Retirement Lifestyle – The Simply Retirement Podcast

How Women Can Prepare Emotionally for Retirement (Ep. 130)

By The Simply Retirement Podcast | November 11, 2026

Retirement can look comfortable on paper and still feel unfamiliar once your daily routine, identity, and sense of purpose begin to change.

How can you prepare for the emotional transition along with the financial one?

In this episode, I speak with Arlene Nelson, retirement confidence coach and founder of Arlene C. Nelson Coaching, about the emotional side of retirement for women. We explore identity shifts, fears around money and living alone, and why retirement preparation can include more than reviewing your accounts. Arlene shares her own difficult first month of retirement, while we also look at practicing retirement before your final workday and taking small, manageable steps toward the life you want to build.

Arlene discusses:

How losing a work routine can raise unexpected questions about identity, purpose, relationships, and daily life.
Why women who are newly divorced or widowed may experience retirement as an especially significant identity shift.
How fears about money can have emotional roots that influence the way women think about retirement decisions.
Why taking one manageable action can make the next financial or personal decision feel easier to approach.
How practicing your retirement lifestyle beforehand can help you learn what feels realistic before you leave work.
And more!

Resources:

Connect with Eric Blake:

Connect with Arlene Nelson:

About our Guest:

Arlene C. Nelson is a Retirement Confidence Coach who helps single, independent women navigate the emotional side of retirement with greater clarity, confidence, and self-trust. Having navigated retirement independently herself, Arlene understands that being financially prepared is only one part of the journey. Retirement can bring questions that don’t always appear on a financial plan: Who am I now? What will give my life meaning? Will I be lonely? What do I really want this next chapter to look like? And can I trust myself to create it? With more than 20 years of experience helping people move through physical and emotional challenges, along with training in EFT, NLP, Reiki, and other transformational approaches, Arlene helps women move beyond fear and second-guessing and toward greater confidence in themselves and their future. Arlene also understands that retirement looks different for every woman. Some enter this chapter with greater financial flexibility than others. She believes that while financial planning is important, the richness of retirement is also found in purpose, connection, resourcefulness, self-trust, and the ability to create a meaningful life with what you have. Her message is simple: You’ve spent years preparing financially for retirement. It’s just as important to prepare emotionally for the life you’re retiring into—because every woman deserves a next chapter worth celebrating.

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Rethinking Retirement: Building a Life on Your Own Terms (Ep. 123)

By The Simply Retirement Podcast | September 23, 2026

What happens when the life you planned no longer fits the person you’ve become?

Retirement planning can create space to reconsider where you live, how you work, and what you want your next chapter to look like.

In this episode, I talk with Meg McKeen, Founder and Principal Consultant at Adjunct Advisors LLC, about the personal and financial decisions that reshaped her life. Meg shares how divorce pushed her to understand her finances and become her own advocate, how she eventually left corporate life and became a full-time traveler, and why she’s learning to balance saving for the future with living today. We also explore practicing retirement, spending after years of saving, and giving yourself permission to choose a path that may look different from everyone else’s.

Meg discusses:

How divorce became a turning point for learning to make financial and personal decisions independently
Why understanding everyday expenses helped her see that supporting herself financially was possible
How leaving corporate life and selling her home eventually developed into five years of full-time travel
Why practicing a different lifestyle before retirement can help clarify what you actually want from it
How learning to spend intentionally can be just as important as building the habit of saving for retirement
And more!

Resources:

Connect with Eric Blake:

Connect with Meg McKeen:

About our Guest:

Meg McKeen is the founder and principal consultant of Adjunct Advisors LLC and the host of the Bound & Determined podcast. After building a traditional corporate career in the insurance industry, Meg stepped away at 39, took a year away from work, and launched her company in 2018.

Her personal path has included marrying young, divorcing at 30, and building an independent life without children. In 2021, Meg sold her Chicago home and many of her belongings to begin traveling full-time. She has since spent meaningful time in every state except Alaska while continuing to run her business.

Meg’s story encourages women to question long-held assumptions about work, home, success, and retirement. She also brings an honest perspective on the planning, uncertainty, and tradeoffs involved in creating a less traditional next phase of life.

Meg McKeen and Adjunct Advisors LLC are not affiliated with Blake Wealth Management or RFG Advisory.

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Should You Stay in Your Home in Retirement? What Women Need to Consider (Ep. 110)

By The Simply Retirement Podcast | June 24, 2026

Retirement brings freedom and flexibility, but it also raises important questions about how and where you want to live as life changes over time.

What happens if your current home no longer fits your needs? How do you balance emotional attachment, financial realities, and practical lifestyle decisions while planning for the future?

In this episode, I discuss how choosing where to live in retirement should be viewed as an ongoing process rather than a one-time decision. I share real conversations from our retirement planning practice about downsizing, staying in the family home, healthcare access, mobility concerns, and the emotional side of relocating later in life.

We also explain why planning ahead can help retirees maintain independence and avoid difficult decisions during stressful moments.

Key takeaways:

Looking beyond downsizing and focusing on how daily life may change throughout retirement
Preparing a current home for aging needs before mobility or health concerns become urgent
Weighing emotional attachment against financial and practical retirement decisions
Considering proximity to family, healthcare, and community support when relocating
Understanding how housing costs affect retirement income and long-term flexibility
And more!

Resources:

Connect with Eric Blake:

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Preparation or Timing: What Really Determines a Successful Retirement (Ep. 96)

By The Simply Retirement Podcast | March 18, 2026

Many people ask whether retiring early will help them live longer. The real conversation is much bigger than that.

Statistics and social media posts often push simple conclusions, but retirement decisions are rarely simple. Health, caregiving responsibilities, longevity, and financial readiness all play a role.

In this episode, I explore a study about retirement timing and longevity and explain why statistics alone should never guide your retirement decisions. I walk through how planning, financial preparedness, and understanding what you are retiring to matter far more than the age you stop working. The conversation also highlights why women in particular must plan for longer retirements and how reducing financial stress can influence both physical and emotional well-being.

Key Points:

Why statistics about retirement and longevity can be misleading
The difference between retiring early and being prepared for retirement
How health and caregiving responsibilities influence retirement timing
Why women must plan for longer retirements and financial longevity
The importance of knowing what you are retiring to, not just when you retire
And more!

Resources:

Connect with Eric Blake:

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The Simply Retirement Roadmap™ Process (Ep. 2)

By The Simply Retirement Podcast | August 9, 2023

Planning for retirement is an essential part of our financial journey, but it can be daunting and uncertain at times.

That is when working with experts may be an ideal option, but it’s crucial to have clear details of how the process will be.

In this episode, Eric Blake introduces the Simply Retirement Roadmap process. The process aims to simplify retirement planning and alleviate one’s future concerns. Eric details every stage of the process and the topics discussed in each interaction. Additionally, he explains the benefits of working with Blake Wealth Management and the importance of creating a long-term relationship.

Eric discusses:

The concept of Simply Retirement and the origins of the Simply Retirement Roadmap Process
The Simply Retirement Process and how it alleviates concerns about working with a financial advisor
The purpose and content of the first meeting
The second meeting where Eric presents a roadmap with specific recommendations for improving financial position and achieving retirement goals
The four key areas of retirement planning
The three key questions in retirement planning
The implementation process and decision-making steps after creating a retirement plan
And more!