The Personal Finance Podcast 10 Steps to Creating the Ultimate Retirement Plan
Jan 26, 2026
A ten-step framework for building a retirement plan is laid out in short, actionable segments. Topics include defining your target lifestyle, translating spending into a portfolio goal, and mapping guaranteed income sources. They cover healthcare planning, tax-advantaged accounts, asset allocation, withdrawal sequencing, Social Security timing, legacy choices, and setting an annual review routine.
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Define Your Retirement Target
- Define when work becomes optional and write your target retirement age down now.
- Use a 'perfect year' exercise to itemize housing, travel, vehicles, and support for family to shape your spending plan.
Mark And Sarah's Lifestyle Tradeoffs
- Mark and Sarah (ages 42 and 40) mapped needs, wants, and legacy to calculate a $110,000 annual retirement budget.
- Moving to a lower-tax state reduced their required spending by 8%, saving $14,000 per year.
Calculate Your Retirement Need
- Build a retirement budget in today's dollars by listing essentials, discretionary spending, taxes, and healthcare.
- Translate desired annual spending into a portfolio target using a safe withdrawal rate (use 4% as a baseline).
