What Does Retirement Look Like to You? | DFS 325

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Jennifer, welcome to Destin for success.

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I'm your host, Jennifer Takagi, and today I want to continue the

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conversation about retirement, and what does retirement look

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like or mean to you? So we're going to start with my grand

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plan, which was based on my parents, most specifically my

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father. So my father decided he didn't love high school, and he

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found out he could quit high school if he joined the Air

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Force. So he left high school, I think it was in December of his

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senior year of high school and went into the Air Force. And he

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did four years in the Air Force. It was during the Korean

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conflict, and he was overseas in Germany, so like most of his

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work was done over there. He was in San Antonio, Germany. I don't

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know where else. It was long before I was born, so I don't

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know, but when he got out, pardon me, when he got out of

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the Air Force, he went to school, and he used the GI Bill,

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and he went to college, in one of his college classes, and this

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would have been, oh, like in 1955 maybe 1956 his professor

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said Social Security was only meant to supplement someone's

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income, their retirement income. It was never envisioned to be

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the sole source of income when you retired. And he did not

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think that when my father retired, that he would ever have

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enough money from Social Security, if there was any money

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from Social Security for him to get anything at all. So my

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father lived his life on this premise that there would never

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be Social Security for him and my mom to retire on. So he went

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to work for the federal government when I was, I think,

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six, and was with the Department of Housing and Urban Development

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for 20, whatever years. So between that and his Air Force

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Service, he had a decent retirement. Well, come to find

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out, Social Security was still there. What? Yeah, it was still

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there all those years later, because he worked for a number

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of years before he ever even went to the government. I think

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it was late 60s when he went to work for the government, and

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Social Security was available. And I'm not going to get this

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100% right, so just, you know, Cool your jets and know that you

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need to look this up if you really care. But something

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happened during Ronald Reagan's presidency, where he signed into

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law something about double dipping between retirement

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programs. And my father was on the Civil Service Retirement

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Program, but he had worked for many years and contributed to

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Social Security, and so he had his retirement plan I have put

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into my pension X amount with the federal government, and I'm

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going to get that, and then I will also get my social security

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because I worked outside of the federal sector for X number of

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years. So Reagan signed into law something to the effect that

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we're going to cut your Social Security benefit in half,

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because you get a good retirement benefit under this

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Civil Service Retirement. And we're also going to reduce your

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spouses by half. So my dad had done the numbers on how he

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wanted to retire, what he wanted it to look like. If, if you

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know, I have this wrong, please. You know, email me, let me know

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how I don't have this quite right. Because, again, I'm just

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listening to my father and you know, maybe the interpretation

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is different, but his amount to retire on was going to be less

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because their Social Security amount was cut in half. So

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number one, he thought he was going to get Social Security,

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and it was calculated a certain way, and then, boom, it's cut in

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half. And my mom's was reduced also, and I do know theirs was

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reduced, but I'm pretty sure that's why. So the whole time

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I'm working, I'm on a different retirement system than my

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father, but I am committed to putting the most into my 401, K

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type account. I am going to work at least 30 years. I am going to

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have a pension. I'm going to stay there no matter what, and

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this is what I'm going to do. So I had a plan, and I was saving

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my leave. I was putting all the money in my. Count that I could

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like, I was doing all the things that I thought were like, the

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right things for my career and my future. And one day I was

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still smoking back then. I quit years ago, but I was still

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smoking back then, and I was walking out of the building to

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go smoke outside. And I passed a woman from another division that

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we worked for the same agency, and she said, Hey, did you know

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that if you have 25 years of service and you're 50 years old,

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you can retire? What? No, I did not know that. I did not know

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that. And I was probably, I don't know 40 at the time, but I

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thought, Man, that sounds pretty cool. I think I want to do that.

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So I got back to the office, I found a book I could order

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paperback. It was more like a workbook, actually, to work

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through your retirement goals and plans, and I got that, and

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guess what? I could retire at 50. Now my retirement was going

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to be greatly reduced, not because I was penalized in any

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way, but because of my years of service. It was based on years

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of service, because you're paying in, and then you're going

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to quit paying in, so therefore not as much is going to

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accumulate. So I had this grand plan to retire at 50. I had a

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colleague in another office who was a couple of years older than

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I was, but her years of service were, I'm going to say, six or

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eight months less than mine. So we're talking one day, and we're

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like, planning our futures. And now we're like, in our I'm like,

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in my mid 40s, maybe. And I was like, Okay, great. This is what

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I'm gonna do. And she goes, Oh, wait, no. Like, can you stay

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longer? Because I have to work eight months longer than you.

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Let's go together. And I was like, perfect. We will go

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together. So I have this plan, we're going to go together.

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That's what we're going to do. I'm going to retire at 50. I've

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done all the math. I told my husband, you know, you need to

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make up X amount of money because I'm going to retire

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early. He didn't necessarily love that plan. I'm just going

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to say, and so I go along my happy way. Well, in a

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presidential election, each president has their own agenda,

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and the only thing own things they want to accomplish or not

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accomplish, and the President said, I'm going to terminate any

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early out authority. Well, for me to retire at 50, which was

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too young, early, out authority had to be in place. If it was

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not in place, I couldn't retire. Or if I did, I had to postpone

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my benefits. I think I would have lost health insurance. All

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kinds of things would happen. I was like, Oh, yeah. Dang, now I

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can't retire. I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to be here. So money

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I had, like, saved up for this early retirement situation, I

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like, canceled, like, I didn't care. We went on vacations. I

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bought things that, if I were in a real I'm planning to retire in

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the next couple of years mode, I probably wouldn't have done like

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I didn't need any of it. It was all once, but it didn't matter.

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I've got to work for a whole bunch more years, so it doesn't

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really matter. And then there's a reorganization. And in that

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reorganization, I had the opportunity to retire early or

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relocate. That was a long pause intentionally. No, I didn't just

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quit. I had to really decide what I was going to do, because

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I hadn't been planning on retiring early. At this point, I

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didn't really have my ducks in a row. I thought they were in a

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row. They weren't in a row people. They were not they were

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just kind of halfway there. But I decided I'm just going to do

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it. I'm going to do it, I'm going to retire early. I'm going

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to find a way to create a life of retirement.

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What I didn't want to do is give up my life and lifestyle. And

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it's not that I have an extravagant lifestyle, but you

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know, if I want to buy Diet Coke, brand Diet Coke, instead

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of an off brand Diet Coke, I want to buy a regular diet coke

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like that's just the way I roll. There are some things I will not

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scrimp on. I will not buy off brand craft macaroni and cheese.

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You know, the kind with the powder. I love it. Don't judge

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me. I love it. It's my favorite mac and cheese. I've made

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homemade mac and cheese because you probably know by now I'm a

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really. Cook and Baker, but I'm happy with craft, literally.

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It's it just, it makes me happy. I'm not going to buy an off

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brand. That's something that matters a lot to me, right? When

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you're pinching pennies, you buy the off brand, right? Because

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that's what you got to do. So I was like, I'm gonna do it. I'm

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gonna retire. I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna walk out that door.

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And I found out on a Monday that I could retire like that day I

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could have walked out the door. I had all the papers filled out

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ready to go, and I stayed till Friday, so that it would be the

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31st that I would leave on the end of a month, instead of some

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random number like the 25th or whatever. So I retired, and I

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had already started making steps to start my own business. I have

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a friend, Donna Renda, if you happen to hear this, shout out

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to you, she actually was a business colleague, and I

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messaged her, and she was a trainer and a speaker, and I was

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like, hey, I want to do what you do. Will you meet me? And she

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was like, absolutely. So we meet, and I'm like, I want to do

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what you do. What do I do? Blah, blah, blah. So we started having

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a conversation once a month for, I don't know, a lot of months,

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ladies and gentlemen, a lot of months. And she would give me

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suggestions and ideas. And every month, I did one thing, to put a

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business together. I bought a laptop. One month, I came up

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with a business name and got my business set up as a corporation

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and filed with the state I had to open a bank account, because

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in my state, you have to open a bank account and have X amount

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of dollars in for so many weeks before they consider you a

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viable business. So I started doing all the things I was

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supposed to do to have a business, and now it comes time

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for me to retire. We all know what's going to happen. We just

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don't know what day like, what day is everything going to come

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together? And a friend called me from St Louis, and she said,

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Hey, are you going to go to Kansas City to this retirement

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party? And I lived in Oklahoma City, so to drive to Kansas City

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is like five and a half six hours, depending on where you're

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going in the Kansas City area. And I said, Oh no, I'm going to

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be retired. I can't afford it. I can't go. And she said,

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Jennifer, this is the last time all of us are probably ever

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going to be together again, and there was a group of us, ladies

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who had all worked together. Some of us promoted up into

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positions. Other people had been there for a long time, but we

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were in different states. We had similar responsibilities, some

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of us, others had little bit different responsibilities, but

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it didn't really matter. We were all friends and business

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colleagues, and we did all this stuff together like we were

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physically together at least once a year, sometimes two or

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three times a year, and we were friends and we were close, and

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we supported each other. And she said, we may never be together

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again. And I thought, yep, I'm doing it. So I used I had

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surgery on my tongue last month, and I saw the speech impediment

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from time to time. So I thought, oh, I can drive five and a half

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hours. It's just gas to get there and back. I had points to

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get a hotel room, and so I got us a hotel room. She flew in

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from St Louis. I drove up from Oklahoma City. We went to the

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retirement party. And I'm sad to say, that is the last time all

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of us were ever together. And I decided I'm going to start

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saying yes to everything I possibly can. Now I'm going to

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say my husband and I had made some good choices financially.

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Unfortunately, we could not have any children, so we didn't have

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the child rearing and college expenses that many people do,

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but we also, overall, were very savvy financially. And so I

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decided in that moment when I realized I was never going to

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see these ladies again all together. I've seen a few of

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them, but not all in one place at one time again, I'm going to

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say yes to everything I can. So in all the in the 10 years, it's

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been just over 10 years since I retired, I have gotten multiple

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coaching certifications because I love learning and I love doing

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this kind of work. I have gotten certified in doing dis

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behavioral profiles, change style indicators. I think I'm

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certified. Nine levels of law of attraction. That was amazing. I

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can read Akashic records. I can do holy fire, Reiki, emotion,

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code, body, code, belief code and high performance coaching.

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I'm certified in that Vernon burchards thing. I have joined

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masterminds that have been magical and transformational.

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I've joined some that they may not have delivered quite as well

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as I thought they could ever should have. I've done a lot of

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things, and I not really had a whole lot of regret, because

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along the way, I have learned a lesson in everything I've done.

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And one coach I worked with you had to fill out an application,

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which I thought was kind of funny, because I think in the

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end, it was just a financial transaction, but I had to fill

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out a form. And one of the questions was, have you worked

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with a coach before? If so, who and how did that go? And in all

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actuality, I learned something from every one of them. Did

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everything turn out exactly like they said it would? Maybe not,

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but have I been able to go back at some point and draw from the

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information they shared. Yes, have I found a way to

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incorporate it? Yes. So for me, retirement is doing something I

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love, which this is what I love, this podcast, thanks to you. You

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personally, specifically, I'm in the top 5% globally, over 3.5

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million podcasts. I'm in the top 5% this podcast is because of

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you, because you listen, you subscribe, you liked, you

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shared, you did all the things you're supposed to do. And thank

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you for that. Thank you. I truly appreciate it. So I've got a

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really great podcast. I have done energy healing on people

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who have had life changing transformation. I've done high

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performance coaching with clients who now are creating the

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life and business of their dreams. And none of this would

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have happened if I had maintained that no mentality,

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no, I can't do that. I'm going to retire next week. I can't

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afford it, and it cost gas and a few snacks on the car. So what

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do you want retirement to look like for you? Do you have to

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absolutely strip down everything and live like a martyr until

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retirement? Nope, you do not have to do that. Do you need to

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be somewhat reasonable from time to time? Possibly, the choice is

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yours, and the choice is totally yours. You get to decide what

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you want your retirement to look like, and I encourage you to

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start fantasizing about that. Start imagining what it's going

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to look like for you. I'm Jennifer Takagi. I look forward

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to connecting with you soon, and you can click the link and book

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a discovery call, and we can find out what's going on in your

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life. And if I have a suggestion to help you get closer to the

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life of your dreams, have a great day.

Unknown: 00:18:39

You.