Episode 321: Retire Early: What Women Need to Know About Leaving Work on Your Own Terms with Bridget Grimes

What would it look like to stop working at 50? Or to step away from a high-powered career and spend your time doing something that lights you up instead? 

For many women, this is not just a dream. With the right plan, it is a very real option. Melissa Joy, CFP® sits down with Bridget Grimes, founder of Wealth Choice and co-founder of Equita Financial Network, to talk about what retiring in your 50s or 60s actually requires, from knowing your cost of living to healthcare coverage, Roth conversions, and finding purpose on the other side.

Bridget is a financial planner, CFP Board Ambassador, and fierce advocate for women and women-led financial firms. She works with breadwinner women every day who are building toward financial independence, and in this conversation she pulls back the curtain on the planning conversations that make early retirement possible.

What You’ll Learn

• What Coast FIRE is and why it resonates with so many high-achieving women
• Why knowing your actual cost of living is one of the most important retirement planning inputs
• How a stair-step retirement, with part-time or passion work, can meaningfully improve your financial picture
• Why healthcare is the biggest wild card for anyone retiring before Medicare eligibility at 65
• How to think about COBRA, the ACA exchange, and HSAs as part of your early retirement plan
• Why having multiple account types, taxable, pre-tax, and Roth, gives you flexibility and tax options
• How Roth conversions work as a multi-year strategy and why doing them all at once can backfire
• What the Rule of 55 means for 401k access and how it differs from IRA rules
• Why rebalancing your investment allocation matters when you stop earning and start drawing
• How to give yourself permission to think about what you actually want your life to look like
• Why early retirement is as much a social and emotional transition as it is a financial one
• What to look for in a financial advisor if you are planning to retire earlier than traditional ages

Connect with Bridget Grimes

Website: wealthchoice.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bridget-venus-grimes-cfp

Facebook: facebook.com/wealthchoice

Instagram:

The previous presentation by PEARL PLANNING was intended for general information purposes only.  No portion of the presentation serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from PEARL PLANNING or any other investment professional of your choosing. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy, or any non-investment related or planning services, discussion or content, will be profitable, be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Neither PEARL PLANNING’s investment adviser registration status, nor any amount of prior experience or success, should be construed that a certain level of results or satisfaction will be achieved if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. PEARL PLANNING is neither a law firm nor accounting firm, and no portion of its services should be construed as legal or accounting advice. No portion of the video content should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. A copy of PEARL PLANNING’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at https...

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast. I'm Melissa Joy, a certified financial planner and the founder of Pearl Planning. My goal is to help you streamline and organize your finances, navigate big money decisions with confidence, and be strategic in order to grow your wealth. As a woman, you work hard for your money, and I'm here to help you make the most of it. Now let's get into the show. Today we're going to be talking all about what you need to be thinking about, how to frame conversations with yourself when it comes to retiring in your 50s or 60s, sometimes retiring even earlier than traditional retirement ages. And I'm thrilled to be joined by a friend and fellow financial planning practitioner, Bridget Grimes. Bridget is really a mover and a shaker in the financial planning world, especially as an advocate for women and women financial advisors. She is the founder of Well Choice, a financial firm for breadwinner women, and the co-founder of Equita Financial Network, a community of independent, fee-only women-led financial planning firms. And she is also a CFP board ambassador, which is a big deal in and of itself. Bridget, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Thanks for having me. It's great to be here.

Why Early Retirement Is Trending

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Well, I'm so glad that you joined me. You sent a newsletter out, and I'm on your newsletter list recently. And the headline of the newsletter was what women need to know about retiring in their 50s or 60s. And immediately, I think I shot you an email and said, Bridget, you need to come on the podcast. This is exactly what my listeners and me myself are interested in talking about and hearing about. And I hear it so much in client conversations, like, okay, what does retirement really look like? I've never really thought about it, but now I want to get serious about it, or maybe even I want to retire earlier than I ever thought I would. So tell me why did you, you know, what brought you to that um newsletter? And are you having the same conversations with your friends and clients?

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Yeah. Yeah. And thanks for asking. So um, and I loved that we tackled that topic because as you and I talked about before, um, a lot of our clients of Well Choice um are really trying to prepare to retire early. So it's different ready, right? But this is something that we deal with all the time from a planning perspective. Um, so yeah, you know, we thought, you know, let's share with other folks like what we're doing over here and things for people to consider.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

And for me, and I think maybe the same for you, um, traditional retirement ages, you know, back in the day it was like 65, which was Medicare age and full retirement age for Social Security. It's changed a little bit on the Social Security numbers now. It's like you you punch in, go to work, work till your 60s, um, and then call it a day. But what are you seeing in terms of like ranges of retirement ages nowadays?

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Yeah, you know, great question. So our client base tends to be on the younger side, right? There are folks in 30s who are, you know, young. I consider 30s young, but they're, you know, a lot of stop awards, they've managed to get some money up until 50s. Like that's, you know, peak earning years for our women. So you kind of cover the gamut. But what is really interesting is that we notice with a lot of our younger clients that they would love to have the option to stop earning way earlier than older folks, right? So there's there's a trend we see among our clients. And so um, everything you know that we do as planners starts with, okay, what's your intention? What should like life to look like, right? And so many of these women are like, you know what, Bridget, I would like to stop work at 50. And I would like to, which is young, right? And that'll solve all post problems from a planning perspective. But like, let's say I want to stop work at 50 and I want to just do nonprofit work, which I hear a lot, um, or you know, just do something most of our people want to be working, but in some passion thing, right? So something that they don't necessarily need to rely on the income for their lifestyle. Uh so yeah, we spend a lot of time in this space. It looks different for everybody. Um, you know, I've got one client who I have worked with probably about 15 years now, and she and she is in her her 40s, mid-40s. And her goal is at 50, I am retired. So we've been working on this a long time. She's actually had this goal like the whole time. She didn't pivot. Um, and what this has looked like over time has, of course, shifted as she's earned more money and had more ability to save. But she is a super aggressive saver. And everything we've done together over the years is okay, how do we make sure that she's on track to have enough money? So that's an option at age 50, she can just walk into the sunset and do something different.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

I love that. And I think like if you're the super saver, there's two problems solved, right? You're supersizing your retirement portfolio, whether it's in your retirement traditional 401ks or IRAs, but also oftentimes, or like advisedly so, if you're planning to retire at 50 in taxable investment accounts as well. Um, but you're also you have a lifestyle that is probably leaner than some of your peers who are earning the same. And both of those are, you know, kind of gold stars when it comes to retirement readiness that not everybody has. I love retirements where you don't have to, you know, significantly downsize your lifestyle once you retire, ideally. Um, in that person you might be recommending they spend more in retirement than they're used to spending, not less.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

Yeah, you know, you bring up a good point because our clients tend to make some pretty decent money and they have a nice lifestyle. Most of them would like to continue with this lifestyle when they stop earning. So that is a challenge, right? So they've saved a lot of money in a lot of cases. And if they haven't, we're having a conversation because this is probably gonna have to be pushed out a little bit. I mean, realistically. But for folks who have saved, they're still living a good life, Melissa. And so our goal as planners is like, okay, so how much is that cost of living going to be in retirement? And are we on track to be able to continue with that? Now, some, you know, some expenses fall away, but others come in, like healthcare, right? That's a whole minefield.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

For sure. Yeah. And I I also think like I love those people who just come in and they're like, this is what's happening. I I've got my vision board, you know, like this age, the day my kid graduates college, we're out of here, whatever the case may be. But I've also, um, especially as the demands of work have changed, or probably because I'm working with people who have increasing success within their careers. And then, you know, like with success often comes responsibility as their roles change and evolve. I have other people who have been incredibly ambitious. I think of one client who, you know, the initial goal was to be a CEO of a publicly traded company. And then, and and with all the hard work came a lot of success career-wise and um accumulation of wealth. But then, you know, you kind of get to a point, and um, maybe this is just me talking, living in midlife as a 51-year-old woman. Um, but it's like you have a lot of changing philosophies on what's important to you as well. And then she came back to me and said, that old goal is not my new goal. And I want a lot of balance in my life, and I do want to work and I want to be well compensated, but I'm not, you know, the sky is not the limit. Like the rest of my life I want to be spending time and focus on. And so I want you listeners to leave space to welcome those, like, you know, whisperings and conversations, but then please share them with someone like Bridget or myself because we can help you to actuate whatever, you know, you're kind of thinking.

Saving Early Creates Real Options

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Yeah, you know, that is so interesting because, you know, clients and life and your attitude on life totally changes as you get older, right? So we have another client who we work with also a pretty long time and through different iterations of her career, like she was a pretty high-powered attorney and she did not love law. And she's like, well, maybe if I move to a different law firm, that would be better. So she moved to a different law firm. She's like, I still, this is still not a good fit. And she thought, okay, I'm gonna go in-house. So all along this trip of like over a decade, she's been trying to find where she's gonna be working that's gonna give her this fulfilling life, right? Um, and wound up getting married, totally cool, has a bunch of kids now. And she segued out of law into this publicly held company into a totally different role where she does like government relations. But it's been this never-ending quest to, you know, balance income. She's a breadwinner in her family and family time and you know, self-fulfillment with her position and her job. Um, and it and it changes, right? And I can't tell you how many times she's come back and said, you know what, Bridget, what if I just stopped right now? We actually one year she said, What if I were a letter carrier? We did research on this. She's making many hundreds of thousands of dollars. She's like, What if I pivoted into this job making 44 grand, right? Um, how would that affect our future? And so, long story short, that wasn't an option for the future that she wanted. So we checked it out. Um, and she, you know, repeatedly we check in like, how's it going? What are you thinking? Um, you know, I want to stop this year, I want to pivot, whatever. I mean, the point is as we go through life and your your requirements and your your priorities change in life, right? Like now her priority is for her spouse and her children. And that's right. But at the same time, she's like, well, I also have to earn money. So I feel like there's this never-ending push and pull that we try to navigate with folks to help them get to whatever that ideal life is, but it's always changing.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Constantly changing. And those what if conversations are so important. Also, the thing that occurs to me is when you get serious about your financial well financial well-being, if you started early, for example, or you, you know, you're in a good place, the so many of us, and maybe this like kind of pivots to the conversation about coast fire, a concept con um a um concept that we're going to introduce in this conversation. Um, but things can, when life pivots, if you've been staying on track or getting ahead uh because you have ambitious goals for retirement, et cetera, you have so many options when something else goes bump in the night. So, you know, I know in the labor force today, people are concerned about like, what if AI takes my job, or if you, you know, have worked with at a company that um gives a lot of stock compensation. Um, you know, there's layoffs, rearrangements, et cetera. Um, or sometimes we have, you know, personal health challenges, whatever the case, family needs, whatever the case may be. For those who are already like planning for that earlier retirement, there are always so many options because you've built in the capacity to have breaks in your breaks in your work. Um, a lot of times you can work for less and or with a different job that has less demands or um things like that, and things would work out just fine because you were honestly ahead of the game.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Right. And you know, that woman I just mentioned who's pivoted a couple of times, she did a great job of saving money when she was younger. And so our projections, if we said she doesn't save a dime, you know, and she's in her 40s, if she didn't save a dime between now and let's say age 60, she just let her portfolio grow, she would be fine. She does not have to continue to save. She doesn't have to to cover their current cost of living and to even pay for three kids to go to college. So to your point, if if you have the opportunity when you're younger to really save some of this money, and by the way, I mean it wasn't like she was eating ramen. Like, I mean, she's right. I mean, it's not like you're throwing it all at you, you're doing nothing but saving every dime. Because I am actually not an advocate of that because you don't know life, like you've got to live. It just has to be a absolutely don't wait to live your life. No, no, because we see things and as planners, like we've seen everything and like don't do that. But there has to be, there has to be a a give and take and smart financial choices. But to your point, for our clients who have made those decisions early on to save, they have so many options, Melissa, right? Like they could truly choose to stop saving way earlier than folks and pivot into a different job or or just you know go on a beach, whatever. Yeah.

Coast FIRE And Passion Income

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Well, so in your newsletter that I was referring to, you mentioned the concept of coast fire. So um can you give me a little lay of the land of what this is?

SPEAKER_02 13:17

Yep. So um it's actually it it's it's an interesting concept. I think a lot of us know what fire is, which is you know, you you know, save as everything like you possibly can, and then you have the option to stop work and retire early.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

So it stands for financial independence, retire early, right?

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Yes, yes, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

No, you're good, you're good.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

And so so Coast Fire is really what we see with a ton of our clients. This is like, hey, I'm gonna save some money, but I want a date at which I can choose to stop earning. I want a date in my life when I can just do whatever I want and I will be financially okay for the rest of my life. So however, this is like in most cases with our clients, the coast part is they plan to work. So I'm gonna stop my high power crazy job at this date, and then I get to do whatever I want, but I will most likely have some sort of some level of income. Those are my people, right? And why? Because these are women who are super high achieving and they don't want to just do nothing. Like they want to do something, but they want it to be like whatever nonprofit that they're passionate about that's gonna make them, you know,$25,000. Pick your number, but not really enough that that would cover their possibility. But it's something more fulfilling, yeah. More fulfilling. Like it's totally they're they're like, okay, I use this first part of my life to just amass this wealth, which is super cool. And we stewarded this, and now they want to kind of incrementally get to a point where they're they're doing whatever they want to do and they're earning something, but it's it's a passion thing, right? Um, so that's that's really where we see folks where you've basically saved to avoid your cost of living, but you plan to work in some capacity on something that you're passionate about. And that's important because when you're looking at a client's portfolio and you're like, okay, well, how much do we really need for this person? If someone actually plans on having some level of income, you need less from that portfolio, right? You're basically that portfolio continue to grow, right? Um, which we love, right? You don't have to tap in the full amount that you need to cover your expenses. So a lot of that portfolio is going to continue to grow, and then you take out what you need to supplement whatever you're earning.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Yeah. And I think so many times people underappreciate um if there is a stair step down where you're doing a little consulting or you're working part-time, or um you do have some income. We have one client who's had a couple encore retirement, mini careers at different places. And each of them has just made her retirement numbers look a little bit better. Um and it's so there's a double, there's a double win there. The longer or the less you kind of rely on the portfolio, the fewer years that you um, you know, kind of max out withdrawals. That's a win. And then um also then you, you know, you give that portfolio room to grow, or maybe you have a mini, you know, contribution or something or smaller contribution as well. So it's like win-win to use a portfolio for your years, as well as maybe you either tuck in market returns or even a little bit more money as well. Um, so it kind of has a double impact each year versus just, you know, oh, that was, you know, I delay, I, I um the it's it's the opposite of the cost of waiting, I guess I would say.

Healthcare Before Medicare

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Yeah. Now there's a couple of considerations for folks who are kind of subscribing to this coast buyer deal. And that is um, you know, there's some wild cards like healthcare. So if you are going to report young, right? Let's say 50 is your number. Um, there's a few things we need folks to really be on track for. And um, and so um, so for example, like, do you know your cost of living? Like, are you really on track? Does this portfolio really set up to cover your cost of living? Do we have an accurate understanding of what that is? Because um retirement is gonna look different for everybody, right? And a lot of our people, probably all of our people love to travel. So travel budget's big. Um, you know, making sure you can cover, you know, basic living expenses, of course, goes without saying. But then healthcare becomes the big wild card. So you're gonna retire 50. That's 15 years before Medicare. And we have spent a lot of time on okay, what are the options for these spokes? Because this is not cheap, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:41

This is not cheap, especially if you have um, well, I guess there's a just an extremely uncertain environment when it comes to subsidies for lower income healthcare brackets. They went way down in terms of subsidies um uh in 20 between 2025 and 2026. They still exist if you're making very little or if you're reporting taxes on very little, which could be different things. Um, but you the one of the fallacies though, I do think people just assume, oh, I can't get health insurance if I'm not employed, which health insurance is out there as long as the Affordable Care Act, you know, kind of still exists. You don't, you aren't excluded because of pre-existing conditions. You just do pay along with your peers, along with your employers, frankly, um, significant amounts of money in your 50s and 60s for your health care.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

You do, and you need to budget that, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:37

So you need to plan for it.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Right? If this is part of the plan, is I'm gonna stop work before I'm eligible for Medicare. Um, what is the plan and is that in your budget?

unknown 18:45

Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Right. How do you help people to plan for that? So what do you guys do?

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Well, we have for sure, you know, you're having this conversation way in advance at K. Um, what are the costs we need to worry about? Um, and we have a couple of resources we reach out to because I'm not a Medicare expert. Right. Um, and they and a lot of these Medicare folks actually do gap insurance. Um, we'll walk you through, hey, here's the best option for folks. Now, um, one of the things we usually suggest is you do Cobra for 18 months. Like that's just something we do because then you don't have to change your doctors, it's all good. Um, but you've got to have this lined up before you pull the board on your job, right? Like you have a plan in place. We have already discussed with folks, like we know what is it the exchange, like what is the solution for that person, but we have a clear solution before anything happens. But you have and you know, we've got a number of folks who like concierge doctors. You gotta build all this in. And as you know, costs have gone up a lot. Um for sure. Right? I mean, so now you're looking at significantly more costs than maybe we were not too long ago. So I I I use different resources. We send our folks away to these people and we'll go through what those resources have proposed for them. Um, and then we just add it in the budget.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Yeah, we'll do the same. We um subscribe to a service called Move Health and also have, you know, local representatives. But since our clients are all over the country, um we have a place that can do health insurance consulting in all 50 states. So we're not the consultant, but we give our clients access with our subscription. Um, and then also I think like those of you who have been using an HSA, maybe you're contributing to it, um, but then you drain it each year with all the costs that come up for oftentimes for um families. Um, you know, pay that out of cash flow, please, and build up that health savings account if you have a higher deductible health plan so that you can have an additional resource that would be available um and um there for you in early retirement years where it could be extremely valuable.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

Yep. We love that HSA because that's just another way for bubs to take to contribute free tax to their future, which is awesome, right?

Budget Truths And Account Access

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Right. And I love what you said, Bridget, about really dialing in on what you're spending money on and what of those things will be staying. Like maybe you have kind of earmarked your retirement date to around your kids getting out of the house or something like that. Um, but you know, you really need to go through that budget because I don't know if you feel this way, Bridget, but like if you come to me and all of your um investments are in retirement accounts only, your 401ks, um, then I know how much you're spending because I know what your taxes are. It's easy to find that number. You can tell me what you saved last year. We can look at your 1099 for what you're putting away. And um there's often a pretty big number that is being spent, pretty much every dollar that comes into the accounts. Um, for other people, they're sitting on piles of cash or they had they do have taxable investments, which sometimes are a little bit more difficult to start implementing because you don't just get like a drop down menu um in your 401k account, like you do um in your retirement accounts. Um, but What types of accounts just pivoting as we re-emphasize that budget? Like, do know your budget and do say what's going to stay or if the house is going to be paid off. Like, I personally don't think you have to have every liability on your balance sheet paid off before you retire. There's there's plenty of times where it may make sense, especially of a very low interest rate mortgage, to keep that mortgage and do not bundle everything into it because you may need some liquid capital outside of retirement accounts if you're retiring before age 55 or 59 and a half. But if you have age 50 as your target date, what other like, you know, kind of techniques for um preparing and specifically investment accounts do you recommend that your clients have?

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Yeah. So a couple things there. Um, when we look at um a client's portfolio and they're about to stop work, right? And we kind of need to preserve the principle, but we always have to grow it because of inflation, right? We will actually revisit how the money is invested in that. We only had a client two days ago give her notice of retirement to a company. Um, and we've been talking about this for years, but she actually really did it, which is cool. And I said, okay, so look, you're retiring, you're like leaving in July. We're gonna change, let's let's look at this portfolio and we're going to change the way the stock and bond mix, the allocation we call it, for her portfolio, because it's been a bit aggressive, which was intentional. It was it was fit for her, but now we need to get it to a different place because now we need to really rely on this. So the first thing we are doing is we're we're re call it rebalancing this these portfolios back to a little less, a little more conservative, a little less aggressive growth, right? Now you mentioned different account types. So this client and most of our clients have a variety of account types because they're taxed differently, right? We'll have an IRA or L and Ks that are ready tax accounts, and then we'll have rocket accounts. So you've got three different types of accounts that are taxed differently. And I think you're probably going to direction with these cautionative. We are huge proponents of GLOS conversions. So when somebody stops work and they've got all this pre-tax money, so let's say it's uh 401ks, they're finally done. You know, they haven't paid tax on that money. And if you're looking at a million dollar portfolio in a pre-tax account, that is not a million dollars to this client, right? We haven't paid tax on this yet. So we'll look to see, okay, what is your um, what's your income level, depending on where their income's coming from, and what's your tax bracket. And then we'll set off with a proposal to turn pay basically incrementally pay tax on all that pre-tax account money and turn it into Roth. Um, so we use different platforms for that. It's a different software that helps us to come up with that strategy for folks. So why do we do this? We do it because we know, especially for our young clients, young retiring clients, over the course of their life, they will have saved so much money in taxes by having converted this pre-tax money to Roth money that they wind up lowering their average taxes paid significantly that they now can use as income. Right. So the way we look at it is um these different buckets of accounts provide different opportunity for the clients. We just have to sit down and look and see, okay, well, what do you have? And then start attack. What's our strategy now? Now that you're not earning as much as you were, what are we gonna do next? So the portfolio is a big part, right? You got to this place, you save the money, but now what happens in like phase two of our life when we now turn the spigot on potentially for that portfolio?

Rebalancing And Roth Conversion Strategy

SPEAKER_00 25:56

I love that. I do um I I do strongly encourage people when they're thinking of Roth conversions to think about it carefully. Um one of my colleagues got a call from a family member recently who was like, I don't want to pay taxes in my 60s and 70s. We should convert the Roths this year or convert my 401k this year. And it's like, okay, you're at peak earning years. Um this is not a one and done type of thing because that can really blow actually backfire and blow up the taxes. So it needs to be um handled in a, you know, kind of a thoughtful way, and it often is a multi-year strategy. And then um I also, you know, think that you buy a lot of optionality flexibility. If you have funded Roths in the past and or have been saving in taxable accounts, um, there's ways to get at at least your contributions into Roth's um before age 59 and a half. Um, and your taxable accounts are much easier to access at lower rates in many cases. Um, not all, but most. Um, and then also be aware, you know, there's different rules for 401ks versus IRAs in terms of if you're retired from your last job at 55, for example, in many cases, you can access your 401k funds without a penalty, which is not the case if you piled everything in into an IRA. So you need to be thinking about that as well.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

Yeah. And so this is like as you're as you're talking about this, like there's a lot of minefields here, right? Those that kind of ours who gave notice two days ago about her retirement. When we put her investment, her uh 401ks and her IRAs in our system, it is a 10-year process that we will be taking to convert that money to Roth, right? Very intentional. There's a few things we're looking at, tax brackets, income. And so this is not like to your point, you don't want to do one and gen because you're gonna wind up with crazy taxes. So it has to, there has to be a strategy to that. And and also, like you said, for folks who are working now, there's a great way to, you know, let's say you can contribute 8,000 to your IRA and immediately convert it to Roth without, you know, there's we can we can be doing that incrementally while folks are still working because it's different than this Roth conversion we're talking about. It's just a very incremental um conversion, if you will, to Roth, right? So, so but to build up that tax-free bucket, which is awesome.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

Well, and um I also find then there's that also that preparation question, which is how are where are you gonna find purpose? What are you gonna do with your days? Have any of your friends retired? Like, are they gonna be ready to go on the round-the-world trips that you're ready to go on? So will there be loneliness and how do you, you know, kind of build up that part of your life? I think some people who've really like, you know, some people just like slip right into living their best life. But for others, there's a, you know, it is a significant transition, both financially as well as social emotionally, um, that you need to be also be preparing for, thinking about perhaps coached with, coached about.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Coaching for sure. So back to this same woman. Um, you know, part of why she hasn't retired sooner is because she said, Bridget, all I know is work. And I just said, that is not a good answer, right? Like I I hear you, but you know, let's spend time on what gives you joy, right? You've got a son, you've got husband, you've got a life. But um, I think that that is really where coaching comes in. What is your to give yourself permission, Melissa, to finally say, well, what would I really find fulfilling? I could choose anything. A lot of these folks have not given themselves the permission to even have that conversation.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Right.

SPEAKER_02 29:47

Because you're just like in it, right? You're in it, you're working, you're getting it done. Um, and some people haven't given themselves this anything outside of life. This this outside of work rather. And I I think that that's where sometimes it's really helpful. We have brought coaches in at Wealth Choice. We've uh we do a lot of webinars because our client base is virtual, it's all over the country. And we we've brought in different folks just to try to encourage clients to think through what would they like this to be. And it's harder than it sounds, right? For so many of us, and we know work, like I got work down. But what would you truly do that's fulfilling and to help people get to that point, right? Like what is what is your what is your ideal life? Like if you could really do this, and you can do this, but we have to help them think about that, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:32

Yeah, I know I thrive with structure, so it will take work when I get to the point of retirement. Um so you know, that definitely is something where you you can't just assume you you slide right in.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

No.

Purpose After Work And Better Advice

SPEAKER_00 30:48

One of the interesting conversations I had with a prospective client recently, they were working with the financial advisor that their parents worked with, um, very successful careers in their 40s. And they said their advisor doesn't have clients that retire early. And really, most of their clients are in retirement themselves. It's an older advisor. And so they didn't feel like they were getting the advice that they would need to be prepared to retire early, which is just such a foreign concept to me, I think, because of the stage of life I am in and the clients that I work with. But it was an aha for me too, because I do think in so many cases, um, investment managers as financial advisors are really just thinking about the accounts and not the bigger picture. I don't want to not throw anyone under the bus, but it um sometimes financial advice in later years is more two-dimensional. Tell me where to send the check and how much money you need. Um, and oftentimes retirees are spending less than they, you know, could spend in their lifetime. So it's it's a pretty straightforward and still important job. Um, but hopefully our listeners are hearing from our conversation that there are alternatives that they feel like they're in that, you know, advice realm where the accounts are being tended to, but they're not getting the right strategic advice to be prepared for the retirement choices that they intend to make. Um, I don't know if you've ever experienced that.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

Yeah, well, no, I have because I started originally in a place where uh working at a firm where we just really focused on the investments and we weren't having these conversations, Melissa.

unknown 32:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:30

Because conversations are I I don't feel like I could guide someone on their investments without having these conversations. Like, what are we solving for?

SPEAKER_00 32:39

Um, so you know it's a they'd make the days easier, I honestly think, for you and me, if that's all we did. Um, but I don't think I do think there's been an evolution in the potential in financial advice and the level of complexity and um the delivery of value where table stakes is making the right investment decisions and allocation choices as you described. But there is so much more out there that is um an opportunity set for if you, you know, find the right advisor to work with. So I just encourage people to seek it.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

Yeah, for sure. So for example, um, we have a client who um Red Winter Woman, right, married, and in September her husband retired. And he's a couple years older than her, but not that much. And her goal has always been to work till 70. Now she's in her, she's 58. So when we had dinner the other night, she said, I have to tell you something. Um, Paul is having a great time in guitar. Yeah, he is like volunteering, he's working out, he's playing pickleball, whatever he's doing, he is like living his rest life. And he worked really hard to get there. But he, you know, he clicked a little accord. He's like retired, and she said, You know what? I think I want to revisit this. And um I and I said, Let's do that, right? Like you've done a great job, you've worked really hard. But to your point, like as we go through this life, like people are gonna change. And she needs to know, like, are they okay financially? And what is her vision for this next chapter? Because, like you and me, like love structure, work a lot, like work, know what we're, you know, you know what to expect. Um, she will need some help on what is her vision for that next chapter. Um, and is it consulting? Is it like the Coast Fire thing? Is it like I still am like have my hands in it sorted? Or is it like we love travel, I'm just out of here. You know, what is her vision? Back to your point. And we not so we need to have this conversation um and then we need to check in and make sure everything is good financially. But I think that that's that's where I see planning is so different. Um, we financial planners, you're having that conversation with fix because life is always changing.

Where To Find Bridget And Closing

SPEAKER_00 34:50

It's so true. And there's something so validating, I think, stress relieving and and refocusing on the most important part of that conversation. If you, Bridget, are able to tell her, look, we don't need to change much if you decide to retire now. Or like your vision of consulting works great. Um, because then she doesn't have to retire, like she doesn't have to make the choices because of a financial reason. She can really, you know, do the soul searching that she needs to do about the more important things of how they want to spend their lives. How, you know, are there still things she still would like to accomplish? Um, and so I I love sometimes when I have clients come in and they have a gap in, you know, their intended retirement ages of like, but let me just show you like if if you both decide to retire at the same time, because you know, one of you said you both said 55, but there's an age gap. So that means she has to work three more years or he does. Um, then it it's sometimes it's really nice to be like, hey, I love that game plan. But also if you guys chose to like it coincide or or make it closer, it totally works. So it that's on you, like you know, and that's not every case. We're, you know, as CFPs, we have a fiduciary obligation to give objective advice. And if we don't see it working out, that's what we need to say. Um, but anyway, we have we love those conversations. And I just am so appreciative, Bridget, of being able to have this conversation with you because hopefully our listeners can hear more of the like inflection points and conversations um that are helpful to have if you too are planning to retire in your 50s or 60s.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Yeah. Well, thanks for having me on for this. I love this topic. And I think that, like you said, this is where planners really make our difference, right? What's your vision? Absolutely. And let's help you get there.

unknown 36:36

Right.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

Well, how can people find you, Bridget? Um, if they're interested in following more or, you know, see here reading your newsletter themselves.

SPEAKER_02 36:45

Sure. So you can find us at wealthchoice.com. And uh if you have a question, you can just pose it in there. But um, that's our website. We have a lot of um information on stuff like this, right? So that that topic of retiring early or anything that has to do with um finances, helping folks make good financial choices. Um you can find us there. Or you can find me on LinkedIn at Bridget Grimes.

SPEAKER_00 37:07

Thank you so much, and um appreciate your time with that.

SPEAKER_02 37:11

Thank you so much. Love the conversation.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Thank you for listening to the Women's Money Wisdom podcast. If you found value in this episode, the best way that you can support the podcast is to forward an episode to a friend or leave a review. Go to ProPlan.com and the podcast link to get all the resources and links mentioned. This presentation by Pro Planning is intended for general information purposes only. No portion of this presentation serves as the receipt of or substitute for personal investment advice from Pro Planning or any other investment professional of your choosing. Copies of Pro Planning's current rent and disclosure brochure and form CRS discussing our advisory services and fees are available upon request or on our website platform at PerlPlan.com. The information that we share is meant to educate and inspire, not serve as personalized financial advice. Everyone's situation is unique, so be sure to consult with your own financial professional for guidance that fits your life. And just so you know, the opinions shared in this podcast are Melissa's own and those of her guests. They don't necessarily represent any organizations with which Melissa is affiliated. For more important disclosures, please go to our webpage at Perlplan.com.