Is Your Retirement Plan Ready? 6 Key Indicators for 2026

Be one of a kind with Mike's Plan.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the One of a Kind Financial Show Daily with your host, Mike Milligan. It is Friday, January 2nd, and we are gonna lead off this year talking about one of the most critical elements to financial planning, foundational to the core. It is the budget. And at the end, I'm gonna give you some details about how you can take charge of your budget. One of the number one resolution things that many people make on New Year's Day. Um, so recently on the One of a Kind Financial Show, Gary and I talked about budgeting specifically in retirement, but the principles apply to anybody. So you probably have a pretty good idea of what it takes to run your household each month. And you know, you should be padding that emergency fund, but are Are you really doing it? It's often the small everyday habits that quietly trip us up in retirement and in life. We're going to walk through 6 common ways folks unknowingly sabotage their financial future and ways to stay on track in 2026. Stay tuned as Gary and I, uh, help you live a one-of-a-kind life.

Let's be honest. When it comes to retirement planning, we don't always need a market crash or a major crisis to derail our plans. Sometimes we're our own worst enemy, like eating kale once a month, calling it a diet. I don't eat kale. Do you eat kale?

No.

No, thank you. All right. From letting budgets slide to being overly generous with adult kids. Yeah, I do that. You know, we got 6 sneaky ways that people sabotage their retirement. Let's start with the first one. Are you flying blind without a budget? There's the B word, the budget.

Budget. Here we go. In 2026, by the way, happy New Year, guys. We're right on the— we're here, guys. 2026 is here. Welcome to it, guys. So yes, everyone still needs a budget. Historically, people used to use check registers. Remember that good old check register you'd write all your expenses down into?

Yeah, sure.

So people would keep track of every dollar. Now Dave Ramsey sells EveryDollar as an app. He actually makes money off that. Right? Everybody still needs a budget though, especially in retirement or the years leading up to it. A budget doesn't mean you can't have fun. It means knowing where your money is going, assigning it a purpose so you can afford the fun without wrecking your future. Apps like You Need a Budget, EveryDollar, Rocket Money, they make it easy. But the bigger question is, how do you build a budget that actually works for your retirement lifestyle? That's through a financial plan. And I like to use the One of a Kind Financial Plan for that.

Yeah, absolutely. It makes total sense. Have you automated your savings or is your money on cruise control? Cruise control to nowhere. That doesn't sound good at all.

No, automation is like setting your retirement on autopilot and not doing it is like saying, I'll start my diet after vacation and Thanksgiving and New Year's according to the— and listen, plenty of people do that, by the way, on that diet thing.

Yeah.

Right. Just like plenty of people don't automate savings until it's too late. But according to the 2025 Retirement Confidence Survey, retirement confidence remains shaky with over a third of households dipping into credit cards just to cover basic expenses. Automated savings, debt payments, and even giving help, giving helps you stay disciplined when life gets messy.

So this happens to a lot of people. Are you supporting others at your own expense, especially adult children?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I've got 3 adult kids now and I love them to death. And I mean, I would, uh, and I've been, I've been so accustomed— they're all in their 20s, right? So I've been accustomed to providing for them my whole— for their whole life, right? So, uh, we've been— so like me, we all still want to help family, but at the cost of our own future. I don't think it's fair to like Liana in our future to be able to sacrifice for our kids. But man, the research shows a lot of people do. A 2025 Pew study found that nearly 40% of US adults financially supported someone in their family last year. And AARP reminds us, if you step away from work to become a caregiver, you can lose over $300,000 of lifetime earnings. That's not pocket change, folks.

No.

It's the potential It's potential retirement fuel to help you live freely the rest of your life. So we have to set healthy boundaries while still finding ways to be generous.

I just got the kids off the family phone plan, Mike. I just finally did it.

Do you remember last week, folks, I was going to ask Gary, that was on my list to ask him in the next episode, I mean the next segment here, but he's already beat us to it. So Gary, you finally got them off.

I got them off. Yep, exactly right. Yep.

Guys, I would invite you right now to text ideas to 600-700 if your kid is still on your family plan, because Gary's got tips that I could share with you on how to get your kids off the family plan.

So text ideas to 600-700.

The show is the one-of-a-kind financial show. I want to get you on the calendar, get you all set up with that comprehensive plan. No cost, no obligation. 800-748-1838. 800-748-1838, or text the word ideas to 600-700. Are you counting on working in retirement, but not planning for the unexpected?

Uh, the dream, consulting part-time in retirement while sipping lattes and mentoring the next generation. That's the dream. The reality is 40% of retirees still end up retiring earlier than planned, usually because of health issues, layoffs, or life throwing a curveball. And while 80% of workers say they'll work in retirement, the truth is Not everyone gets it. So you have to have a backup plan if working forever is not an option. That's why we start to look in your portfolio and see if guaranteed income is an option, or to find out if there's other lifestyle changes you can make to still end life well.

Are you ignoring healthcare costs or just hoping Medicare covers everything, which of course it doesn't?

Uh, folks, uh, if you can't quote this stat, you have not been listening to the One of a Kind Financial Show all year. Because Fidelity estimates that a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2026 will need around $340,000 just for medical expenses, and that does not include long-term care. Yet most retirees still underestimate this cost and avoid planning for it altogether. So we have to get realistic about where that money's going to come from and put it on paper into the financial plan.

A couple of minutes left, Mike. Are you trying to DIY yourself through retirement planning? That is not a good idea at all.

Yeah, guys, um, retirement is not the time. You know, they haven't, they haven't made a store yet like the Home Depot for retirement. You know, where at the Home Depot you can go when you can get everything you need to do all the things you need to around the house. You know, there's not one store you can walk into that's going to answer your unique needs because your retirement is unique. It's not like that Kohler faucet that 20 people on your street have, right? It's not one tool for you and your neighbors or your coworkers. See, retirement is not the time to do it yourself. You need somebody who can help you. And guys, there's also no shortage of blogs and podcasts and hot takes online, but retirement is not a good place for guesswork. See, you have to get right what the best plan for you is in retirement.

All right, Mike, we've got about a minute left. Tell us a little bit more about the One of a Kind Financial Plan before we take our break.

Well, I'll ask a couple questions to our listeners. Are you worried about taxes? Are you worried about retirement income? Are you worried about If your investments are right for the rest of your life? Are you worried about long-term care? Are you worried about legacy, building something that says, I love you, to your family? If you are, the solution to those problems is easy. Gary's going to give you the phone number. He's going to give you a text line, and all you have to do is reach out. Because if you don't have somebody on your side helping you through these tough choices, We are here. We've been here for 52 weeks now on the radio station all year. And if you've listened to us multiple times and you've yet to call, now's the time to call. Now, we'll be here next week too. Don't think we're going anywhere. But now is the time to call to get on the calendar so that we can build something for 2026 that helps you live a one-of-a-kind life.

800-748-1838, 800-748-1838, or text the word ideas to 600-700.

Thank you, Gary, for giving that phone number and text code for people to reach out to us.

Personally, I have a mission to educate, coach, and plan folks. And, uh, everybody really knows me as a certified financial planner. Those marks are owned by the Certified Financial Planning Board. Um, but my educate and coaching part are at the ethos of who I am. If you were to go to mikemilligan.com, mikemilligan.com, you're going to see 2 buttons on there. One's educate, one's coach, the other's plan. Educate is at the core building knowledge so that you can make decisions for life and your future. I have a personal financial planning class that, that has been offered through Old Dominion University and now personally through our site, mikemilligan.com. For, um, for a number of years. It's where I take my over 30 years of history of, uh, being in the field, sitting across the conference table, the couches, and the dining room tables of clients and hearing what needs to be done in financial flow and their personal financial plan. It's the countless hours of continuing education, the studying, the optimizing, and I'm bringing all of that experience to you in a 6-session, 9-hour And then three practical hours for you to get yourself aligned in 2026 on a path to building that one-of-a-kind financial plan for your one-of-a-kind life. If you want more information on it and you don't have time to go to that website right now, text the word news to 600-700, N-E-W-S to 600-700. My team will reach out to you. Just as a reminder, Mike. He is an investment advisor representative with Advisory Alpha LLC. He's a certified financial planner, where again, those marks are owned by the Certified Financial Planning Board. And he's the owner of Ideas by Mike, doing business as One Oak Financial. All of those entities are unaffiliated with each other, but as part of regulatory requirements, we disclose those. As a reminder, we do this podcast for educational content. Consult with a licensed financial professional before acting on anything we speak about on this show.

Take the stand. Visibility, strategy, take the lead. Transformation's yours, fulfill the need. Mike's got the way. To help you rise and stay. Leadership impact you'll find in your one-of-a-kind mind. Be one of a kind. Take the flight. Ooh, ooh. Mike's the guide. You'll shine bright.