Retirement Exercise: What Are Your Wants and Worries?

Your retirement plan shouldn’t be a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all item you pick off a shelf. It should be something personal and tailored to you.

That might seem daunting. Where do you even start? But it’s like anything else: Break it into digestible chunks, or achievable benchmarks. Each of those “small” to-do list items you check off gets you closer to achieving the big-picture goal.

Here at Chamberlin, we’ve talked about our four-step process for retirement planning. Getting your REPs in is important training. But as you educate yourself — making your way through Step 1 of the REP — what are some things to keep in the back of your mind?

Jump to…

• Seeing the Big Picture: The SWOT Analysis of Retirement
  • What is a SWOT Analysis?
  • What are the 4 W's of Retirement?
• The Assignment: The "Wants and Worries" Retirement Exercise
• So what’s next?
• How to Get Your Free Mini Plan
• Citations and Disclosures

Seeing the Big Picture: The SWOT Analysis of Retirement

You might be familiar with the concept of a business SWOT analysis. When going into a project or evaluating a program, the stakeholders will take inventory of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

What is a SWOT Analysis?

This allows a business to allocate resources internally to boost positives (internal strengths, and external opportunities, while minimizing exposure to threats (internal weaknesses and external dangers).

You can think about your retirement this way too. There are internal factors — your existing portfolio, your hopes and goals, and the questions that keep giving you pause in the back of your mind. And there are external ones — market volatility, tax law changes, inflation, etc.

Instead of a SWOT analysis, think about the 4 W’s of Retirement: Your Wants, Worries, Workhorses and Wildcards.

What are the 4 W's of Retirement?

The Assignment: The "Wants and Worries" Retirement Exercise

It’s another cliché, but it applies: Start with what you can control. The “workhorses” and “wildcards” are things external to you, but your wants and worries are uniquely yours.

We do this exercise at the start of our in-person seminars and classes.

How to do the exercise:

1. Grab a notebook or scratch paper: Draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper.
2. On one side, label and list your "Wants": What do you want out of retirement? What type of lifestyle does your ideal retirement entail? What story do you want to leave behind?
3. On the other, label and list your "Worries": What keeps you up at night about retirement? Do you have enough money saved?¹ What happens if you have a significant medical expense? Or the economy tanks right after you retire?

We’re not looking for anything specific. Just write down whatever comes to mind. These are the things that keep you from having peace of mind, so there are no right or wrong answers.

Done? Great! You have the first piece of your retirement roadmap.

So what’s next?

Your wants are the destination, and your worries are just the questions you have about the route. Our certified and trained Retirement Educators and fiduciary advisors can help you choose “workhorses” that will make that journey easier, and pick strategies to minimize “wildcards” along the way.

For example, imagine you’re in the “Retirement Redzone” — the five years right before or right after retirement day. Your daughter recently had a baby, your first grandchild. One of your “wants” might be to set aside money for his college education. One of your worries might be how to do that in a way that will leave him the most money with the least tax exposure. Your planner can help you find the right 529 fund and investment/withdrawal strategy for tax planning to ensure your grandson has what he needs when he needs it.

But the first step is understanding your starting point, and that’s where the “wants and worries” exercise is valuable.

How to Get Your Free Mini Plan

Now that you’ve started the process, click here and book a session today, and we'll create a customized Mini Plan at no cost to you.

This Mini Plan includes 3 essential reports.

1. Your Social Security Maximization Report,
2. Your Tax & Portfolio Audit,
3. And based on those first two reports, your custom, tailored Wealth of Wells Plan.

We used to charge our clients $2,500 for this comprehensive analysis, but we’ve made it free as our way of helping Americans create more predictable retirements.

When you schedule your 20-minute, no-pressure strategy call with one of our experienced retirement educators at Chamberlin, they’ll walk you through the Holistic Planning process, talk through your current financial situation, and, if we seem like a good fit for each other, they’ll pair you with a certified financial planner who will guide you through the rest of the journey toward a comprehensive plan. These are folks trained to answer questions, not certified to sell products, so don’t worry about pressure to sign on that day.

(And don’t forget to ask your Retirement Educator about your free copy of our CEO’s new book, “The Wells of Wealth System.” We’ll mail it out within a couple days of your call at no cost to you!)

Even if you’re not quite ready to take that step, we still want you to feel knowledgeable and empowered as you move that direction. Check out the Learning Center on our website for videos and blog posts that will help you understand the different factors at play in a holistic retirement plan and how you can start making small changes today that will have a big impact tomorrow.

Citations and Disclosures

Notes

1: In a recent survey, 64% of Americans said they are more worried about running out of money in retirement than they are about death. https://www.allianzlife.com/about/newsroom/2025-Press-Releases/Americans-Are-More-Worried-About-Running-Out-of-Money-Than-Death

Disclosures

This commentary reflects the personal opinions, viewpoints and analyses of The Chamberlin Group. It does not necessarily reflect the views of Foundations Investment Advisors, LLC (“Foundations”) and is provided for educational purposes only and the contents are solely maintained by and the responsibility of the applicable 3rd party. The 3rd party content is subject to change at any time without notice, and does not represent an express or implied opinion or endorsement of any specific investment opportunity, investment strategy or planning strategy. Foundations in no way deems reliable any statistical data or information obtained from or prepared by third party sources in this commentary, nor does Foundations guarantee its accuracy or completeness. No legal or tax advice is provided or intended.