Dan Caplinger

And so having that kind of contingency plan, I think is vital, not just if it happens, but also to kind of give you the security and the confidence to get you through your daily life if it doesn't happen.

Because then you can just kind of like push that to the side.

You don't have to stress out about it as much.

Sure, it's going to be a stressor maybe.

But you still can have the confidence that, yeah, if that happens, I'll be okay.

And meanwhile, I'm okay now too.

And I can figure out where I want to go from here.

That's just hugely important for your well-being in these kind of challenging times where there's a lot of uncertainty.

It's not just us, bro.

All kinds of occupations out there.

There's not as much hiring.

You may know it from your kids.

I know that my daughter's running through this.

Those entry-level positions, a lot of the people our age who are like partners at law firms and stuff, they're looking at the future and they're kind of like, you know, maybe we don't need to hire as many young people because the AI can do all the grunt work that the young folks did.

I think that's short-sighted, but it is reality right now.

And so all kinds of factors going on right now that's hard to consider that just makes shoring up your financial plan

even more valuable to you, both for your financial wellbeing and just for your peace of mind.

So I've been milking off my wife's job in the public sector as the town librarian here in the little town that I live in throughout my career, because as a contractor, I get paid for my work, but the benefits, I don't get the same benefits that an employee does.

So that's a factor.

My wife is a few years younger than I am.