Can We Retire Sooner Than Planned?
episodePreviously titled “Ep 129 | Can We Retire Sooner Than Planned?” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 2, 2026
Wealthy After 40: Retirement Planning and Budgeting for Gen X
16 min
2 speakers
2 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
What if you or your spouse are ready to retire sooner than expected, but you're unsure if you can afford it? Today's episode, I'll walk you through what you need to consider and how to figure out if it is a possibility. Welcome to the Wealthy After 40 podcast, the show for Gen X women and couples who are ready to ditch financial stress and feel confident about retirement. I'm your host, Dailene Higgins, financial and retirement coach, helping Gen Xers master their money and create a personalized retirement plan so they can stop spinning their wheels and step boldly into their dream retirement. If you're feeling behind, don't worry. Continue listening to this podcast as well as be sure to grab your free guide, Five Must Do Steps to Start Retirement Planning Now at elevatefinances.us backslash must do.
And remember, let's make retirement possible together. Welcome to the episode. I'm Dailene Higgins, CEO of Elevate Finances, helping women and couples over 45 go from financial uncertainty to complete clarity and control with your retirement planning. Today's episode, we're talking about the need or the want of retiring sooner. And to clarify, I'm not meaning retire today or retire immediately. I found myself in a very similar situation with my husband. Work was just not healthy or a well place for him to be in many different ways. Many couples experience the same situation where one person is either emotionally or physically done with their job. I'm sure you can relate. There are things that just become very, very stressful, very, very demanding, and they're just not well for us.
And to have this person say, can I retire sooner? And if you are the one who manages the day-to-day finances, you really want to say yes. You really want to say yes. But in the back of your mind, You're not sure if you'll be able to afford it. That it's just like, and you know the weight of and the challenges with what is going on. But on the backside, you're like, I just don't know how I can make this work. I want you to, after this episode, go listen to episode 125, where I talk about what if you're closer to retirement than you think.
What initial questions should you ask when a spouse wants to retire early?
In addition to this episode, we're going to work together to help this possibility because now it's a possibility. We've brought it to fruition. We've asked the question and we want to make it as big and great as possible. The closer we learn, the more we learn, it just becomes a very big possibility. But like I said, you're like, I'm just not sure how we would be able to make this work. We need all of our income to survive. There's the weeks or the months where the spending just seems like boom, boom, boom, boom with all the things happening. You're fine. You make it, but it takes all your money. Other times you're like, yeah, I don't need all my money. And you're kind of in this flip-flop. So you're like, I just don't, I just don't know.
I would love to tell you yes, but I'm just not sure, right? That uncertainty. To help you start exploring if this is a possibility, we're going to start with that. I have three questions for you to answer. The first question is I want you to think What expenses will go away when you stop working? We've talked about this a little bit before, but what expenses are tied to the idea of you working or the actual, you know, that you're working? You are going to have a commute if you're not remote. That's not only fuel, it's wear and tear on the car. If you're going into office, it might be a certain, you know, dress standard. Are you going to wear that day to day? You know, some of those things that are tied to our careers, to our employment, to the places we're at.
What is that that's coming out of your pocket to make that happen that will no longer be? The second question is what is a benefit from the employer to that is important to your finances that you will definitely need to replace. And the first one, the most common one everybody thinks of is health insurance. Yes, we need to identify if there's anything else. You know, life insurance.
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Chapters
2 chaptersSpeakers
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