Your 3-Step Blueprint for Achieving Retirement Goals Faster
episodePreviously titled “Ep 148 | How to Take Goal Action Every 90 Days” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 2, 2026
Wealthy After 40: Retirement Planning and Budgeting for Gen X
16 min
1 speaker
5 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
How can breaking big retirement numbers into smaller pieces reduce overwhelm?
When it comes to saving for retirement, do you feel paralyzed by the big picture? You need to save half a million, three quarters of a million, one million. It can feel impossible. But what if you could learn how to break it down into small, actionable pieces? That's what we're covering inside this episode is how to make goals more tangible and actionable. I know I struggle with breaking down goals and I'm hoping to help you in this episode today. 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. So I wanted to talk about goals. And having goals, setting goals, thinking of goals, I think is easy for most of us. We declare things.
Why do SMART goals fall short for long-term money objectives?
I want to be able to do this. I want to lose, you know, 20 pounds. You know, start of the year, I'm going to work out, whatever it is. I want to read 100 books this year. We all know how to do that. But where I falter, and probably most of us, but definitely myself, is, okay, I've got that big goal. Now, how do I take specific action that is going to get me there. That isn't going to feel like I'm churning my wheels, like I'm just doing these actions and I'm not understanding if I'm closer to that goal, if I'm closer to that progress. And there is so much information out there about setting goals. This has never jived for me. Those SMART goals, yep, I've heard it. I know specific. I know measurable. I know actionable.
But it doesn't walk me through and tell me what I needed to do until I created the milestone method. specifically for money goals. So that's what this is created for. This method focuses on how to turn your money goal, your big dream, your big goals into specifics and then into 90 day targets. If you're looking for specifics on how to do this, Okay, what are milestones? Milestones are the small steps for goals. You could call them mini goals, you can call them, you know, small steps, whatever.
What is the Milestone Method and how does it turn dreams into 90-day targets?
But I am calling them milestones. And to help you understand what that means, as you're driving on highways, so state highways, interstates, there are mile markers. They might be called mile markers, mile posts, and they have numbers on them. They usually correlate with exits as well. But this is how state troopers and state police, if you're inside of a county, you know, your sheriff's deputies are also going to know where they're at because they get used to seeing these numbers. But these mile markers break up the 300-mile road into into small sections. So you see your progress. You see it from the big picture. If you hear that there's a wreck at milepost 252 and you're on milepost 2, it doesn't matter.
Right. That kind of is like where to give your focus. Like you might have been worried about that accident till you were able to see in relation to where you're at. And this is what milestones do. Milestones help us give focus for today, knowing that we're going to reach that end goal. And so I have determined, so this is me, that 90 days for money milestones, money targets are best. And I'm going to share more into my why in just a minute. But milestones make your goals tangible. They give you the action piece. And by giving you that action, you're you now have motivation and confidence because you can see what is expected. You can see how to reach this little bit and knowing that that adds up to the overall goal.
These are like the little steps that in 10 years, 15 years, or even just five years, whatever it is, you know you will get there because you're able to measure on a smaller scale.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
How can breaking big retirement numbers into smaller pieces reduce overwhelm?
0:00–1:33
2
Why do SMART goals fall short for long-term money objectives?
1:33–3:29
3
What is the Milestone Method and how does it turn dreams into 90-day targets?
3:29–6:14
4
How do milestones function like mile markers to show progress toward retirement?
6:14–11:53
5
Why are 90-day targets the recommended length for money milestones?
11:53–16:31
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Wealthy After 40: Retirement Planning and Budgeting for Gen X
How to Overcome Retirement Decision Overload
How to Travel Cheap in Retirement and Still Hit Bucket List Trips w/ Jillian Sidoti
Retire Confidently With a Money System That Works
Retirement Planning for Gen X: 4 Things to Map Out Now
4 Signs of Quiet Financial Stress That Delay Retirement
Why Do You Fear Retirement? The Answer Might Surprise You