk about a couple
0:43.1	concepts that are important to discuss to set the table when we think about goal setting.
0:49.6	And then at the end, we're going to answer some of your questions so we can help you take a baby
0:54.4	step to rocking retirement. Before we get to that, I would like to invite you to join me live on
1:00.2	November 6th. That's next Tuesday at 7 p.m. Central. We're going to have an online meetup where we're
1:06.5	going to talk about the anatomy of goals and how to set them. We're going to talk about the go-go
1:10.7	years and how do we maximize those with having confidence. And we'll be able to have some
1:15.5	interaction and questions back and forth and hopefully have a rich discussion. In addition,
1:20.4	we're going to invite you to join the fall cohort of the Rock Retirement Club. This is the last
1:26.6	cohort for the year,
1:28.1	where you can join over a thousand other people,
1:31.1	just like you that are using the retirement planning software,
1:35.3	the education, and the community to put in the reps
1:39.4	to build better retirement plans of records
	...

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