A lot of you are actually in a good spot to retire early, but you have head trash.

What is head trash?

Head trash is my example of when you're going, hey, I think I'm in a good spot to retire early, but I don't know because I'm just scared to death to have to go back to work. I don't want to turn in my notice and be wrong and have to end up going back to work there or somewhere else when maybe I am just really in a spot where I really don't want to work ever again or I have to take another role and I'm just not suited for that role at that time because I've now spent so many years doing something I want to do, and now I'm back on someone else's clock and schedule, and you don't want that. And so here's my example for all of you, because at the end of today's episode, you are going to have total clarity so that you don't have any of that

head trash. So today, I'm going to be tackling a lot of the myths that people talk about in an early

retirement, but specifically in relation to ever going back to work. Because it's true. You're a

human. I don't work with robots. And the people reached out to me are like, hey, I'm in a good

spot, but I just don't retire too soon. And I don't want you to retire too soon either. And if you don't know my made up definition, the fire movement, which is financial independence, retire early. It's a big movement going on where a lot of people are saving and investing to a really healthy degree, sometimes a dangerous degree, where they'll get a second or a third job just so that, you know, they can retire. And they do retire and

say, what on earth am I going to do with my time? Am I going to have fulfillment? Am I going to have purpose? Then there's others of you that are like, hey, I don't want to retire in my 30s or 40s. I want to retire. I just want to do it with confidence. I never want to go back to work. And that's most of you that are reaching out. And so I made a new definition. Instead of financial

independence retire early, I say financial independence recreational employment. Most of you don't want to do nothing. You want to do something. You just want it to be fulfilling, whether it being on a board of a company or whether it's doing part-time work at Starbucks where it's a whole lot less stressful. You want to enjoy your life,

never have to feel like you have to go back to work. So how do we do that? That's what we're going to talk about in today's episode. Here's the analogy that I want to start with. And I tell this to my client, so a lot of my clients already know this. But very simply, some of you are in the I don't know face. I'm not saying all of you, but some of you. Now, I'm a soccer player, and I am not fun to be around

when I get hurt. Okay, my partner says I'm worse than hangary. And a lot of you know what that is, but hangary, hungry and angry, until I get my MRI. Okay, the MRI tells me the severity of the injury. That's almost like a financial plan. Then that doesn't solve it right then and there. Okay, great. I've got my MRI. Now I need to go to physical therapy on an

ongoing basis. of the injury. That's almost like a financial plan. Then that doesn't solve it right then and there.

Okay, great. I've got my MRI. Now I need to go to physical therapy on an ongoing basis to make sure I'm servicing my injury and can get back to being healthy. Go back on the field. Same thing here. That's what I view working with a planner is like. Now, when I'm looking at specific plans for people, It's not me saying, yep, this is the date you can absolutely retire.

I'm giving at specific plans for people, it's not me saying, yep, this is the date you can, you know, absolutely retire. I'm giving that feedback to say, here are your options. Do you want to retire at this age and spend X amount? And then they're telling me, yes, I absolutely would love to spend X amount. Or no, you know what, for my true retirement, I really need to make sure that there's no wiggle room there. I'm just going to sleep better. I need to know if markets do XYZ, I'm still going to be okay. I say, great. Everyone has a different threshold, which is why I tell everyone, I hope you marry your partner forever, even though I know very clearly everyone doesn't, but I don't want you to marry your asset allocation. I don't want you to marry your social security strategy. I don't want you to marry your asset allocation I don't want you to marry your social security strategy I don't want you to marry anything I actually want you to be very dynamic with your withdrawal strategy and if you are going to retire early and you're saying I really never want to go back to work you have to be a little bit comfortable being uncomfortable and a lot of my coaches said that back in the day and I was like yeah I hear you but you know where's the logic in that? But I get it now. And I lot of my coaches said that back in the day. And I was like, yeah, I hear you,

but, you know, where's the logic in that? But I get it now. And I'm telling my clients, they'll say, hey, when should I collect Social Security? I go, here's what we're planning on. But if there's a significant health event, or if we determine for a tax purpose, we want to do this Roth conversion, we're going to push that back. Are you okay with that? And some people are like, no, no, no, I'm not comfortable with that.

I need to know in five years when my Social Security is getting turned on.

I go, you can do that.

And there's nothing wrong with that. But that's almost like the 4% rule. And so a lot of what I'm going to talk about is in relation to this withdrawal rate number because this should dictate a lot of what's going to cause success or failure in your early retirement.

If you are worried about going back to work, here's what you're actually saying. You're worried that in the future, markets aren't going to do well and you're not going to have enough money. You're worried that markets are going to do well, but you're going to find that you're going to want to spend more because you're loving these trips in retirement and you're really not sure

if your retirement expenses are dialed in. So you need to get really confident about what is in

your control. Well, what is in your control? You can control your spending in retirement.

You absolutely can control your overall allocation. You can't control what it's going to output,

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