I was listening to a podcast (I believe it was Choose FI) and the podcast hosts asked their followers who’ve retired or retired early, what advice would you give to those about to retire or planning to retire.  It was great to hear the amount of advice people gave from topics about health care and taxes to mentally transitioning from an active work lifestyle to a retired lifestyle. Learn from those who’ve done it already.

When I was much younger, I had the mentality that I was indestructible and that I could do anything. I felt like I knew everything or didn’t need help or advice because I was young and smart. I perceived the older generation as being out of touch and wouldn’t have anything to teach me. Just like how I thought I would never experience mid-life crisis. How naïve and immature I was.

Now that my children are getting older and are at the age they understand the concept of money and basic understanding of investing, I see myself giving them more and more advice. I’m using phrases like “When I was your age…” or “When I was growing up…” or “I was a kid before too.” I keep thinking to myself, do my children appreciate the advice I give them? Do they know that I know more than they do? Do they know that just because they are growing up in an era of technology use that I can’t relate to them or understand what they are going through?

One thing I realized after listening to the podcast is that there are those who are more experienced than you and if they are giving advice, you should listen. One advice that got my attention was the aspect of  paying taxes on your pre-tax retirement account in retirement. When you take money out of your pre-tax accounts, they are then taxed. Let’s say you withdrew $100,000 in a year in retirement. Guess what, you don’t have $100,000 available to you. You have to remember to pay taxes on it and that will leave you with less. I’ve focused primarily on pre-tax retirement so this piece of advice hit home with me. Another piece of advice I heard was to do a Roth Conversion before you retire so that you can pay the taxes while you’re still employed. Another advice was to focus on after-tax accounts like a Roth IRA so that you don’t have to worry about paying taxes in retirement.

The point is there’s always something to learn from those who’ve done it. If someone is going to give me advice that can help improve my future, I’m going to listen. When you reach retirement, it’ll be very hard or too late to make adjustments especially if you’re not brining in income anymore. Have an open ear and an open mind when you hear someone more experienced talks. Your future might depend on it. If you are interested in following my journey, email subscribe to get alerts of latest posts or follow me on Facebook and Instagram.