Sean Pyles

Okay.

Is there a mischievous part of your finances because cats are known for causing trouble?

So how much have you been putting away each year and in what kinds of accounts are you saving?

Yeah, we do like the diversification that you get in ETFs and mutual funds.

So how much have you been saving?

And if I can ask, how much do you have saved up total if you have the number off the top of your head?

So you're still planning to retire at 65.

You're not planning to retire early?

It seems like part of this uncertainty comes from just not knowing what could happen.

The stock market could underperform for a few years.

It could tank and your value of investments could go down quite a bit.

I'm wondering whether you've worked with a financial advisor in the past around retirement planning at all.

OK, I think it would be worth exploring working with a certified financial planner who can look at your finances in a really comprehensive way.

And when it comes to retirement planning, they can run what's called a Monte Carlo simulation, which basically has a bunch of different ways that things could go.

The stock market could perform really well, could perform poorly.

You could lose your job, all these different variables.

And it spits you out a percentage of how likely you are to succeed in your retirement planning.

having that run through by a financial planner and talking through your concerns with them could help you just get a little bit more information and hopefully some more confidence in what you're doing with your financial savings.

NerdWallet has a whole division of financial planning, NerdWallet Wealth Partners and NerdWallet Advisors Match.

So you can look into that if you want tailored personal financial planning.