Five Worlds · 16-page PDF
The Possibility Planner: A Retirement Starter
You spent decades building the money. Now figure out what you want it to do.
What your money needs to do so you can actually use it: five jobs, the questions to answer together, and your whole retirement on one page.
For most of your working life, the rules were pretty simple: money going into the account was good, and money coming out was bad. Then you retire, and suddenly you're supposed to be comfortable doing the opposite. This planner is about figuring out what your money needs to do so you can actually use it.
Why doesn't the balance tell you what you can do?
Because knowing how much you have and knowing what you can do with it are two different things. Retirement has to answer what you can spend, where the money comes from, what happens when something goes wrong, what you want to leave behind, and whether you'll actually feel comfortable using the money you spent your life building.
The planner organizes those questions into five jobs: Replace, Protect, Grow, Leave, and Enjoy.
A technically sound plan that you abandon when things get uncomfortable isn't much of a plan.
What do you work through in it?
The questions to answer with your spouse, separately first, from what your life actually costs to what you want the money to let you do. Then a worksheet that puts your whole retirement on one page, so you can start changing the assumptions and see whether the plan still works.
What this is, and is not
Five short sections, with sourced charts and worksheets you can fill in on screen or print.
It is educational material, not individualized advice. It doesn't know your numbers; the answers that matter are the ones you write down.
Inside the guide
- Start with your life. Where the next paycheck comes from, and what changes when the market falls right after you retire.
- Give your money five jobs. Replace, Protect, Grow, Leave, and Enjoy, and the question each one answers.
- A plan that works for you. Not just the spreadsheet: a plan you will actually follow when things get uncomfortable.
- Questions to answer together. What your life costs, what income shows up, and what you want the money to let you do, answered separately first.
- Your whole retirement on one page. Then change the assumptions, one at a time, and ask whether the plan still works.