When most people think about financial planning, they imagine budgeting, paying off debt, or saving for a home. But in the Simplicity Approach, we start with something far off - retirement. Why? Because retirement is often the single largest financial goal of your life, and one that depends heavily on the choices you make right now.
Retirement is complex. It requires replacing decades of employment income, predicting your future lifestyle, and accounting for a very big unknown - how long you’ll live. It’s no surprise that many people procrastinate or underestimate what’s needed. But by using backward design, we flip the script. We begin with the outcome, your ideal retirement, and work backward to determine the actions you need to take today to make it happen.
This approach doesn’t mean you need to have all the answers right away. In fact, the goal of this chapter is to ask better questions. When do you want to retire? How much do you need to live comfortably? What programs or pensions will help get you there? By answering these questions early, even roughly, you give yourself more time, more options, and more peace of mind.
Waiting until your 50s or 60s to plan for retirement often means scrambling to catch up. That can lead to higher stress, reduced freedom, and bigger sacrifices. Planning early, even with small steps, can create massive long-term benefits. It also gives you permission to adjust your timeline and lifestyle goals if your situation changes, because you’ll already have a plan in place.
How this fits the matrix:
This article opens the “Retirement” section of the matrix, the first life event addressed through backward design. It frames retirement as the foundation of your long-term financial strategy and reinforces the importance of early vision-setting.
How a financial advisor can help:
A financial advisor doesn’t just calculate numbers, they help you map out your life. By starting with retirement, they can help you create a roadmap that aligns your current finances with your future goals - then refine it as your life evolves.
In the next article we’ll dig into why you might need less than you think in retirement - and how cutting certain costs can dramatically reduce your target number.
[June 2 2025]