Your Retirement Reality Check

The Problem with “Winging It”

Most people’s retirement plan fits in one sentence: “I’ll figure it out later.” But retirement math is unforgiving. Every year you delay serious planning costs you — because compound growth needs time to work.

Here’s what the numbers actually look like:

Assuming 7% average annual return. These are illustrative, not financial advice.

The person who starts at 25 invests $192,000 total and ends up with a million. The person who starts at 55 invests $780,000 — four times more money — for the same result. That’s compound growth, and it doesn’t care about your intentions. It only rewards action.

What You’ll Learn

This course teaches you to use AI to build a retirement plan based on your real numbers — not generic advice. By the end, you’ll have:

• A personalized retirement target calculated from your actual situation
• A savings strategy optimized for your timeline and income
• A tax-efficient withdrawal plan for when you stop working
• A healthcare funding strategy that accounts for the costs most people forget
• A stress-tested plan that holds up against bad markets and long life

How This Course Works

Each lesson builds one component of your plan. You’ll use AI tools throughout — primarily ChatGPT and Claude for analysis, plus dedicated financial planning tools for specific calculations.

Privacy first: Every prompt template in this course is designed to be used without sharing identifying information. You’ll learn to anonymize your financial data while still getting accurate analysis.

Not financial advice: This course teaches you to use AI as a research and planning tool. For implementation — actually moving money, buying insurance, or making legal decisions — consult qualified professionals.

What to Expect

✅ Quick Check: Why is AI particularly useful for retirement planning compared to generic calculators? Because retirement planning involves dozens of interacting variables — savings rate, investment returns, inflation, taxes, Social Security timing, healthcare costs, lifestyle changes, and life expectancy. Online calculators handle 3-4 of these. AI can model all of them simultaneously, explain the trade-offs in plain language, and let you ask “what if?” questions: “What if I retire at 62 instead of 65? What if inflation is higher? What if I move to a cheaper city?” That interactive analysis is what makes AI planning different.

The Three Retirement Wildcards

Before we calculate anything, understand the three factors that make retirement planning uniquely complex:

1. Inflation: At 3% annual inflation, something that costs $50,000 today costs $90,000 in 20 years. Your retirement number must account for this — and AI can model different inflation scenarios.

2. Healthcare: The average 65-year-old will spend approximately $120,000 on long-term care alone. Medicare doesn’t cover most long-term care costs. This is the expense most planners underestimate.

3. Longevity: Planning for 20 years of retirement might not be enough. If you retire at 65 and live to 95, your money needs to last 30 years. Running out of money at 87 is a real risk that needs modeling.

AI doesn’t eliminate these uncertainties. It helps you plan for them by modeling multiple scenarios simultaneously.

Key Takeaways

• 54% of American households have no dedicated retirement savings; the median for ages 55-64 ($185,000) is far below the recommended target
• Starting early is the single biggest advantage — compound growth rewards time, not just savings amount
• AI personalizes retirement planning by modeling your specific variables (income, location, lifestyle, health) instead of using generic rules
• Always anonymize financial data before sharing with AI — share numbers and percentages, never account numbers or identifying information
• AI is a research and analysis tool, not a financial advisor — use it to learn and compare, then consult professionals for major decisions

Up Next: You’ll calculate your personal retirement number — the specific dollar amount you need based on your lifestyle, location, and goals, not a generic headline figure.