Are You Set Up For Your Long Term Goals?
Hi,
Welcome to this week’s Financial Readiness Briefing; ideas, conversations, research, and practical steps to help you prepare before life happens.
When scouting a rapid, you start at the bottom and work your way upstream. You want to make sure that you end up where you want to end up by understanding where the hazards are and which is the optimal route to get you there. For example if the route on the left leads somewhere you want to avoid, you can plan your line before you’re locked in.
Financial transitions work the same way. Retirement, caregiving, and family money decisions are easier when we look ahead, think about where we end up, and work backward to which route will get us there.
The big idea: Better financial decisions often start by looking ahead, then working backward to where we are today.
Question to consider: What conversation helps set up my family for a future transition?
From the Podcast:
Retirement confidence grows when your savings become reliable income.
Jean Chatzky joined me on the Get Ready Before Life Happens Podcast to talk about her new book, The Forever Paycheck and why retirement planning needs to move beyond accumulation and focus on turning savings into income that can last for life.
- Switching to spending after a lifetime of savings can feel uncomfortable.
- Retirement decisions should reflect personal values and shared conversations.
- A forever paycheck can help simplify decumulation.
A forever paycheck helps address the fear of running out of money. Money and reframes the question: How can my money support the life I want for as long as I live?
🎙️How to Create Your Forever Paycheck (watch or listen)
Also From The Podcast:
Helping parents as they age starts with better conversations, clearer plans, and realistic expectations.
Elliott Appel, founder of Kindness Financial Planning and author of How to Help Your Parents As They Age joined me on the Get Ready Before Life Happens Podcast to share practical ways families can talk about aging, understand wishes, organize documents, plan for care, and set healthy boundaries.
Caregiving is a series of decisions. Families are better prepared when they talk early, understand wishes, organize documents, discuss care options, and clarify what each person can realistically do.
🎙️How to Help Your Parents As They Age (watch or listen)
Better money conversations start with curiosity, structure, and a willingness to learn together.
Sheila Schroeder, author of “It’s Time to Talk: A Woman’s Guide to Navigating Money Conversations” joined me on the Get Ready Before Life Happens Podcast to share practical ways to start money conversations and create a safe place to ask questions, and understand each other’s money stories with partners, parents, siblings, advisors, and family members.
When families avoid talking about money, they often end up making decisions from assumptions. When they talk with structure, curiosity, and openness, they can make better choices together.
🎙️ How to Have Better Money Conversations (watch or listen)
Research & Reports
Research & Reports highlights useful studies, surveys, white papers, and data that can help us better understand Financial Readiness. Have something worth sharing? Send it my way.
Retirement Confidence comes from a combinations of assets, planning, financial guidance and access to reliable income sources. LIMRA’s 2026 Retirement Income Readiness Report finds that the combination of these factors all contribute to how prepared people feel. That reinforces why retirement readiness is about turning resources into a system that can support real life.
The Sandwich Generation is growing. Nearly 17 million Americans, or 29% of people caring for an adult, are simultaneously raising children and caring for an adult with a disability or complex medical condition. This has a huge impact on income, career growth and health. Caught in the Middle: The Crucial Role of Sandwich Generation Caregivers from AARP & National Alliance for Caregiving.
Families achieve more peace of mind and confidence by exploring how family conversations improve transition readiness. Having family financial meetings allows everyone to get on the same page regarding wishes and plans. The Transition Ready Family, presented by The Generations Project from the Fidelity Center for Family Engagement.
What I’m Watching
People want AI assistance with retirement decisions, with human guardrails. Over the next few years, we’ll need to figure out the balance between AI and humans. Humans provide judgement and experience. 2026 Defined Contribution Participant Pulse from Invesco / Ipsos.
Stat of the Week: What’s Your Guess?
What should a 65-year-old retiring in 2026 expect to spend on average on health care and medical expenses throughout retirement?
- $247,500
- $81,500
- $185,500
- $398,500
Answer: $185,500 which is up 7.5% from one year ago. Health care is one of the largest and least predictable retirement expenses. Building it into retirement planning early can reduce unpleasant surprises later.
5 things worth knowing this week.
The Four Risks to Retirement Security. Retirement security includes managing longevity risk, market risk, health risk, and decision risk at the same time. Including these factors allows people to better navigate retirement. By Chris Heye.
Couples need to talk about money. The way couples think about and manage money can affect both financial outcomes and relationship satisfaction. The Finances of Marriage with Ben Felix, Dan Bortolotti, and Ben Wilson on The Rational Reminder Podcast (listen)
Rigid withdrawal rates often cause retirees to underspend. Being flexible allows people to spend more and adapt as things change. The Retirement Rule That Leaves Too Much Money Behind with Stefan Sharkansky and Christine Benz on the Morningstar Long View Podcast.
We talk about the motherhood penalty, the retirement gap and equal pay. We should also be protecting women from another economic burden that often arrives later in life and receives far less attention: becoming the default infrastructure for everyone else’s aging. What is the “Daughter Tax”? By Lily Vittayarukskul for CEO World Magazine (read)
Just Keep Swimming. We are the main character in our own story. We are the ones who are the best at being ourselves. We’ll never be the main character in anyone else’s story. Jack Boudreau for Jack’s Substack.
Scam Fighter Tip
This week’s tip: Pay attention when someone suddenly loses access to money, becomes unusually secretive about finances, seems afraid of a partner or caregiver, or has financial decisions being made for them without clear explanation.
Why it matters: Financial abuse can happen within relationships and families, and the person experiencing it may feel unable or unsafe asking for help.
Try this: If something feels wrong, start with a private, nonjudgmental question: “Is anyone pressuring you or controlling how you use your money?”
Resource: Safe and Sound Info from Syble Solomon offers free educational tools for professionals and organizations supporting people experiencing financial and domestic abuse. (Here).
Action Step: One Step Before Life Happens:
This week’s action: Choose one future life transition you may face in the next few years and start one conversation about it.
It could be retirement, helping aging parents, caregiving, housing, health care, or how your family would handle a major change.
Why it matters: Starting early gives everyone more time to understand the options, clarify roles, and make thoughtful decisions before there is pressure.
👉 The Financial Readiness Plan helps you be ready before life happens. It’s a free, practical plan that helps you create your in-case-of-emergency Financial First Aid Kit, organize what matters, and prepare before life happens. Start Your Free Financial Readiness Plan
Closing Thought
While you can’t control the hazards in upcoming rapids, you can understand how they will impact how you run that rapid.
Retirement changes how we use money and time. Aging parents can change family roles. Caregiving can affect work, health, and relationships. These transitions become easier when we start thinking and talking about them early.
Financial readiness gives us something valuable before life changes: time to think, talk, and prepare.
Because when life happens, the way you think about money matters.
Tony
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