The Easiest Retirement Plan You’re Not Using

Forget withdrawal rates and market timing—this five-step approach keeps your money (and peace of mind) flowing forever.

I have a secret power. And it will solve 100 percent of your sequence-of-returns risk.

You know the fear: running out of money. The whole reason we create financial independence plans is to avoid that outcome. You set a safe withdrawal rate—maybe 4 percent—then save and invest accordingly.

Sounds simple enough. But here’s what usually happens.

If you’re anything like most of us in the personal finance and financial independence community, you get there…and then you freak out. You start second-guessing your “number.” You think it’s not enough, so you either spend far less than you could or you keep accumulating far more than you actually need.

Either way, you spend an awful lot of emotional energy worrying about money. You worry about overspending. You worry about underspending. You try to hit the “just right” point—like some financial version of Goldilocks.

But here’s the deal.

I have the secret. You don’t have to worry about any of that. In fact, you’re wasting your time with the endless money math. Here’s my five-step plan to never run out of money and finally let go of all the financial drama.

Part One: Accumulate enough to reach your version of financial independence. Retire, if that’s part of your dream.

Part Two: Spend as much money as you want—within reason. And maybe even a little more than you originally thought you could.

Part Three: Fill your time with things you love to do. Things that light you up and feel purposeful.

Part Four: Make a little money doing one of those things.

Part Five: Wash, rinse, repeat.

That’s it. That’s the whole system.

The real key to spending freely is not in your asset allocation. It’s not risk parity. It’s not chasing premiums or seeking alpha. The secret is simply this: make a little extra money. Use it for the fun stuff—first-class flights, extra-awesome vacations, unexpected medical bills, a market downturn. That bit of extra income will take you the extra mile.

Now, I can hear the pushback already: “Isn’t the whole point of financial independence that I never have to work again?”

No. That’s not the point at all.

The point of financial independence is freedom—the ability to live a life of purpose. If you can align your purpose with a way to earn just a little money, you win the game.

You still have plenty of time for workouts, travel, and hanging out with people you love. But you also have a small stream of income from something you genuinely enjoy doing. That’s a win-win.

Here’s my example: I work in hospice care. I love it. I would do hospice work even if no one paid me for it. But—lucky me—they do pay me. That means I don’t have to worry about sequence-of-returns risk. I don’t stress over safe withdrawal rates. I’m not obsessing about getting the maximum premium out of my portfolio. I simply make a little extra money, and then I spend what I want.

If you’re searching for peace of mind, the answer is not learning how to spend more strategically. It’s not learning how to squeeze out a higher investment return. And it’s not finding the perfect savings plan.

The answer is much simpler: make a little extra money.

I know it sounds almost too easy. But I’ve seen it work—over and over again. In my hospice, my partners are 85, 82, and 76 years old. They’re “retired,” but they still do this work. Why? Because they enjoy it. And because you can do it forever.

That’s the beauty of the model. You don’t have to throw yourself back into a high-stress, full-time job. You just need something small, purposeful, and profitable enough to smooth out the rough spots in your financial life.

Personally, I hope to be doing hospice work forever—until the day I simply decide not to. And until then, I can spend almost whatever I want. Assuming the world doesn’t go completely sideways, I’m confident I’ll be more than fine.

Doesn’t that sound so much easier than obsessively calculating how much to withdraw from your investments every year?

It does to me. And I think it should to you, too.

Did you catch this week’s episode of Earn & Invest (Click to listen)?

The Purpose Code is Now Available!

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