Today’s Prep:
On game day, it’s fun to wear your jersey and show some team spirit. What you might not realize are the three ways your financial planning process is similar to a jersey. Consider the names, numbers, and symbols on a jersey. How might they be similar to the names, numbers, and symbols on your financial statements?
Equipping Points:
1:20 – The Number
- Jersey numbers often signify positions. What is your number in retirement?
- How much do you need in savings?
- What rates of return do you need?
- What risks should you take?
- Income is the most important number to understand in retirement.
- Eric shares a client story of a couple who felt they understood the numbers.
5:48 – The Name
- Some teams choose not to have individual names on their jerseys. Instead, they feature the name of the team.
- A lot of people face similar issues in retirement. These include: income planning, Social security planning, and tax planning. Depending on the household, these issues will have different impacts.
- You want your financial advisors to be working for you, but they should customize a plan to your needs.
- Eric shares how he uses his tax knowledge to help clients.
11:11 – The Look
- Sometimes the jersey looks great, but the team is awful.
- Consistent teams understand the basics and have a system.
- A lot of times, there are simple plans and products that work for retirement.
- You want a plan that will enable you to enter retirement with confidence and enjoy it.
Today’s Takeaway:
“Just because something looks good and sounds good, you need to see that it actually works. You want something in retirement that works, not something that in theory might work. – Eric Peterson“
Subscribe To The Podcast:
Apple Podcasts - Google Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - iHeartRadio - TuneIn
Check out some other recent episodes
How the 24/7 News Cycle Hurts Your Portfolio
In today’s 24/7 news cycle, financial headlines are designed to grab attention, not guide smart decisions. The result? Decisions driven more by noise than by strategy. In this episode, Eric explores how media influence, emotional reactions, and misunderstood risk tolerance can quietly derail a financial plan.
Why Most Of Your Financial Goals Fail
Many people talk about setting financial goals, but far fewer people know how to set the right ones, or how to turn them into something that actually works in real life. Eric walks through how to create financial goals that are both meaningful and achievable. It’s easy to aim high, but if your plan isn’t realistic, those goals often fall apart before they ever gain traction.
March Madness & Your Money: Don’t Bust Your Retirement Bracket
Filling out a March Madness bracket is fun, but when it comes to your retirement, you can’t afford to treat it like a bracket pool. Upsets, bold picks, and emotional calls make for a good time, but the same principles can wreck a financial plan if you play it the same way. In this episode, Eric connects the dots between tournament chaos and retirement strategy, and why your financial game plan needs more discipline than your Final Four.
What Mr. Rogers Can Teach Us About Retirement Readiness
Fred Rogers spent decades teaching life lessons through kindness, patience, and thoughtful reflection. While his words weren’t meant to be financial advice, many of his most memorable quotes offer surprising wisdom when applied to in-vesting and retirement planning. Today, Eric takes a few classic Mister Rogers quotes and connects them to the realities of retirement planning.
The Hidden Costs of Mutual Funds in Retirement
Retirement decisions aren’t made in spreadsheets alone. They’re shaped by mood, headlines, memories, and personal experiences, often more than we realize. Eric focuses on the emotional side of financial planning and why awareness matters just as much as strategy.
Retirement & Emotions: How Feelings Can Derail (or Improve) Your Plan
Retirement decisions aren’t made in spreadsheets alone. They’re shaped by mood, headlines, memories, and personal experiences, often more than we realize. Eric focuses on the emotional side of financial planning and why awareness matters just as much as strategy.
Why Retirees Struggle to Spend Their Money
You’ve saved diligently for retirement, but now it’s time to spend. For many retirees, that transition is harder than expected. In this episode, Eric breaks down one of the most overlooked challenges in retirement: actually enjoying the money you worked so hard to build.
Mailbag: Inherited Farmland, AI Planning, and Retirement Readiness
What do you do when financial decisions aren’t just about the numbers? Today, Eric pulls from the mailbag and takes on high-stakes decisions: what to do with family farmland, how much to save, and whether AI belongs in your financial life.
How Advisors Get Paid
In this episode, Eric explains the primary ways financial advisors earn compensation, including commission-based and fee-based models, how those structures work in practice, and what they mean for clients.
What Snow Days Teach Us About Money
There’s something special about a snow day. They’re somewhat unexpected, memorable, and a break from the routine. Eric borrows a few classic snow-day moments and uses them as metaphors for building a strong financial life.