Retiring Sometime Over the Next Few Decades? Better Start Planning Now.

Photo by: NBen54. Wiki Commons. Used with permission.

Retiring Sometime Over the Next Few Decades? Better Start Planning Now.
Social Security will be depleted by 2033, at which time it will only be able to pay 79% of promised benefits.
9 tips for living a rich life today, while securing a stress-free tomorrow.

One of the most common mistakes is to retire (or be retired early by our company) without putting a solid plan in place. However, another common faux pas is to forget about investing (and budgeting) until we retire. The sweet spot is to adopt a Thrive Budget now, so that we have money for fun, adventure, paying off our student loans, investing and charity.
 
Waiting until after we pay off our student loans or until we get our credit cards paid off might take decades (or never happen at all). If we just pay 10% into tax-protected retirement accounts and earn a 10% gain, we can become a millionaire before we retire. It’s important to learn how to make money while we sleep, the way that financially free people do.

Saving vs. Investing. Saving didn't earn much from 2009-2021. Investing could make us a millionaire, if we start early and are diligent about paying ourselves first. Visit NataliePace.com to learn more.

Stocks earned more than 10% over the last 30 years, and that includes the Dot Com and Great Recessions and the pandemic.

Below are 9 tips to put us all on the right track for enjoying the present and the bonus years. If we start this plan now, even if we just started working, we can save thousands annually, and live a more rich and prosperous life, while also ensuring our retirement is golden.
 
Adopt a Thrive Budget
Be the Boss of Our Money
Health Savings Accounts
Pay Off Our Home
Toss as Many Bills as We Can Out the Window
Social Security
Charitable Work & Contributions
Continuing Education
Rebalance Our Wealth Plan 1-3 Times a Year
 
And here is more color on each point.
 
Adopt a Thrive Budget
Most of us will have less money to live on in retirement. If you’re getting close, figure out how much you will earn when you stop working by adding up your social security, pension, golden parachute and other passive income. If the amount is less than you earn now, you might have to figure out how to spend less in order to make ends meet. Getting smart and creative about this is a better idea than just downsizing everything without a multi-generational plan in place.
 
When we adjust our basic needs expenditures to be half of what we earn (whether we’re working or retired), then we’ll have 50% of our income to invest, have fun, continue learning (perhaps new hobbies) and to donate to charity. Getting our basic needs down may seem impossible, especially in today’s inflationary world, until we learn the strategies that very wealthy people use to stop making everyone else rich and keep more of their money in the family.
 
You can learn more about the Thrive Budget in The ABCs of Money, 5th edition. We also have a free Thrive Budget video coaching series on our YouTube.com/NataliePace channel. Email [email protected] if you’d like additional information.
 
Be the Boss of Our Money
One of the most important ways that we can start providing for our retirement and reducing our basic needs expenditures (particularly taxes) is to learn the life math that we all should have received in high school. We’ve all heard the term, “Pay yourself first,” and many of us are aware that billionaires pay less in taxes than the hourly workers they employ. It’s important to deposit that first 10% of what we earn into tax-protected retirement accounts where our investment gains can grow without capital gains taxes.
 
Personal IRAs give us greater freedom of investment choice (allowing for better diversification) than employer-sponsored plans. So, consider matching what your employer will give into the 401k or RSP (free money), and put the remainder into health savings accounts and IRAs (Roth, SEP, or basic). There are a few other important tricks to taking ownership of our money that are outlined below.
 
Health Savings Accounts
Health savings accounts can:
 

• Save thousands of dollars annually in health insurance premiums,
• Offer a great tax credit,
• Be invested for passive gains, and,
• Are the best long-term health care coverage when we retire.

 
We want to start early (as soon as we are off our parent’s plan) in order to really build it up and have the power of compounding gains work for us. HSAs work best if we are healthy, and if we are not constantly dipping into them for every expense. Think of them as another retirement account that will help us to have fewer health insurance bills and medical debt in retirement. Health care costs are the top reason that many seniors declare bankruptcy. Learn more at IRS.gov. Search for Health Savings Accounts.
 
Two more tips: 1) Try to get your HSA through a brokerage, where you’ll have greater freedom of choice in your investments, and 2) Build up three years of total out-of-pocket costs in cash in your HSA before investing.
 
Pay Off Our Home
For most of us, the best plan is to align our mortgage payoff date with our retirement date. We’ll still have property taxes, maintenance and upkeep. However, if we can eliminate the mortgage, we’ll have a lot more money for fun and other unexpected expenses that can pop up. If we currently have a high interest rate on our mortgage, then consider refinancing when rates fall. Let our retirement date guide us on whether we get a 10, 15, or 30-year loan.
 
Buying a home is highly correlated with wealth. The mean net worth of homeowners is nearly 10 times that of renters, at $1,530,900 versus $154,900 (source: Federal Reserve Board). However, over 20 million American homes were foreclosed on before, during and after the Great Recession (source: AttomData). It’s important to know what we’re doing, rather than just place ourselves in the hands of a real estate broker/salesman, whose livelihood depends upon selling us a home, even if we are buying high or purchasing something that is too expensive for our budget.

 
We’re hosting a Real Estate Master Class online on Saturday, June 15, 2024. Whether you are thinking about buying, selling, downsizing, multi-generational housing, purchasing a home abroad, buying a time-share, or becoming an Airbnb host, get educated and develop the perfect blueprint before you commit to something that could cost a great deal of time and money, and perhaps even sink your FICO score. Email [email protected] or call 310-430-2397 to register and learn more.

If you really want to understand wealth strategies of families who have kept their status over centuries, join us for our Restormel Royal Manor House Retreat. Click to learn more.

Toss as Many Bills as We Can Out the Window
In the tips above, we’ve already learned how to stop making the taxman, the health insurance company, the landlord and the bank rich. Can we also toss other big-ticket bills out the window, such as our gasoline and utility bills? If we live in a sunny state and plan on staying in one place for the next few decades, then rooftop solar is a great way to save thousands on our utility bill annually ($150/month adds up to $1800/year). The payback time can be as quick as 4-7 years, with us earning the equivalent of a 15% yield on the investment for the next few decades – more if we’re powering our own electric vehicle and stop buying gas.
 
Be sure to get your megawatt usage down as low as possible before getting the solar quote. Some ways to do this are to:
 

• Install LED light bulbs,
• Put a timer or on/off switch on our water heater,
• Use a drying rack instead of a dryer
• Wash dishes by hand
• Perform an energy audit on your home to make sure that you are not heating/cooling the outside through leaks.

 
Most people spend almost $8,000/year on their car. Is it possible to downsize to one car (or no cars) for the family, and add in a few bikes or public transportation? Add up your car payment ($300/month = $3600/year), your insurance (is it close to your car payment?), your gasoline bill ($50/week = $2600), your annual maintenance (almost nothing, if you have an EV!), your parking and tickets (is it similar to your gas bill?). This sobering look at the cost of owning and operating a vehicle might inspire us to imagine what we’d love to spend $8,000 dollars each year on instead of making oil companies rich – such as a bucket list vacation, or helping our kids go to college or buy their first home.
 
You can get other energy saving tips in my book The ABCs of Money, 5th edition, or in our Financial Freedom Retreats. Many attendees report learning how to save thousands annually at the retreat, something that more than pays for the cost of the education within a few short months.
 
Social Security
Apply early for your Social Security. It may take a few months to get everything set up, particularly as some people have to appeal to get the amount they are actually owed.
 
Were you a stay-at-home parent for a portion of your career, and were married for at least a decade without getting remarried? If your Social Security is low because of that, you may qualify to receive a higher amount based upon your spouse’s (or ex’s) earnings.
 
Also, factor in the amount of money you’ll lose by waiting until you are 72 to take your Social Security. Looking at this early (age 61) is a good idea, both to help plan your post-retirement Thrive Budget, and to determine whether or not getting a supplement to your income now (with the Social Security payment) might be a better choice than waiting.
 
Charitable Work & Contributions
We’ll want to have a passion project when we retire, and that project might actually end up being our next great chapter. When we give our time, talent and money, focusing on something we really care about improving in our community and world, we are working with people who have a common interest. Being around people we like is going to enrich our lives in many ways. The last three decades of my life have been dream-come-true living largely because my careers were born in charitable projects.
 
So, focus on one project over a multi-year period, rather than just giving a little to a lot of different organizations. If we are tight on money, remember that we always have two other very valuable currencies in our wallet – time and talent. Our sweat equity could prove to be a lot more valuable than any check we might write.
 
Continuing Education
Education is the highest correlating factor with income. While we might not want another job in retirement, or might not need another degree, there will be something that we are interested in learning more about. If we’ve got our basic needs down to half of our retirement income, then we’ll have the funds for that cooking or painting class in Tuscany, for contributing to the grandkids’ college funds, for paying back our student loans, and for our Financial Freedom Retreat and Sustainability Adventures.
 
Rebalance Our Wealth Plan 1-3 Times a Year
As we age, we can’t afford the volatility of stocks. The rule-of-thumb is to always keep a percentage equal to our age safe, not subject to the Wall Street rollercoaster. Rebalancing 1-3 times a year ensures that:
 

• We always keep the right amount safe,
• We are properly diversified (if we’re using the Natalie Pace pie chart system),
• We are capturing gains when stocks are hot and buying low when they drop, and
• We are using a time-proven system instead of emotions (which prompt us to do the opposite of what we should do)

 
In 2022, bonds lost more than stocks. The safe side (fixed income) isn’t supposed to put our principal at risk. So, in today’s Debt World, we have to know what we own, rather than have blind faith that someone else is protecting our future for us.
 

With under 2% gains in 2023, the 2022 losses in long-term government bonds haven’t recovered. There remains heightened credit and duration risk. So, don’t place all of your hopes on an interest rate cut, as it doesn’t get rid of the other two reasons that bonds have been too risky for our safe side! For these reasons, we spend one full day on what’s safe in our Financial Freedom Retreats. You can learn and implement safe strategies at our Financial Freedom Retreat, or you can get an unbiased 2nd opinion from me personally through my private coaching. Email [email protected] for pricing and information.
 
Bottom Line
Many retirees get into trouble if they haven’t planned ahead, or if an unexpected challenge (often medical) comes up. Preparing in advance isn’t just retirement planning. It can lead us to save thousands every year, while building up hundreds of thousands (or more). The Thrive Budget is the money blueprint for a rich life. When our financial house is solid, there is a halo affect over everything in our world. Our FICO score rises. We can lower our student loan interest rate. We can use credit cards for the mileage, while eliminating any high-interest debt. And we can take a breather from working for a personal R&R reset that might be purchased with rewards and miles. This is a better life than living hand-to-mouth, both now and in retirement.  
 
 
Join us at our online June 8-10, 2024 Financial Freedom Retreat. Learn how to protect your wealth, hedge against a weaker dollar, invest and compound your gains, green your retirement plan, easy and efficacious nest egg strategies, how to get hot and diversified (including in artificial intelligence and EVs), how to evaluate IPOs and other stocks, and what's safe in a Debt World. You'll even discover how to save thousands annually with smarter big-ticket choices. Yes, it's a complete money makeover. 
​
Email [email protected] to register. Learn the 15+ things you'll master and read testimonials in the flyer on the home page at NataliePace.com. Register with friends and family to receive the best price. ​

"Ten minutes into the first day I was already much smarter about investing than I ever thought I would be in my life and I knew I was in exactly the right place at this retreat. I am amazed at how EASY and FUN it is to make my money work for me and those I love. I think this kind of information should be compulsory in schools. I wish I'd learned this sooner." CM

If you’d like an unbiased 2nd opinion on your current wealth plan, email [email protected] for pricing and information.

Join us for our Online June 8-10, 2024 Financial Freedom Retreat. Email [email protected] or call 310-430-2397 to learn more. Register with friends and family to receive the best price. Click for testimonials, pricing, hours & details.

Join us for our Restormel Royal Immersive Adventure Retreat. March 7-14, 2025. Email [email protected] to learn more. Register by May 30, 2024 to receive $200 off the regular price. Click for testimonials, pricing, hours & details. There is very limited availability, and you must register early to ensure that you get the exact room you want. This retreat includes an all-access pass to all of our online training for a full year for two and three 50-minute private, prosperity coaching sessions!

Natalie Wynne Pace is an Advocate for Sustainability, Financial Literacy & Women's Empowerment. Natalie is the bestselling author of The Power of 8 Billion: It's Up to Us and is the co-creator of the Earth Gratitude Project. She has been ranked as a No. 1 stock picker, above over 835 A-list pundits, by an independent tracking agency (TipsTraders). Her book The ABCs of Money remained at or near the #1 Investing Basics e-book on Amazon for over 3 years (in its vertical), with over 120,000 downloads and a mean 5-star ranking. The 5th edition of The ABCs of Money and the 2nd edition of Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is are the most recent releases of these books. Follow her on Instagram. 
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Natalie Pace's easy as a pie chart nest egg strategies earned gains in the last two recessions and have outperformed the bull markets in between. That is why her Investor Educational Retreats, books and private coaching are enthusiastically recommended by Nobel Prize winning economist Gary S. Becker, TD AMERITRADE chairman Joe Moglia, Kay Koplovitz and many Main Street investors who have transformed their lives using her Thrive Budget and investing strategies. Click to view a video testimonial from Nilo Bolden.​

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Check out Natalie Pace's Substack podcast on Apple and Spotify.
Watch videoconferences and webinars on Youtube.

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Important Disclaimers
Please note: Natalie Pace does not act or operate like a broker. She reports on financial news, and is one of the most trusted sources of financial literacy, education and forensic analysis in the world. Natalie Pace educates and informs individual investors to give investors a competitive edge in their personal decision-making. Any publicly traded companies or funds mentioned by Natalie Pace are not intended to be buy or sell recommendations.

ALWAYS do your research and consult an experienced, reputable financial professional before buying or selling any security, and consider your long-term goals and strategies. Investors should NOT be all in on any asset class or individual stocks. Your retirement plan should reflect a diversified strategy, which has been designed with the assistance of a financial professional who is familiar with your goals, risk tolerance, tax needs and more. The "trading" portion of your portfolio should be a very small part of your investment strategy, and the amount of money you invest into individual companies should never be greater than your experience, wisdom, knowledge and patience.  

Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. However, NataliePace.com does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Opinions constitute our judgment as of the date of this publication and are subject to change without notice. This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.