#162 - The Problem with Retirement Planning and How to Fix It
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Welcome back to the Retirement Answer Man Show. I’m Roger Whitney and I’m sad to say it, but Retirement Planning is broken! The mainstream retirement planning method that has worked for years is falling short in our modern world. It is frustrating, disappointing, and fails to give you the leverage you need to create a great retirement. In this episode, we will dive into the good, the bad, and the ugly of modern retirement planning and you will see why it no longer offers an empowering course of action. Fear not. There is a better way and I will tell you what it is in this episode. Make sure you listen to this one. Modern Retirement Planning is broken. 

Mainstream retirement planning is based on numbers, not people. You, your lifestyle goals, and your assets are plugged into a formula. The outcome is a rigid plan based solely on the numbers. It rarely offers you an encouraging plan and you are left with next to no levers to pull to create your ideal retirement. Change is inevitable. We must adapt to it. But the modern retirement plan is not flexible and you might end up without options. An effective retirement plan is one that looks at each person as what they are, a person. You are not a number in a formula, you are a human being and you have unique goals, desires, and beliefs that need to be considered while planning for your future. Modern planning is rigid and impersonal but there is a better way. Listen to this episode to learn more. Hiring a retirement planner is not always a recipe for success. 

We can all agree that using an online retirement planning service will result in an impersonal plan, but is working with a retirement planner a better option? Sometimes it can be, but often times it won’t result in a flexible and encouraging plan. Planners will listen to you and hear your goals and dreams but in the end, you are still plugged into a formula and have to deal with the rigid outcome; an outcome that does not inspire action, is not flexible enough to adapt to change and does not encourage you to chase your dreams. Working with a retirement planner might give you an educated prediction of the future, but it’s only a guess. Listen to this episode to discover a better way! What worked for your parents might not work for you. 

Mainstream retirement planning was once effective. It worked for our parents, but it’s not working for our generation. Why? There are many reasons, one of which is pensions. Our parents had pensions and they provided for most of their retirement years. Some of you have pensions and that’s great. But we are faced with an average of 30 years of life after we retire that we have to plan for. A pension won’t fully cover it so we need to get creative with our assets and goals. Our parents also lived more simply that we do. Retirement often consisted of sitting on the porch watching the neighborhood children play. Today we are presented with the opportunity to live our lives in ways that we have not been able to previously, and that costs money. Creativity and flexibility are the keys to a good retirement plan and on this episode, I’m going to give you an idea what that could look like for you. Don’t miss it! Agile Retirement Planning may be the key 

Agile Retirement planning is a method I have developed to work with the challenges of our modern world and provide you with options to create an ideal retirement. It’s adaptive and focuses on managing change rather than predicting the future. This will give you flexibility and hope when challenges present themselves. It allows you to be in control of your retirement rather than putting your trust entirely in chance or in your retirement planner. I’m going to dive deep into the 4 main impacts that I have seen in my client's lives as we have worked through the agile retirement method. Make sure you listen to the whole show to get it all. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN 

• [0:30] Today’s retirement planning method is broken.
• [1:00] Stan and Barbara’s retirement plan
• [10:49] Why mainstream retirement planning falls short.

PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT 

• [12:36] Will a retirement planner help you create a reasonable solution?
• [16:30] Working with a retirement planner usually yields the same results as doing it yourself would.
• [19:50] Mainstream retirement planning is “rigid” and has a negative impact on you.
• [21:10] What worked for your parents probably won’t work for you.
• [25:45] Agile retirement planning and why it works.
• [29:07] Real life impacts of Agile Retirement planning.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Contact Roger: http://www.rogerwhitney.com/retirementanswers/)Roger’s retirement learning center: www.RogerWhitney.com/learn)The Retirement Answer Man Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/RetirementAnswerMan)