Ready For Retirement
Ready For Retirement
The Most Important Thing You Can Do For Your Financial Plan
James challenges the idea that financial security comes from always having more—more savings, more income, more investments. Studies show that no matter how much people have, they often feel like they need twice as much to feel secure. That mindset can make fulfillment feel just out of reach.
Instead, James asks: What’s one thing you could do or buy to make this year special? He shares stories like a couple who used an unexpected windfall to buy a boat—not as an investment, but to create years of unforgettable memories.
The takeaway? Money isn’t the goal—it’s the tool that helps you build a life that feels rich in the ways that matter most.
Questions answered:
1. Why do people always feel like they need more money to feel wealthy?
2. How can I use my money to create a more meaningful life?
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Timestamps:
0:00 - A question and some statistics
3:07 - Steph's answer
6:00 - Other answers
8:01 - An exercise
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Today, we're going to talk about one of the most important financial decisions you can make for 2025 and possibly even for the rest of your life. Now, typically, when you hear most important financial decisions, what do you think? Probably think something about how do you invest better? How much money do you need to retire? What tax strategies exist when you do retire to optimize what you worked for? All of those things are important, but all of those things are tactical decisions that you should make to support the bigger picture goal, the bigger picture of what you want retirement to be about. And, more importantly, none of those things even matter if we don't get this first thing right. And this first thing is what we're going to talk about today.
Speaker 1: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. 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. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to ask you a very simple question and I want you to take time to think through it. Don't mistake something that's super simple for something that's simplistic and irrelevant to what you should be doing. My question to you is this what is one thing you can do or buy to make this year special? Incredibly simple. There's nothing complicated to it. There's no gotchas, there's no hidden formulas in there. It's simply asking you to address what is one thing you can do or buy to make this year special, and what I want to do is I want to share some stories, because I asked this very same question to a whole bunch of clients. I'm going to share some of the feedback I got with you to give you some inspiration of what that could look like, as well as a word of warning, because some of this feedback I wish I could share with everyone, to show how important answering this very simple question can be.
Speaker 1:To start, though, I want to share with you some statistics, because these statistics are very relevant to what we're going to be discussing. If you ask the average American how much money do you need to have to feel wealthy? The answer is $2.2 million. If you ask a group of millionaires how much you need to have to feel wealthy, the answer there is $7.5 million. So from those two simple data points alone, it becomes very clear that in order to feel wealthy, we all think that we need to have more than we have today. And to put some data around that, there was another study that asked Americans how much they needed to feel wealthy, and across the board Whether someone was poor or wealthy or anywhere in between the common theme was that people felt that they needed to have double of what they have today to actually feel wealthy. The person with 1 million wanted 2 million, the person with 5 million wanted 10 million, the person with 10 million wanted 20 million.
Speaker 1:And what you start to see is this sense that to feel wealthy always seems like it's just out of our reach just a little bit more more than what we have today to finally feel that, except that when we get there, we're not actually going to feel any different. So why am I saying that? I'm saying that because, as a very important connection to the question that I asked you at the beginning of this, which is what's one thing you can do or buy to make this your special, I'm asking you to do this for a number of reasons, but one of those reasons, maybe the most important reason, is to get out of the trap of thinking that more wealth, more income, a larger portfolio is somehow going to get us to feel better about where we are, is somehow going to help us arrive at the promised land where everything is fun, everything is peaceful. We have total confidence in everything that we're doing. That only starts when we start today, when we start to answer that question today of what's the thing that you can do to make this year special. So I want to take a moment now to share with you some real answers I received from clients when I sent out an email asking them this very same question, and I'm going to start with one of my favorite answers. So I sent out that email what's one thing this year you can do or purchase to make this year special? I received this email from Steph. Steph said good morning, james. It's not a current answer, but you can use it to encourage others.
Speaker 1:Many years ago I believe it was 2006, dave's great aunt passed and she unexpectedly left us about $30,000. We were shocked and blessed. We obviously considered investing it, but instead we bought a boat. We bought an old 1974 fishing boat and kept it in Dana Harbor. This changed our quality of life. We had some of the most relaxing times, some hard and scary times. It was hard work, keeping it clean, safe and functioning. Crazy fun times, romance, adventure. Seeing Dave at the helm using his US Coast Guard navigational skills made incredible family and friend memories on that boat, connected with nature. The memories are endless. We sold it when we bought the farm. We miss it and the lifestyle.
Speaker 1:Often that is our spend story. No regrets whatsoever. Sure, we could have invested responsibly into the market, but, like you said, it's all relative and the value of that boat season is priceless to us. So I love that story because it's so common. It's so easy to get caught in the trap of saying, wow, $30,000. What could that do if we use it to save for a home? What could that do if we use it to save for retirement? What could that do if we just saved it? And yes, there are good reasons to save. There are really good reasons to save to prepare for retirement, to buy the home that you need. But there's also good reasons to spend.
Speaker 1:One spend, one of the best reasons to spend is when we fall into that trap of thinking just a little bit more is going to somehow magically make us totally happy with life is magically going to take us to that place where we feel good, we feel like we're able to pursue what we want to pursue.
Speaker 1:We're able to do what we want to do, but unless we learn the skill set of doing what we want to do, which starts with learning what it actually is that we want to do, no amount of money is ever going to solve that problem for us. So what I love about Steph's story is, if I go back to that, the moments of adventure, romance, time connected with family, with friends, with connecting with nature, all of those things you cannot put a price tag on. I'm sure, if you gave them the option, saying back in 2006, when you received those funds, what if you knew for certain that money was going to grow 10 times between then and now, meaning that $30,000 would grow to $300,000. What would you do then? Fairly confident, the answer would be the same we would not change that season of life. We would not change those memories for anything.
Speaker 1:Yet so often, so many of us fall into the trap of exchanging the memories of, instead of taking our money and use them to purchase memories, to purchase things that create those memories, we use it to accumulate, we use it to grow and, yes, there is a time for that. Yes, there is a need for that, but we need to have a more balanced approach to how we go about doing this. Now maybe you're sitting there saying, well, that's great, but what's my story? I don't have a boat, I don't have $30,000 to do, but what can I do? Well, let me share with you some other answers. Some of these are very simple, some of them are creative, but hopefully these can be used to find some inspiration to help you as you start to think about this answer for yourself. Some other answers I received.
Speaker 1:People said a new truck, maybe a home expansion or remodel. One client said I would like to stay in an overwater bungalow, perhaps in the Maldives, fiji, tahiti, bora Bora or any other destination that offers this luxury. Now their clients had traveled to New Zealand, costa Rica, the UK. Someone said purchase an RV and drive across the country. Someone said I would like to go to an SEC football game. They also said they wanted to watch a baseball game at Yankee Stadium in Fenway Park. We had trip to Europe, charity, work, self-improvement, all these wonderful things. But then I received another email that put all of this into perspective for me, same exact question. This is the feedback I received from the other client. She said my husband and I had dreams of traveling throughout Canada by train, continuing our love of trout fishing and just being together enjoying life. Unfortunately, he passed away and I would give anything to have him with me now.
Speaker 1:So, as I ask this question, this isn't theoretical, this isn't just think about this because it's a fun thought exercise and then go along with your wife, realize that we are not promised tomorrow. Our loved ones are not promised tomorrow. And what good is all the financial planning that we do, what good is growing our portfolio, implementing the tax strategies, investing the right way, if we can't connect it to what we want to do in this life, if we can't connect it to creating those experiences and those memories and doing the things with our money that that money is ultimately useful for. And the final thing I'll ask you is if not now, when? If you're that person with $1 million, think that as soon as you get to $2 million, it'll be easier to spend, all of your problems will go away. My news for you is that's not going to be the case. Two will turn into three, three will turn into five, five will turn into more, and if we don't take the time today to practice, to learn the skillset of doing the things that lead to a meaningful life, then we're not going to magically learn how to do them down the road unless we start doing them today.
Speaker 1:So, before this video, before this podcast ends, I want you to do this. Think of that one thing you'd love to do. This could be a trip. This could be going to see a sporting event at a certain stadium. This could be a home improvement project. It can be anything you want it to be. It can be tickets to a movie that you really want to see, but write that thing down.
Speaker 1:The next thing I want you to do is write down can you afford it today? Now, be realistic with yourself. Some of you truly might not be able to afford what you want to do. Maybe it's a significant vacation. You want to take the whole family along. That might not be something you can just pull money out of the bank to purchase, but I also know that for a lot of you, when I say can you afford it, really, what I'm asking is are you willing to part ways with the money that you already have in savings, with the money you already have in your portfolio to change that money, to change that thing that has no value in and of itself and exchange it for something immensely valuable, which is the thing that those dollars are created to purchase, to create those experiences we want to have. So write down can you afford it? And be honest with yourself. When I ask can you afford it, what I really mean is can you afford it without sacrificing any of your other goals? For a lot of you, even though it might be uncomfortable to spend money on these things, you can absolutely afford it.
Speaker 1:Now, the third thing I want you to do is write down the date by which you're going to make this purchase. If you write down that you want to go to Europe, you want to take your whole family with you, that's wonderful, but you need to attach it to a date, because if there's not this date attached to it, you can always take a trip to Europe, but you can't always take a trip to Europe by July 31st of 2025. That's something that's going to create some urgency here and prompt you to start planning this thing. And then finally write down where will the funds come from to make this purchase. Is this coming from a bonus that's coming up? Do you already have money in the bank? Do you already have money in your portfolio? Will you save a little bit of money between now and the time of when you want to make this purchase? Write down your plan for doing this and once you do this, I want you to do something. I want you to send me an email, james at rootfinancialpartnerscom. Send me an email saying what you want to do, when you want to do it by, and where those funds are going to come from, because I don't care how many of my other podcasts you've listened to about preparing for retirement, about how you're going to withdraw money, but how you're going to optimize everything you work for If we cannot connect that to what our money is designed to work for. It doesn't matter how good your financial plan is. The sign of a truly great financial plan is a life well lived. So what can you do to live a great life? Write it down, put a plan in place and let's get to living.
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.
Speaker 1:Nothing in this podcast should be construed as investment, tax, legal or other financial advice. It is for informational purposes only. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Ready for Retirement podcast. If you want to see how Root Financial can help you implement the techniques I discussed in this podcast, then go to rootfinancialpartnerscom and click start here, where you can schedule a call with one of our advisors. We 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.
