Stop Doing These Things In Retirement Planning

One of my favorite reads this year has been Michael Easter’s Scarcity Brain. In chapter four, “Why We Crave More,” he describes how we’re hardwired to think that having more—food, money, what have you—makes us safer. To illustrate the point, Michael uses the example of Dr. Leidy Klotz playing Legos with his son. Despite multiple advanced degrees in engineering, when faced with an uneven Lego bridge, Dr. Klotz went directly to the Lego bin to find more bricks. By the time he returned, his son had already solved the problem by removing Legos from the taller pillar.

Like Dr. Klotz, we tend to solve our problems by adding more to our lives: the latest apps, the coolest new gadgets, extra work or side hustles. We rarely consider how subtraction could be a solution. I often see this as a retirement advisor. People overcomplicate their retirement planning to the point where managing the system becomes the focus rather than its intended purpose of creating a great life.