Retirement (Pain) Review

By Cents Coach, Defender of Futures and Crusher of Excuses

Let me ask you something brutal: when was the last time you actually looked at your retirement plan? No, not the login screen. Not the “it’s doing fine, I think” feeling you get after glancing at the S&P 500 ticker. I mean really looked. Like, pulled up your numbers and asked yourself: “Am I still on track to not eat cat food at 78?”

Annual retirement reviews are like physicals. Annoying? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely. Ignoring it doesn’t make the cholesterol go away — and ignoring your retirement doesn’t magically make compound interest work harder for you. It’s not a loyal dog. It doesn’t come when you whistle.

Here’s what a yearly review should include:

• What did you contribute this year?

• Did your investments grow, or did you emotionally panic-sell that one Tuesday when CNBC yelled “RECESSION”?

• Are you still aiming for retirement at 65… or did lifestyle creep move that goal to never?

• Have your spending goals, health assumptions, or Social Security start date changed?

And listen — you don’t have to be some spreadsheet wizard to do this. There are tools out there that make it easy. You’ve got free calculators like Fidelity’s Retirement Score, Google Sheets budget planners (I’ve built better ones, but hey, we’re biased), or if you’re fancy — even Tiller, which links to your accounts and pulls in real numbers. Just don’t rely on some random "advisor" who charges 1% to hand you a PDF you could’ve made with a crayon and a napkin.

The key is course correction. Retirement planning isn’t a one-and-done deal. It’s not a Ronco rotisserie chicken — you can’t “set it and forget it.” Life changes. Kids happen. Pandemics show up. AI takes your job. And guess what? Your plan needs to adapt.

So yeah, it’s a pain. But it’s a once-a-year pain that saves you from a decades-long financial migraine. You can do this. And if you can’t? Hire someone like me — not to manage your money forever, but to teach you how to manage it yourself, so you can fire me later.