On this episode of The Retirement Huddle podcast, Mark Howard explains how getting through retirement can be a lot like running a marathon. Let’s talk about some of the similarities.

Planning and Preparation

A lot of people assume that training for a marathon involves just going for a long run every day. But it actually involves a lot of planning. Most marathoners spend at least six months in training, mixing in days with light runs, some days with long runs that simulate the marathon, and other days with shorter, faster runs.

It’s the same thing with your retirement plan. You should have different dollars invested in different ways to accomplish different tasks. And your portfolio should have some planning behind it, not just haphazard investment choices.

Proper Diet

Before a marathon, most people do a carb-load to prepare in the days before the race. The body burns carbs more efficiently than it burns fats, so having the right amount of carbs in your system helps your performance while running.

With your retirement planning, you need to be paying very close attention to your portfolio in the years leading up to retirement. You can’t afford any big losses, so it’s important that you have the proper diet to be sure you’re properly managing risk.

“We’ve got to make sure that these income streams last as long as we do,” said Mark.

Listen to the full episode or use the timestamps to jump to a specific section. Thanks for listening! We’ll be back for another show every other Thursday.

Today’s Rundown:

[2:00] – Planning and preparation

[4:59] – Diet

[6:28] – Don’t start too fast