Why “Starting Late” Isn’t Too Late for Retirement Planning
episodePreviously titled “Ep 150 | Why ‘Too Late’ Thinking Hurts More Than Starting Late” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 2, 2026
Wealthy After 40: Retirement Planning and Budgeting for Gen X
18 min
1 speaker
3 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Why does the host say 'it's not about when you started' and how should I reframe starting late?
It's not about when you started. It's about when you decide to start. And the longer you wait in fear and stay stuck that it's too late, the less progress you'll make. Your confidence begins with you choosing to start today. In this episode, I will share three tips to help you make getting started late no longer a factor. 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 excited to dive into the topic of starting late. So obviously you found me because I talk to women and couples over 40 and with that comes a lot of thoughts about starting late and it's too late and I'm sure you're thinking, yeah, that's why I'm here. And This episode is going to help you acknowledge that, understand that, but be able to take action in moving forward. Please stick with me. This is part one of a three-part series. Several episodes back, I did cover one about starting late.
Specifically for savings, you can go look for that one as well. But I really want to help listeners understand kind of find a neutral position with this idea of starting late. Prior to having the thought about, oh man, I've got to get started, you know, planning for retirement and oh my gosh, I'm late. Because we probably see with social media and all of that, 25 year olds, 30 year olds, they're planning, they're preparing, but that's okay. We are a different generation. And it's okay if you feel like you're starting late. You've probably been raising family, maybe a caregiver, maybe stuck between, you know, sandwiching of caregiving children and your parents. There's a lot of things that our generation, number one, is dealing with right now, but number two...
Who is this podcast for and why does starting late affect Gen X women and couples differently?
we didn't have a lot of the accessibility to the knowledge, accessibility to the information for everything money. We also dealt with a generation prior and maybe even one prior to that, where talking about money was very taboo. It's not what you did. Most of the things that you know, prior generations dealt with in life on a scale of, you know, handling their life and moving ahead, they didn't speak of that, you know? So this was money, obviously sex, and obviously politics. It's just not something that was discussed. And now, on the flip side, today, these things are talked about quite often, but money does still have that, well, we're not going to quite talk about it. If you are that individual who was like, yeah, my parents didn't talk about it, I want you to understand their...
their placement as well. A 401k was not new until the boomers were, you know, coming into the workforce and getting up there. So the generation, if you were raised by a boomers, that was new. My dad did participate one. My parents were silent generation as I'm a younger child to them, but not everybody was. probably understood what a 401 was. The availability may not have been there. Pensions were the huge thing. And this was the way to kind of start segwaying away from that to help companies be more viable. And so the reason I say that is the Roth was new to our generation. And as I was on my planning journey, when it came out, I'm like, okay, what is this? It's not making sense. And I'm trying to learn about it.
And, you know, I was like, I don't get it. Your parents may have done the same with a 401. And even if they were open to talking with you about money, they, you know, this accessibility to the knowledge and the understanding wasn't there for them like it even was for me on a Roth.
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Chapters
3 chapters
1
Why does the host say 'it's not about when you started' and how should I reframe starting late?
0:00–2:55
2
Who is this podcast for and why does starting late affect Gen X women and couples differently?
2:55–11:17
3
How did generational changes in retirement tools influence why I might feel behind?
11:17–17:58
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Wealthy After 40: Retirement Planning and Budgeting for Gen X
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