Social Security is an incredible benefit. It's inflation-adjusted income, it can be tax-efficient, and it includes spousal and survivor benefits. For many retirees, it becomes one of the most valuable financial assets they have.

But determining the best time to start Social Security is more complicated than simply using an online calculator that tells you how to get the largest check.

To find links and resources mentioned in today's podcast, visit SoundRetirementPlanning.com and click on Episode #473.

When you work with Parker Financial, our advisors use the Retirement Budget Calculator — a powerful retirement planning tool developed by our firm — to design, test, and refine your retirement plan. It's now used exclusively within our advisory process to help deliver more precise and personalized outcomes.

At Parker Financial, we build well-crafted retirement and investment strategies grounded in academic research and financial science — designed to give you clarity, confidence, and freedom as you move into and through retirement.

Don't leave your future to chance. Take the first step toward a sound retirement. Schedule your complimentary discovery session today by visiting Parker-Financial.net. Let us help you make the most of your retirement years.

I just got back from a trip to Maui with my wife and daughter…
and it hit me—

My wife and I are about to become empty nesters.

For the first time in 29 years… life is about to change in a really big way.

And this trip gave me some perspective that I didn't expect…
about money, about being present, and about what really matters as we move into the next phase of life.

To find links and resources mentioned in today's podcast, visit SoundRetirementPlanning.com and click on Episode #472.

When you work with Parker Financial, our advisors use the Retirement Budget Calculator — a powerful retirement planning tool developed by our firm — to design, test, and refine your retirement plan. It's now used exclusively within our advisory process to help deliver more precise and personalized outcomes.

At Parker Financial, we build well-crafted retirement and investment strategies grounded in academic research and financial science — designed to give you clarity, confidence, and freedom as you move into and through retirement.

Don't leave your future to chance. Take the first step toward a sound retirement. Schedule your complimentary discovery session today by visiting Parker-Financial.net. Let us help you make the most of your retirement years.

Today we're going to talk about your net worth, a number that everyone has but very few really know what it is and even fewer people truly understand what it means when it comes to retirement.

This episode gets us back on track with the 2026 Retirement Challenge. Each episode in this series focuses on one step you can take to determine whether you're ready to retire in 2026. If you're already retired, this is still a valuable exercise to make sure your plan is on track. And if you're a client of Parker Financial, you can rest assured—we're already doing this work for you.

To find links and resources mentioned in today's podcast, visit SoundRetirementPlanning.com and click on Episode #471.

When you work with Parker Financial, our advisors use the Retirement Budget Calculator — a powerful retirement planning tool developed by our firm — to design, test, and refine your retirement plan. It's now used exclusively within our advisory process to help deliver more precise and personalized outcomes.

At Parker Financial, we build well-crafted retirement and investment strategies grounded in academic research and financial science — designed to give you clarity, confidence, and freedom as you move into and through retirement.

Don't leave your future to chance. Take the first step toward a sound retirement. Schedule your complimentary discovery session today by visiting Parker-Financial.net. Let us help you make the most of your retirement years.

I'm going to take a short break from our theme for the year—the 2026 Retirement Challenge—because I want to address a concern I'm hearing from many people right now: the fear about war and how it might impact their investments.

To find links and resources mentioned in today's podcast, visit SoundRetirementPlanning.com and click on Episode #470.

When you work with Parker Financial, our advisors use the Retirement Budget Calculator — a powerful retirement planning tool developed by our firm — to design, test, and refine your retirement plan. It's now used exclusively within our advisory process to help deliver more precise and personalized outcomes.

At Parker Financial, we build well-crafted retirement and investment strategies grounded in academic research and financial science — designed to give you clarity, confidence, and freedom as you move into and through retirement.

Don't leave your future to chance. Take the first step toward a sound retirement. Schedule your complimentary discovery session today by visiting Parker-Financial.net. Let us help you make the most of your retirement years.

This is the first exercise of the 2026 retirement challenge that most people actually enjoy. The first episode was all about purpose and understanding why you will retire. The second episode was about spending. I've discovered that most people really don't like the word budget.

Today we're going to add up how much guaranteed income you will have in retirement.

To find links and resources mentioned in today's podcast, visit SoundRetirementPlanning.com and click on Episode #469.

When you work with Parker Financial, our advisors use the Retirement Budget Calculator — a powerful retirement planning tool developed by our firm — to design, test, and refine your retirement plan. It's now used exclusively within our advisory process to help deliver more precise and personalized outcomes.

At Parker Financial, we build well-crafted retirement and investment strategies grounded in academic research and financial science — designed to give you clarity, confidence, and freedom as you move into and through retirement.

Don't leave your future to chance. Take the first step toward a sound retirement. Schedule your complimentary discovery session today by visiting Parker-Financial.net. Let us help you make the most of your retirement years.

If there were no spending, there would be no need for investments.

No portfolios.
No Monte Carlo simulations.
No withdrawal strategies.
No Social Security timing debates.

Because the entire purpose of money in retirement is spending.

To find links and resources mentioned in today's podcast, visit SoundRetirementPlanning.com and click on Episode #468.

When you work with Parker Financial, our advisors use the Retirement Budget Calculator — a powerful retirement planning tool developed by our firm — to design, test, and refine your retirement plan. It's now used exclusively within our advisory process to help deliver more precise and personalized outcomes.

At Parker Financial, we build well-crafted retirement and investment strategies grounded in academic research and financial science — designed to give you clarity, confidence, and freedom as you move into and through retirement.

Don't leave your future to chance. Take the first step toward a sound retirement. Schedule your complimentary discovery session today by visiting Parker-Financial.net. Let us help you make the most of your retirement years.

In this episode, Jason shares an important announcement about the future of the Retirement Budget Calculator. He explains why the tool will no longer be available to new public users, what this means for existing users and Parker Financial clients, and the lessons learned from nearly a decade of building retirement planning software. Jason also reflects on how this decision supports a renewed focus on delivering deep planning and investment management for the families he serves.

We are going to start the year off with a podcast series called "The 2026 Retirement Challenge". The idea is that each podcast I am going to bring you one thing to work on so that by the end of the series you will know if you are ready to retire and if the numbers will work.

Most retirement planning starts with a number.

"How much do I need?"
"When can I retire?"
"Am I going to run out of money?"

Those are important questions — and we'll get to all of them in this retirement challenge.

But today, I want to start somewhere else.

Because here's what I've seen after years of working with retirees:

Retirement isn't just a financial transition, it's a life transition.

That's why the first step in the 2026 Retirement Challenge isn't about Social Security, taxes, or investments.

It's about your why.

Why are you retiring?
What are you retiring to?
And what kind of life do you actually want to design?