Ready For Retirement
Ready For Retirement
Retire Happy: Build a Personalized Retirement Plan that You Can't Wait to Live Out
Monique aspired to retire early, and while she had faithfully saved throughout her working years, she wasn’t sure if she had enough to retire. After getting assurance from professionals, she took the plunge and quit working. Monique and James talk about the first two years of her retirement – how she’s been able to focus on her health and pursue some hobbies she didn’t have time for previously. Monique also shares some surprising challenges related to spending, travel, and family dynamics.
Questions answered:
What can retirees who are natural savers (and have more than enough) do to loosen the purse strings and spend more?
What does Monique wish she had done differently during her working years in preparation for retirement?
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Timestamps:
0:00 - Meet Monique
3:58 - 5 years before retiring
8:03 - Money impressions from childhood
10:47 - Transition to retirement
15:06 - Spending and travel challenges.
20:50 - Family pressure and self-awareness
25:51 - A spending exercise
32:19 - Better physical and mental health
35:53 - Persons and social changes
39:01 - Advice for younger self
Create Your Custom Strategy ⬇️
My guest on today's podcast is Monique. Monique opens up about a challenging work environment that led to a lot of health issues. She shares about the tipping point that ultimately led to her deciding it was time to retire early. And finally, she reveals how that, even though she's enjoying retirement, there's still a couple of unforeseen challenges that she continues to work through. It's all coming up next, on today's episode of Ready for Retirement. This is another episode of Ready for Retirement. I'm your host, james Canole, and I'm here to teach you how to get the most out of life with your money. And now on to the episode. Joining me today is Monique Blasquez. Monique, welcome, hi. Really excited to have you. We, of course, have known each other for some time. I think you've got a really interesting journey that I want to just unpack a little bit and share with some people here. But to start and to kick us off, do you mind sharing what you did prior to retiring for work?
Speaker 2:Sure, I worked like 30 plus years in finance. The longest I worked at was at a tech company for 21 years and my role in finance has always been analyzing costs, forecasting spend and, you know, staying within budgets all exciting stuff in finance. So that's been my role.
Speaker 1:All exciting stuff. Small company, large company. What were the?
Speaker 2:Very large company, very large company. So I don't know if I'm allowed to say it, but it's just a very large tech company. I don't know if I'm allowed to say it, but it's just a very large tech company.
Speaker 1:A very large tech company. Okay, and so you did so for 20 plus years. Yes, when did you start thinking about retirement?
Speaker 2:I started planning my retirement five years before I actually pulled the trigger. Um, I started. You know, there was, there was my company, culture was changing and a particular event like kind of set off the wheels in motion. Where I was, I was in a department meeting. I was given, uh, an assignment that had a very accelerated due date and I asked a lot of questions in the meeting of my boss and later I got called into his office for being disrespectful and I was kind of like what happened? And apparently I asked too many questions in front of a lot of junior analysts and it was weird because company culture wise, after he got his promotion he was more concerned about the optics of being questioned in front of junior analysts instead of liking these open discussions he used to love before. So my company was going towards more of a hierarchy culture, which I thought this is not for me anymore and I literally was thinking can I retire early? I was just wondering if I could. So that's kind of what set things off in motion.
Speaker 1:And when did you actually retire? What was the year and how old were you?
Speaker 2:I retired in 2022. There's a year later than I wanted to retire, but that's okay. I wanted to retire at 55. I ended up retiring around like 56. So it was like it's good enough, yeah, so that was kind of when I did it.
Speaker 1:So you started thinking about retirement 50, 51. Was it literally that singular incident that pushed you towards really seriously considering it, or had it always been a thought in the back of your head?
Speaker 2:Work-life balance was a bit much. The company scaled really big, but my particular team did not scale with it. So without additional resources you end up working, you know, evenings, weekends, holidays and sometimes vacations, and it's just it's too much work. So my work-life balance was thrown completely, which then affected my health and I used to. I just didn't even have time to do regular thing. I certainly couldn't exercise but I couldn't eat right, it was affecting my sleep. So all of those things in general actually helped start me down that path. It was just building up. But that that one particular department meeting was like wow, what am I doing with my life?
Speaker 1:You know it really brought things in focus. Now, what were those next five years like, what did you begin doing to see if you can make that happen?
Speaker 2:I started schooling myself by listening to just a ton of financial podcasts and you know I was mildly irritated with some of them because they would touch on really good topics. But then, as they go through it, they never quite answered any of the questions and instead ended it by saying oh, and if you want to know more, you can call us at 1-800-blah-blah-blah or check out our website. I said what just happened? Did I sign up for an infomercial or what? So I kept trying to educate myself. At the same time, I found a group of people that apparently were playing the lotto. I said why are you guys buying lotto tickets? And they said we're trying to retire early. And I said oh, sign me up, I'll be your fourth person. There were four of us there and that's it. We took turns buying lotto tickets and if we didn't hit it big and we got a little bit, then we would just go buy lunch together. But we did not stop. We were talking about plans of retiring early. It was lovely not stop.
Speaker 1:We were talking about plans of retiring early. It was lovely. How long did you do that?
Speaker 2:for how long did you and that group purchase lotto tickets? Oh my God, we must've. I mean, during the five years I was playing probably like three years playing with these guys I was like, come on, when are we going to hit it big? Are you even going to give two weeks notice? What are you going to do when you retire? I mean, we just kept like I didn't want to give up on the thought of retiring early.
Speaker 2:And that's where, actually, I said I need a financial advisor. I need to find out. I've been saving and investing, I educated, I paid off my mortgage but I still didn't know if I had it. I said I need somebody professional to tell me can I retire early or not? And then I ran into your podcast and I was listening to it and I said, oh my God, it's like a breath of fresh air right here, because your points were clear. You actually gave potential strategies. I know you can't give an answer one size fits all to everybody, but you gave stuff enough knowledge for people to think about and some potential strategies that we could implement and said I'm going to check out the website. I have never done this before in my life and I just signed up for like an initial consultation and the rest is history. So you know it was good stuff.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for that. And then, what was fascinating to me in that, monique, is you had been a good saver. We won't go into details, but you had been a good saver, investor, and you'd done well. There is this sense that the lottery would be the thing, the magical ticket, to quote unquote delivery to the promised land. Was there a number in your head where you said, if I want a million dollars, would I retire? It doesn't need to be 10 million, does it need to be 20? What? What was going through your mind as you were playing that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what that's the thing I mean. Of course, the bigger the amount, the better, right. But I just sat there sitting saying like how much? Maybe? Maybe 2 million, 2 million. If we split this between these guys, how much does that have to be? We were checking our odds. I know the odds were crap, but I just sat there going. This was desperation on my part. I needed to get a chunk of money so that I would feel secure, because I was worried that I didn't have enough and I didn't know what enough was. That's why it's like. At some point I said, like I'm in finance, I thought I know a little bit about money, but apparently when I listened to your podcast, I didn't know anything. So I said I need help. I can't just sit here, play the lotto all the time and not know if this is gonna even be enough anyway or sustain me in the future.
Speaker 1:That sense of enough is always fascinating because it's such a non-specific thing, but it's very much based upon really our experiences around money. What if you don't mind sharing? What was money like for you, even growing up? Oh my god look in the sixth grade.
Speaker 2:I still remember this. In the sixth grade, I still remember this. In the sixth grade, I got really upset that my subsidized lunch of 10 cents a day was going to 50 cents a day because they reviewed my parents' income and it was higher. I was fried. I was like what? I mean? I literally did not like the cost increase. I'm a kid who actually saved my birthday money for long periods of time. I mean, what kid does that? Right, that's. But you know I'm not going to just spend it on junk. I want to think about my purchases, right, and my whole career has been built around costs. It's never on the revenue side of things. It's always like how much stuff costs and you know it's. That's just. I've lived on a strict budget. I'm a saver is basically you know how it is at this point. So you know, but that's pretty much been my relationship with saving and investing. You know I just want to have more so that I can feel secure.
Speaker 1:So what was it? You know you're balancing this sense of you can always have more. There's always more to be saved, more to be invested. There's the tension between that and being fairly miserable at work, being called in I remember you sharing on Christmas day, being called in on weekends, being called in and away from family. How did you balance that? Was there a dollar amount that you felt like you hit and you said, okay, that's finally enough? Or was it something different that you gave you the peace of mind to actually be able to retire?
Speaker 2:I felt like I had a lot. I just I needed the peace of mind I need it's. It's a bit like when you're in college and you're taking all these classes and you need to talk to a counselor going am I going to graduate or not? Somebody tell me if I have enough units. I needed to talk to someone like that, someone that could tell me if this amount of money that I have is going to last me in the future. I was worried about long-term healthcare costs. I'm worried about what happens to this portfolio if we go into a down market. Do I have to go back to work? I don't want to do that. So I really needed more peace of mind. I felt like I felt like we had a lot, but I needed somebody to tell me that was going to be enough for the future.
Speaker 1:Right, absolutely Okay. Well, thank you for that. I want to. I'm going to come back to this in a minute but you did ultimately make the decision to retire. You're retired at 56. Still fairly young, very young for the retirement grand scheme of things. How did that transition go for you?
Speaker 2:that was amazing. There was hardly a transition. Um, you know, you had those four phases right, uh, of retirement, I think I jumped I've spent like two seconds in the vacation space, uh, phase of things.
Speaker 1:And then I I jumped to the fourth phase because I have hobbies and interests and do you recall, by the way, those phases off top of your head just for the audience, if they're unaware oh, I think, like, uh, okay, I think the the first phase.
Speaker 2:Oh, there's a test, there's the first phase, like the vacation vacation the second one is uh, it's not the depression phase. What do you call it feeling?
Speaker 1:of loss or feeling lost and a feeling of loss.
Speaker 2:Yes, feeling lost, not sure like what you're supposed to do with yourself. It can be depressing. I think the third one, I believe the phase, was your kind of trial and error. You're sort of reinventing yourself, trying to see what works for you. And the fourth one, I guess, is I don't think you called it nirvana, but you know the fourth one is where you finally are happy and you've, you've found the rewired man to the perfect yeah, which comes from Dr Riley Moynes, who's on the pod I think it's episode 220, if anyone wants to hear that.
Speaker 1:But yes, sorry, I just wanted to make sure that.
Speaker 2:Oh, that was a very interesting uh show and a lot of people.
Speaker 1:They get stuck in that, uh, sense of loss phase. I will say even especially people kind of like you, monique, who, yes, you didn't love work but you would given so much to work, yes, that it becomes hard to reinvent yourself and to find that sense of who am I actually, because I've been just so consumed by work. Did you struggle with that at all and if not, what do you attribute that to?
Speaker 2:No, I, I, you know. First of all, my brother told me hey, when you stop working, you're going to miss it, you're not going to know what to do with yourself. And I said to miss it, you're not going to know what to do with yourself. And I said you're going to be so wrong because the moment I retired, I already had a plan. I had already thought about what I want to do. There are hobbies and interests that I have that I just haven't been able to do because work is always in my face. I can't pursue any of these. I can't devote any time to any of these hobbies and interests. So as soon as I got out of work, it's like that's it. I'm going full tilt on all these things I've always wanted to do but never could. That's pretty much it. That's why it was like it just literally hit the ground running much it.
Speaker 1:That's why it was like it just.
Speaker 2:It just literally hit the ground running. Um plus two. I'm a person who actually needs um structure. So, while the vacation phase is fun, I could stay up until 3am watching all kinds of movies If I want to. I can do whatever I want, right, but that doesn't, that's not something that's sustainable and for me it's has no structure. I need structure in retirement. So my perfect day is if I have part of my day is productive and the other part of my day is just having fun, just screwing around, doing whatever. So that is literally how my schedule is right now.
Speaker 2:The first half, on that about yourself, um, the structure part. I just that's just the way I am. How I was going to structure my day, though I had to think about that for a second. That's why I was doing a lot of planning. I, I, I figured out that I I'm better if I, in the morning I think a little bit clearer. So I'm going to do all the productive stuff, like paying bills, you know, appointments, running errands, like just doing things that have to be done, right. The second half of my day is just for creative projects. If I want to catch up on that TV show, you know, I can do all kinds of things for fun at the second half of my day and I learned how to balance that. Now it's it's done. Really I like it. I like the way it is right now, yeah, so so you, you've loved retirement.
Speaker 1:It's been a little over two years now. Has it been all butterflies and rainbows, or there've been challenges even in retirement?
Speaker 2:No, I mean there's some butterflies every now and then. I think I might've told you that when I was working I used to see my neighbors all putzing around in their gardens out there and used to get kind of envious, Like I want to just be at home, like you know, putzing around too. It felt like a club I couldn't get into. But once I retired, now I go out there and I wave at the neighbors and we wave back at each other. It's like a beautiful thing. So it is butterflies sometimes, right, it's so freeing.
Speaker 2:But I do have a couple of challenges. One of them is I'm one of those crazy people who can't get out of the saving mode and I can't spend. I can't become a spender and it's stupid because it's like why did I save? Why did I save and invest this whole time? Wasn't it to spend in retirement? And I'm not doing it. And I think I figured out why I don't think I've told you this before, I figured this out it's because I've been controlling our personal finances to the cent forever. It's always me that's managing all the money. Now that Root Financial is managing the bulk of our portfolio, I think that's great because now there's people. I'm relieved because there's people smarter than me that are overseeing our money. That's wonderful.
Speaker 2:The problem is, psychologically, is that I feel like the only money I get disconnected. I feel like the only money I have is the part that I'm controlling, which is just my checking account and some emergency savings. And so I feel like I'm so disconnected that when I meet with Root Financial to go over our stuff, I look at the portfolio. I'm like, wow, those people have a nice portfolio. I said, oh, that's us. Oh, my God, what's wrong with me, right? So I feel like the only money I have is the part that I'm controlling. Therefore, the spending gets conservative and that's why I'm not spending and I'm like that's just something I have to square with. It's not because everybody Roof Financial tells me it's okay to spend, it's a me problem. I need to get over myself. I need to understand. You know we're not going to be here forever. What am I doing? I need to enjoy myself. If I want to spend it, I should spend it, right? I don't need to be in the saving mode anymore. But that's just something I have to square with.
Speaker 2:The other issue I have is I just found out that my travel views are causing disappointment in my family. When I had my initial consultation with Root, you guys asked me what do you want to do in retirement? And travel was never one of those things. I never said the word travel. However, my family is expecting me. They expected that once I retired I would travel more, because that's what normal people do, and I so don't want to. I want to stay home. My home is such a nice place and while I was working I was never here to enjoy it. Now I get to enjoy it.
Speaker 2:But the problem is, now that I'm doing what I want to, I feel like I might be robbing my family of all these experiences they thought they were going to have with me if I traveled. So I need to keep working through that. I wouldn't say that I overcame that. I think they're still trying to understand what's wrong with me, so I need to kind of work that out. I I don't know. That's just something that I never thought I would have to deal with, and I feel like I'm also going to have some future challenges.
Speaker 2:My husband hasn't retired yet, but he's going to, but he is not.
Speaker 2:He has no idea what he's going to do in retirement.
Speaker 2:My brother wants to retire early too, and we all, we all live together. We have a very unique living situation. My brother's family lives with us and but if he doesn't figure out what he wants to do, then all this lovely alone time I have, with these projects that I have, are going to get affected by at least for sure, affected by my husband not knowing what he's going to do in retirement. Right, he could potentially harsh my buzz and I'm just going to be like, oh, I can't have my alone time to do my fun stuff, right, Because I got to worry about that he's doing okay, and I told him you better think about this ahead of time. You still have, like probably about a year or so before you're going to, but I'm not sure if he's heeding my advice. So I'm hoping people, people do need to think about what they're going to do in retirement. I think people lots of times know what they're retiring from, but they don't know what they're retiring to, and that's something that's something to think about honestly.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for sharing all of that, monique. It's easy to say, yeah, it's great, I wave my neighbors, I tend the flowers, I enjoy life and all is good. But there are real challenges. A few things I want to talk about. You need to retire to something. Let's assume that you know what you're retiring to and your husband knows what he's retiring to. If there's not communication about that, it could lead to challenges. I'm curious how did it come about that? Was there an intervention where the family said hey, monique, you're ruining our travel plans? Or was it just you're starting to become more aware of conflict between what they wanted to do and what you wanted to do?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so every time. So my brother and his family love to travel. Um, they've been going all over the place and every time they're planning, they look over at me and they and, and my husband and they go do you guys want to come with us? And I'm like going, um, I'm okay. That's the standard answer I give, I'm okay. And my husband just looks at me like really, you don't want to go anywhere? And I'm like, no, I'm good, I don't want to go.
Speaker 2:And it was like my brother was asking me are you just never going to go anywhere? Don't you want to see something new? Don't you want to go out? Blah, blah. And I'm like no, and they're trying.
Speaker 2:I feel like they're still working me. They're still trying to come up with like, okay, what if we don't fly to Asia? What if we just fly something closer, you know, like Hawaii? I feel like they're trying to find that special place that might make me say yes. And I feel like they're slowly coming to the realization like you're not going to come with us, are you? You're not going to travel anywhere ever again?
Speaker 2:And I'm like I don't know, I just I don't feel like traveling. I'm not a good traveler anymore. That's part of it, because I think, as I, I think something happened to me after I was I approached like 50. I don't travel so well Anymore. I get motion sickness, there's anxiety with flying, there's all kinds of junk that happens to me. That's for another type of podcast, but anyway, I, I, just, I, just I, I don't know, I have no desire to travel. I don't know I have no desire to travel. I don't know why. It's abnormal, but I feel like they're still trying to get me to go, but at some point I think they might realize it might not happen, but I feel bad I do. They want to go so much, you know, someplace with me so that we can have fun together, and I'm like I feel like me saying no all the time is really putting a damper on things well that I'll go back to that communication piece is very rarely are both spouses or all family members on the same exact page.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you think travel what do you see on the commercials? What do you see on the websites? You see sailboats. You see people walk on the beach. You, and there's a sense of you're supposed to do that. So of course we're gonna retire and do that. But it sounds like there's one a lot of self-awareness of what Monique does and doesn't enjoy doing. And, like you said, you're really enjoying retirement. It's just not because you're traveling or doing the things that people maybe think of when they think of traditional retirement. But maybe an encouragement to everyone who is listening that communication piece the sooner that does begin the better. It doesn't mean there's perfect resolution, but it can be the sense of wait. We're retired now and what do you mean? You don't want to take that trip with us, or what do you mean you don't want to do this thing that I just assumed we would be doing at that time?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think some of these challenges, while it would be nice for me to say and I got a resolution to both of them they're really both open-ended. The saver spender thing Sometimes I do well and then other times I'll negate what I just did. So I like, a couple of weeks ago I went and I bought some something that's completely useless but I really liked it and I said, okay, this is it, I can, I can spend if I want to. And then the following week I did something that completely erased that I. Then, the following week I did something that completely erased that. I haven't even told you I did this.
Speaker 2:Yet I sold my car and I sold it for cost avoidance reasons. My insurance was coming up, my registration was coming up and I was told that when I take it in for service, I have to to. I have to do my 10 year service. It's going to cost me upwards of 2000 plus right. And I said I don't even drive this car that much anymore because I'm at home all the time. I said, nah, I'm going to sell this car and I got a pretty good price for it and now I have even more money to save and it's just like what did I just do? And all this to say I am making no progress on that particular challenge, but it all I can say is I'm working on it. I'm learning a lot about myself and I'm trying to work on it. I know that that's a problem.
Speaker 1:Do you recall the exercise we went through?
Speaker 2:a few months back now.
Speaker 1:I'll fill the audience in just real quick on the exercise. It's an election year, so it's especially relevant where there's a few different ways to do it. But say, you take the portion of your portfolio that you could sustainably spend, but you're not spending for one reason or another. And I'll ask you the question, monique, okay, we're in an election year. My guess is you don't, or you're not totally in love with both candidates. Love with both candidates.
Speaker 1:But let's just assume that you are going to choose one candidate that you like less, maybe even despise, if you don't spend this money let's just call it $100,000 this year that you could spend all that money is going to be donated to that political candidate that you just totally despise if you don't spend it. And then you walk through the exercise of what are the first things that come to mind. It could be a house cleaner, it could be first-class tickets, it could be giving money to charity, it could be and I remember you wrestled with that and I was like, well, could I gift it to my brother? Or ultimately just give this and like, roundabout way, it comes back in my savings account and it's no money. That's not an option. You have to spend it or give it away, and it was just challenging.
Speaker 2:Do you know why that is? Why, yeah, I'm telling you it's in the blood. I can't, I don't understand, like why? Yeah, my first instinct, when you said a hundred thousand, I said, okay, I want to save it is what I want to do. And if I can't, he goes oh, you can't save it. I said, well, I'll just give it to my brother and then, when this exercise is over, he'll give it back to me and I'll put it in my savings.
Speaker 2:I'm like what is wrong with me? Why can't I? You know, here's, here's part of it too material things. Of course, we like a lot of nice material things and stuff, but material things, material things, are not what drives the source of my happiness, and I've realized, growing older it's. Material stuff means even less um. So that's why I'm. I mean, I haven't found any material thing that I mean that I would like to just blow money on. It doesn't matter to me to have those. Instead, it also becomes like clutter in the house. I don't need it, right? Secondly, I mean I'm really having a heart attack with how much things cost right now. I can't. I just know I'm getting robbed every time I'm about to like how much does this cost. I'm still getting sticker shock after all this time, and I refuse to pay some of these prices. I just won't buy it, and so I'm waiting for the prices to come down. I don't know. I'm waiting. I'll never not buy anything that's not on sale. I can't help it.
Speaker 2:It's in the blood. So I need to kind of push myself. I am trying. Okay, here's one thing I'm trying. I'm trying. I am trying to plan a small vacation. Uh, my one of my nieces has never been to Disneyland and I know that costs a fortune to go to, but that's okay. I feel like this might be worth it. This might be an experience that I want to have with my two nieces that that live with with me. I think that would. I am seriously considering that. I know it's going to cost, but it's worth it. I think you know to do that. How many times do you get to go to Disneyland with a kid for the first time? She's just going to go crazy. She's going to go bonkers when she sees it, and I want to be there when it happens. So I'll get there. I've got some. I'm trying. Really hard is all I have to say.
Speaker 1:Well, there's a few different angles to look at this. From the first and foremost, the good news is you're really enjoying retirement. It's not as if you're sacrificing like crazy and miserable because you're not doing things um. So that's obviously the bigger priority. The second thing is it doesn't always have to be spending money on something one. It can be an experience, although technically that is spending money on something One. It can be an experience, although technically that is spending money on something. But that's always some.
Speaker 1:Very rarely do people regret that, but this is more so for the audience. But sometimes it can be a not like a what's on my to-do list of things to purchase, but what's on my not to-do list. Like what things do I really not enjoy doing? I can't stand doing yard work. I can't stand cleaning the house. I don't like do can I use money to pay to buy my time back or my convenience back by having someone else do that? But I think the fact that it is top of mind is something I appreciate you sharing with the audience, cause it's not like you're retired and all of a sudden a switch is flipped and all of a sudden you can stop saving and start spending. That is part of who you are, and it's two plus years into retirement and it's still something that's very much top of mind and something that you I don't want to say struggle with, but continue to think and reflect on. Of what does this look like? What do I do with the money I've saved my whole life now that I'm in retirement?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that that's it. I mean you and Ari says the same thing on his podcast, that it's like the contest is not to see who could die with the most money. Right, I mean, that's just dumb. But at the same time, you know a lot of my hobbies and interests. It requires more time than it does money. It just happens to be that way. So it's the things that I like to do don't require a lot of spending of money anyway, and so it's just. I don't know, it is something that I'm going to have to adjust to. But don't worry, my whole family is constantly all over me. They're coming at me all the time going like don't be so cheap money, Just do it. You know. Just do something, spend it. If you want to do it, do it, you know. I honestly think that it's starting to, it's starting to have an effect. So it's my family's helping me out. They're helping.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a good, positive environment of healthy encouragement and granted like this is because you're in a position to be able to do that. If you aren't well-saved and haven't prepared, it's a totally different conversation. So there's a nuance even to this, this type of conversation. I do want to go through some, just some quick questions, because I really appreciate you opening up on all this. To start with, you mentioned health was a challenge because of sleeplessness and the demands. How has health been since retiring?
Speaker 2:Oh, this would be shocking. I eat better, I sleep better, I exercise more Shocking. But I have time now to concentrate on my health. When before, when I was working, I used to think that, like when we're closing the books and we're in the middle of quarter end, it is so intense that go to the restroom, all those things take up time. I don't have time. I was literally like that.
Speaker 2:So I think, now that everything is slowed down, I don't have those kind of deadlines in front of me anymore. I'm a lot more peaceful. I can concentrate on my health. I can be more mindful about what I eat, how much water I'm intaking. I go concentrate on my health. I can be more mindful about you know what I eat, how much water I'm intaking. I go see my doctor, you know. Do the blood tests each year so I can check myself out. Everything is is a lot better.
Speaker 2:I feel like I'm more focused on that because it's true, if you don't have your health, you't do anything. I can't do anything without my health, right? So I want to concentrate on that. I think, like, mentally, emotionally hey look, I don't dread waking up in the morning, right, I used to dread waking up in the morning. I have to put on a different persona because that's just sort of a dumb defense mechanism you have in the working world, right, so you can deal with the stuff, with the stress out there. I don't have to do that anymore. I can just kind of be me, you know, and I can relax and I really appreciate things more.
Speaker 2:I mean, two plus years into retirement, like you said. You know, having like a cup of coffee in the morning without getting bothered with a bunch of questions is not an overrated thing. I'm really still enjoying. I'm just sitting there having a cup of coffee. It's just dumb, but it's like I really appreciate this moment. I appreciate little moments. I can stop and calm down, you know, and it's everything's not running like a hundred miles an hour all the time.
Speaker 2:I actually can enjoy Christmas, yay, because usually that's our holiday order where we are closing the books, and that's a very order where we are closing the books and that's a very important quarter for my company and you just work in all the way through it. I don't have to do that anymore. It's weird to not be working during Christmas, which is sad to say that, but I'm going, if I, if, whenever I do go on vacation. I won't have to bring my computer you know that sucked to bring that. It's nice not to. It's nice to just slow down. You think yourself, you're enjoying your life and you're concentrating on your health and I really appreciate that lifestyle change retirement's not been without its challenges, although I think the positive significantly outweigh the challenges.
Speaker 1:What's been the single if you had to summarize it, the single greatest transformation of who Monique was prior to retirement to who Monique is post-retirement?
Speaker 2:I'm a lot more positive. Look, people still call me a glasses half empty person. Okay, so I find it that I'm just a realist, with just a tinge of cynicism once in a while. But here's the, here's the change. Right, I still look at things from a realistic point of view. You know potential, you know pitfalls or something. I still look at all of all of things from a realistic lens. However, because I kind of have a clearer head and I'm a little bit more peaceful, I I feel confident that I can come up with, you know, positive solutions to things.
Speaker 2:Before I wasn't like that. I think I wasn't even actually the best person to be around while I was working. The stress was sort of weighing me down, so I was sort of a little grouchy. You know, the stress was sort of weighing me down, so I was sort of a little grouchy, you know. But now, part of this transformation too is the fact that I don't get, I'm not stressed out and I don't get bothered a lot.
Speaker 2:When I finally do talk to somebody new whether it's a new neighbor or I don't know a repair person that comes to the house or I don't know who I'm talking to I end up chatting them up. I never did that. I never chat anybody up. I'm usually very like are you here to fine, do it. You know, I'm just very like short and abrupt here. It's like how's your day going?
Speaker 2:I just have a conversation with people, which is crazy. That's another thing. I can actually have a conversation with people. I actually talk and engage with my family and my friends where before I didn't have time. I never have any time. It's sad to say that out loud, but I have an aunt who lives. She's 87 years old. She lives in Las Vegas. I call her every week and we chat for like two to three hours. Two friends I caught up with two marathon phone calls. One was four hours and the other one was five hours. I never had time to do that and it was amazing. I think with the few people that I do have in my life, I am engaging with them more. I feel like I'm actually developing those relationships. I just am a lot more positive now, which nobody would have said that about me before. Nobody would have said that about me. I'm like Miss Negative all the time, but I mean, you know it's all good now I feel great.
Speaker 1:It's all good now. That's great. Thank you, Monique, For people who are listening. A lot of people listen contemplating retirement, even more so for the psychological or psychological reasons and financial reasons sometimes. What do you wish you knew prior to retiring? That you do know now and maybe we can leave that with the audience as we start to wrap up.
Speaker 2:I mean part of it is before I retired. I actually wish that I had educated myself a little bit more. I think you had a guest on that said he'd been planning retirement forever, for as long as he can remember. I didn't. I didn't know. I wish I educated myself on my own personal finances. I didn't know enough. When I joined the tech company that I worked at, they gave me stock options, they gave me RSUs, and I had no idea what the difference was between them. I had no idea what the tax implications were for them. I just should have looked into it, but I never did. It could have had, you know, uh, uh, it could have impacted. I could have retired earlier if I knew what I was doing. So I wish I had educated myself a bit more about that.
Speaker 2:Um, going into retirement, I mean, or you know, if you're going into retirement, you do have to plan for some things. You got to organize your finances. You got to look at what you're really going to spend in retirement. Be honest about how much you're going to spend in retirement, you know, take care of some of those larger expenses while you're still working, so that you don't have to deal with that in retirement. I think that you should take care of even some of your health care issues while you're still under your employer's life health plan. Take care of some of those things going in there, because your health is going to be paramount. But then I think that you know. But then I think that you know.
Speaker 2:I think you need to really plan, like what you're going to do. And if you look at it through the lens, like, look, we're not going to be here forever. Time is limited, right? So what do you want to do with your time? If you're able to have the money to be financially free, what are you going to do with all that time? But it's a great chance to either reinvent yourself, get to know yourself, you know, don't be afraid of it. Just realize that when you were in the working world you were dealing with a lot of like stress of deadlines and problem solving and workplace politics. Just have the confidence to know you're going to be able to solve whatever issue you find in retirement, you know. I mean like literally, don't give up, you're going to find the answer somewhere if you're a little bit lost. Great chance to reinvent yourself and have a second life if you will, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, that is all excellent feedback and perspective and really appreciate you being open about both what's gone well and some of the challenges in retirement. But, monique, really appreciate you taking the time and joining me here on the Ready for Retirement podcast. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Root Financial has not provided any compensation for and has not influenced the content of, any testimonials and endorsements shown. Any testimonials and endorsements shown have been invited, have been shared with each individual's permission and are not necessarily representative of the experience of other clients. To our knowledge, no other conflicts of interest exist regarding these testimonials and endorsements. Hey everyone, it's me again for the disclaimer. Please be smart about this. Before doing anything, please be sure to consult with your tax planner or financial planner. Nothing in this podcast should be construed as investment, tax, legal or other financial advice. It is for informational purposes only. Work with clients all over the country and we love the opportunity to speak with you about your goals and how we might be able to help. And please remember, nothing we discuss in this podcast is intended to serve as advice. You should always consult a financial, legal or tax professional who's familiar with your unique circumstances before making any financial decisions.
