Retirement expert Jamie Hopkins has spent 20 years helping people plan for retirement, and his most counterintuitive advice stops most savers cold: in the final years before you retire, putting more money away might actually be hurting you. This week he joins Joe and OG to explain why, and what to do instead. In this episode: Why financially prepared retirees still end up miserable, how to practice spending before you retire, the home bias that quietly tanks your portfolio and your quality of life at the same time, and what to actually do with all that home equity when the time comes. Biggest takeaways: The last three to five years of extra contributions barely move the needle on your retirement portfolio. Working six months longer matters more. So does learning to spend. Take that money and actually use it, so you're not hitting retirement having never practiced. Retirement isn't a math problem, it's an identity problem. The people who struggle most aren't broke. They never figured out where their purpose and community would come from once work disappeared. Over half of Americans are forced into retirement earlier than expected. You need a plan for that scenario now, not when it happens. Resources mentioned: Jamie Hopkins' Retirement Sketchbook wherever books are sold The Stacking Benjamins scorecard: stackingbenjamins.com/scorecard The Vault: stackingbenjamins.com/vault Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices