Listen to 3 Ways to Retire Now, No Matter Your Age or Savings

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Well, hello there everyone. Welcome to today's episode. I have been dying to record this episode because this is something I'd love to talk about. It's a little bit unique, it's a little bit odd. It might even make you uncomfortable. And to be completely honest, it makes me a little uncomfortable to talk about because I've had a lot of pushback about it when I've brought it up in a variety of places, but this is just the day to go for it. So here we go. Today I want to talk to you about three ways you can become retired today. That's what I said. I want you to become a person who is retired today. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not asking you to quit your job. I'm not saying that you need to find a very quick way to be able to cover your expenses day to day.

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But I'm also not just trying to be crafty, clever and creative by saying, oh, you can just say you're retired and be retired. I want you to get to a point where you can authentically live a retirement lifestyle, the life that you're dreaming of, the life that includes the dreams that God has given you in a way that allows you to enjoy every day regardless of the age that you are today, and regardless of how much money you may or may not have saved for the future. So I'll start by telling you a little bit of my background. I decided to retire in 2018, and when I decided to retire, I was actually working a full-time ministry position as an executive pastor, and I actually stayed in that job for a while after I retired, then our family had a move come up. We moved across the country.

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So I ended up leaving that job, didn't work full-time for a season. And shortly after that ended up moving to Oklahoma where I picked up another full-time job where I led the human resources team for the largest church in America. I think our team of four people were serving eight or 900 employees at the time. So it was a very challenging, very fun role, but I still considered myself retired. Fast forward a few more years and today I've been leading Dana by coaching as the CEO of my own business for a few years now, and I still consider myself retired. So I want to give you that example because no two retirements look the same. And first, I think it's important to point out that I don't really believe retirement is biblical. Think back in the Old Testament, we see so many individuals who are laboring, who are in ministry, who are doing a variety of things up until the very last breath that they take. And what happens a lot in our culture is we tend to think retirement is defined

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By when we stop earning a paycheck or retirement is defined by when we have the freedom to do what we want to do with our time. I want to challenge you to think about that a little bit differently. And if we are considering retirement as something that we're doing, everything we can right now to get towards, it might feel like something that is very far off and maybe even impossible. If you're like me, I love reading about finances. I have a degree in finance. I'm always just kind of for fun for a hobby, reading articles in the media to learn more about different stats and things that are going on in our current economy. And I find it fascinating that there are often articles written about various generations and how prepared we may or may not be for retirement. And what's especially interesting is all those articles are referring specifically to how much money someone has in the bank.

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So I want to take a step back for a minute and think about the fact that neither you nor I, whether someone follows Jesus or not, none of us gets to take with us what we have in our bank accounts. So it's important to think about savings of course, to be wise and to steward what we have, but also to not feel that we have to store things up in a sense that we're going to need them for years and years without work. And then one more approach I want to take to this definition before we dive into some specifics would be to make sure I point out that I'm not saying you always have to work. What I am saying is this is an invitation for you to really reconsider what retirement means to you if it's not something that you're biblically commanded to do, but it's also not something that you want to view exactly as we view in western culture, which is there's a specific day in your life when you decide you'll never work again and you have enough money in the bank to do all the things you want to do if you're willing to kind of turn those definitions on their heads.

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We're going to have a fun conversation today. So like I said, I retired in 2018. I have still worked challenging and rewarding full-time jobs since then, but a few things that shifted were my focus on how much money I earned and a few things that shifted were my focus on the impact I wanted to make. So when we think first about retirement, I want you to entertain the idea that not working is really not an option. And of course that depends how you define work. But you might live well until your age or nineties and each day you're going to get up and do something. So if you're able to develop a habit now, regardless of the age you are, develop the habit now of identifying what you want your day to look like. Your time spent becomes less about work or where you go to earn a paycheck, and it becomes more about how you're spending each day.

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When we think about retirement, we think so much about money and savings and stewarding money, and that's important, and that's the way we want to honor God with all that he's given us. But we also want to steward our time. Where are we investing our time? You are giving your time in exchange likely for a paycheck somewhere. And for those of you who are listening who are maybe not working right now, you might even be a stay at home parent. I have done that for years myself, and believe me, I understand you are exchanging your time for something, right? You're investing your time and making sure that children, your beloved precious children are getting the best of you. So I want to look at retirement more holistically instead of something that's just meaning that we no longer have a work agreement somewhere. And I think the best way to do that would be to look at three areas of your life that you can really assess them and identify, okay, how ready am I to embrace this retirement mindset so that I can decide today I am retired?

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Okay, so the first belief that you must have in order to be able to retire today is to know that you are not required to stay at your current job. You can leave anytime you want to, and you're saying, well, no, Dana, I'm dependent on the paycheck. I'm dependent on the healthcare. Or I started this company for goodness sakes, I could never leave it. Now, I'm not saying you should leave, but I want you to have a strong belief and awareness to give yourself permission that if something went really wrong, if there were some significant toxicity or money issue or a lack of flexibility that your family needs, that you would give yourself permission to leave that job and find another creative way to pay the bills using the gifts that God has given you. Okay? That's one belief I want you to consider in order to be able to retire.

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Again, in no way am I suggesting you leave your job, but I am wanting to make sure you give yourself the permission to think through how incredibly creative you are and how possible it would be for God to give you a different opportunity if there were a better place for you to invest your time in exchange for the money that you're earning. A second belief to consider is you must know that you are trustworthy in managing your finances. You can start being consistent today with your savings, with following a budget in order to develop trust in yourself to be wise with your finances. If you are faithful with the little things, you'll be faithful with the big things. I think back to the first job I had. I worked in social work with a women's shelter in Indiana and in that first job, which was full-time, I think I made about $19,000

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A year. And I remember thinking, okay, I'm going to have to figure out how do I tithe out of this? How do I pay taxes? How do I make sure I can put gas in my car, pay rent, and occasionally buy some new clothes for work as needed and occasionally go out with friends that started way back in the year 1999. And the ability to be trustworthy with that has helped me build trust over time in my capacity to manage my finances. So that's my story. But that doesn't mean you've had to have been trustworthy with your money for decades to get to this point. No, I believe you can start that today. Immediately. It's a decision. It's a decision to choose the retirement mindset so that you're able to manage your funds today in a way that of course honors God, but also honors you and your family so that you don't have to worry about suddenly becoming a person who's saved a lot of money 20 or 30 years down the road.

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You can become that person today and you will be able to trust yourself and the way you manage your finances through savings and budgeting. And then a third belief that you must have if you want to retire early, is your ability to create a lifestyle that does not burn you out. If you're living in a way that's exhausting to you, you're going to want to escape everything. There's no job that would be worth any type of paycheck if you wear yourself out, and I know you believe that holistically, but I want you to think about your current lifestyle. Is it sustainable or are you in a position where you feel like, gosh, I just had a break not long ago and I already need a break? Again, if you're feeling that way, it's not a time to judge yourself. It's a time to get curious.

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What is it about your life that is causing you to feel exhausted? Because no matter whether you're working full-time or part-time or not at all, if you have a retirement mindset that's not going to be compatible with exhausting yourself because you're able to work with a rhythm of grace, you are able to work in a way that allows you to know how much energy you have to care for your body in a way that allows you to show up and be present, but also to have time at home with your loved ones and in your community and in your church. So looking back on these three beliefs, I'll remind you what they are again, knowing that you're not required to stay at your job, being trustworthy and managing your finances and creating a lifestyle that does not burn you out. Looking back on those three beliefs in which one of those areas could you use the most growth or improvement right now to support the idea of retiring and living that retirement lifestyle and mindset today,

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Which of those three areas do you need the most growth, improvement, or progress in? And once you've identified that area, I want you to think of things in your past that give you clues to a stronger capacity to manage those areas than you're already aware of. So for example, if you don't feel that you have the freedom to step away from your job if things got bad, you could think of a time that you came up with a creative financial solution when you were in a pinch. How did God show up for you? Think back to the ways that you've worked through things that were scary to you at the time, but now are just a memory and maybe even a sweet memory. And I want you to think about what ways you are already managing and stewarding the money and resources that God has provided you.

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If you're struggling to believe that you can manage your finances well and be consistent, identify the ways that you are already managing and stewarding the money and resources God has provided you to give you evidence to stay the course and maybe even step up the strength and capacity with which you are managing your finances through budget and savings. And then if you're feeling that your life is not sustainable, that you're on a track towards burnout, I want you to ask yourself, what behavior could you change to make the life that you've created more sustainable? And the key phrase there is the life you've created. Your life has not happened on accident, friend. A lot of us looking around and we're thinking, oh my gosh, these circumstances are so difficult. How did I get here? Well, some of them are circumstances that are out of our control, but some of the things that have led to an unsustainable, exhausting life are decisions that we've made or things that we've allowed.

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So if you're able to identify some things like not getting proper sleep or maybe working on weekends, maybe not practicing a weekly Sabbath where you have a day of rest, if you're able to identify some things that are habits that are missing or that are unnecessary, you're going to be able to make shifts to increase your belief in your capacity to create a life that is entirely sustainable, that's not exhausting, and will move you towards your ability to make that decision to retire and have that retirement mindset today. So I want to wrap up with a visualization exercise for you, and I want you to keep this in mind the next time you're at the office, when you're at work, and I want you to think through some of these empowering thoughts that help you be in the mindset retirement. Here they are. I am here because I choose to be. I want to be here. The wages I am earning are being stewarded well, and I am not wasting them. I am here to make an impact, and I do not need

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Others' approval. I rest and I care for my body so that I can relax and enjoy my workdays and the people who I am working with. So when you think back on some of those statements, if any of those triggered you a little bit, I want you to ask yourself why. Again, it's an opportunity to get curious if you don't agree with those statements, there's a little bit of growth opportunity for you to embrace a retirement mindset because really, a retirement mindset is one of freedom. If you struggle to agree with those statements, there's a lack of freedom in some area of your work life and your capacity to be open to recognizing and accepting. The fact that you don't feel completely free is what's going to set you free. You can invite God into this conversation. You can ask him to show you areas where you might be doubting, where you might be struggling to commit, or you might have some fear because all of those things are valid for you to fear, but it wouldn't be helpful for you to ignore them.

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So I encourage you to pause for a little bit. Think about what retirement would look like for you. How would you spend your day? Who do you want to invest in? And you're thinking less about your earnings and more about your impact, your use of time, your physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health based upon how you are spending your days. All right, friends, that is a brief introduction to how you can begin your retirement today, how you can develop that retirement lifestyle. I would love to hear from you, your thoughts about it. Go ahead and send me an email at dana (at) danabyers coaching.com if you have questions, thoughts, stories to share. I always love hearing from you. I want to thank you so much for joining me for this episode, and I'll see you really soon.