meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Your Money Guide on the Side

The 3 Retirement Numbers You Actually Need

Your Money Guide on the Side

Tyler Gardner

Business, Education, Entrepreneurship, Investing, How To

4.92.4K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2026

⏱️ 37 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If you're interested in learning more about this week's partners: Copilot Money: I rarely recommend financial apps to my friends, but after suggesting that a few of my friends (all of whom work in finance) check out Copilot Money, not only did they all sign up, but they all think it's the best money app they've seen to date. So if you want to get your financial life in order, check out Copilot Money today at try.copilot.money/tyler. Gelt: My biggest business mistake to date? Waiting too long to establish a relationship with a reliable and proactive tax strategist. I left tens of thousands on the table. If your business is consistently netting over $200k, and you're lost as to next steps, you need to check out Gelt today at joingelt.com/tyler. And on to the show notes! Most retirement advice sounds confident and means almost nothing. “Save a million.”“Ten times your salary.”“Seventy percent of your income." None of that tells you what you actually need. In this episode, Tyler walks through how to calculate your real retirement number — one based on your spending, your timeline, and the kind of life you actually want. The goal isn’t motivation. It’s clarity. Instead of vague targets, Tyler breaks retirement planning into three practical numbers: Traditional FIRE — the “never work again” number, and why it’s too extreme for most people Coast FIRE — the Goldilocks option that lets you save hard early and ease off later The bare minimum — a realistic bridge for people closer to retirement who need options, not perfection Along the way, he explains why investing matters more than saving alone, why time beats contribution size, and why conservative assumptions create flexibility instead of fear. This episode isn’t about chasing a magic number. It’s about knowing what you’re building toward — so you can stop guessing and start making decisions with confidence. If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re on track, this episode gives you a framework you can actually use. And if the show’s been helpful, leaving a quick review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify genuinely helps. Hope this gives you something to think about this week.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago, but the second best time is today.

0:06.0

Once you know your number, you can make a plan.

0:08.9

Once you have a plan, you stop spinning your wheels.

0:12.5

You stop wondering if you're doing it right.

0:15.4

You just do the math, save the money, invest intelligently.

0:21.4

Hello, friends. This is Tyler Gardner, welcoming you to another episode of your

0:25.7

Money Guide on the side, where it is my job to simplify what seems complex, add nuance to what

0:31.5

seems simple, and learn from and alongside some of the brightest minds in money, finance,

0:37.3

and investing.

0:38.1

So let's get started and get you one step closer to where you need to be.

0:43.1

Welcome back, my friends, to the show that makes personal finance feel just a little less like a root canal,

0:50.0

and more like a conversation you'd actually, maybe, want to have over coffee or while joining me for a walk in the woods of Vermont, although it's a little cold these days, so I'm taking this day to be inside.

1:01.8

I'm your host, Tyler, and today we're tackling the question that keeps people up at night more than I think most of us would like to admit.

1:10.1

How much money do I actually need

1:12.8

to retire? Or to have options. Or to just stop feeling like I'm one bad month away from having

1:18.9

to sell a kidney to fund my 70s. Great question, as always, because if there's one thing

1:24.8

that truly does drive me nuts about most retirement advice,

1:28.3

it's maddeningly vague. Save a million bucks. Aim for 10 times your salary, as if we only

1:35.5

have one salary throughout our lives. You'll need 70% of your pre-retirement income. Cool,

1:41.7

cool, and cool. But what does any of that actually mean for you with your

1:47.5

spending, your goals, your timeline? So today, we're going to calculate your actual number.

1:56.0

Not just some generic target pulled from a financial planning textbook written in 1987 and still sitting

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tyler Gardner, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Tyler Gardner and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.