Reacting to the Most Watched Retirement Video of the Year

Over the past year, one retirement video on YouTube pulled in 3.7 million views. The title: "Sell These 5 Things Before You Retire." We thought it was worth a conversation — not to tear it apart, but to react honestly. Do we agree? How often do we actually see this play out with real clients? Let's get into it.

Here’s what we discuss in today’s show:

🏡 Why downsizing is often more about lifestyle than saving money

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The delicate balance between helping adult children and protecting your retirement

🚐 How to decide if hobbies, RVs, boats, and other “toys” belong in your retirement plan

🚗 Do retirees really need two vehicles? The practical considerations most people overlook

🧠 Why letting go of your work identity may be one of retirement’s biggest challenges

📈 How intentional planning helps align your resources with what matters most

Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IltvyKpy8Z4

Resources:

Website:  https://www.demarsfinancial.com/

Phone: (509) 536-9556

Schedule an introduction call with Taylor: https://bit.ly/demarspodcast

Check out Taylor's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TaylorMadeRetirement

Taylor's Newsletter: https://demars-financial-group.kit.com/827c64fe0e

Disclaimer: Since we don't know your specific situation, none of this information should be construed as tax, legal, financial, insurance, financial advice, or other advice and may be outdated or inaccurate. It is your responsibility to verify all information yourself. This content is prepared for entertainment purposes only. If you need advice, please contact a qualified CPA, attorney, insurance agent, financial advisor, or the appropriate professional for the subject you would like help with. Demars Financial Group, LLC or its members cannot be held liable for any use or misuse of this content. Advisory services offered through Demars Financial Group LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor. Demars Financial Group is not affiliated with LPL Financial.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Over the past year, one retirement video on YouTube pulled in 3.7 million views. The title? Well, we thought it was worth a conversation, not to tear it apart, but to analyze each of the points honestly. And we're also going to see how often I actually see this play out with our clients here. Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Welcome to Taylor Made Retirement, where we explore what it takes to build a retirement that works for your money and your life with third generation certified financial planner Taylor DeMars.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Hey everybody, welcome into the podcast. This is Taylor Made Retirement with Taylor Demars from DeMars Financial. Find them online at DemarsFinanancial.com. That's DemarsFanancial.com. And yeah, this is uh interesting conversation this week here, Taylor on the podcast. Uh huge video. We'll put a link in the show descriptions for folks if they want to check it out. 3.7 million views, as you alluded to uh in the opener there. Uh it was the biggest retirement or financial video of 25, 2025. And the title was Sell These Five Things Before You Retire. So I thought, and you thought, well, let's just talk about those five things and how you see that play out, you know, each each and every day in the trenches, so to speak. And uh, you and I were giggling right before we started the podcast. You're like, hey, don't I do the intros? And I was like, see what happens when I miss a few weeks. I did the intro last week. No, you're good. But you did a great job. So how you doing this week?

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Oh, I'm doing well. Thanks for asking. And uh yeah, appreciate you getting back in the swing of things on the podcast. We've missed you.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Yeah, man. So uh obviously I goofed on the first week back, but that's all right. We had fun. Uh, and it was a fun conversation. So hopefully you guys checked that one out. And then you'll check out this one and others to come. So consider subscribing to us on Apple or Spotify for the audio podcast, or check out YouTube for uh Taylor's video podcast as well, which is demarsfinancial.com. You can find all the information right there. All right, let's get into these five things, my friend. The oversized house was number one. Uh certainly this has got to be pretty high on the things, the list of things you guys do talk about. And again, keep in mind, folks, the idea behind this is sell these things in retirement. So, do we sell the oversized house?

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Yeah, obviously all these have to be taken with a grain of salt, but uh I do see more often than not my clients moving in retirement. As I was just thinking right before we went live here to record, I think I've got eight, maybe ten clients that are about to or in the midst of moving in the next six months or so. And and often it's not only because they have an oversized house, some of them are relocating to somewhere, you know, in their same zip code, but others are just downsizing to another part of the country, maybe lower cost of living. I think I only have two clients in California who plan to stay in California, all the rest are moving out, and others are just trying to be closer to family. And so it's not just about something that's expensive, but a shift in priorities uh for your lifestyle. So, yeah, many times though selling the oversized house is helpful to unlock some equity, uh, helpful so you don't have to maintain such a big house. Maybe you need to find something that's more uh stare-friendly as you continue to age in place, but I would this is one I would overall agree with.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Okay, so that's first one there, the oversized house. And many people do find themselves in that pickle, right? What to do with it? Everybody's gonna be a little bit different in how they react. Certainly an emotional reaction can go into that one as well, uh, especially if it's a house that you raise the family in, right? So all right, so sell this item or not financially supporting adult children. Now, I talked to a lot of financial advisors, Taylor, and a lot of them are certainly on board with this idea, right? Because you can't finance retirement really, right? So sometimes you gotta cut those strings. It's true.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Yeah, most of our clients we're working with are are in their late 50s or early 60s, and and many of them still have uh minor children, right? So, you know, they want to take care of the kids obviously until they graduate high school, but uh others have kids in their early 20s still living with them. It's a crazy housing market where it's very hard to buy a home, rents are expensive across the board, and so it's I see a lot of clients torn as far as how do they actually help their children, you know, for how long they help with housing expenses. But also I have clients that say, you know, I want to help them with their, you know, uh down payment on their first home, or maybe even towards a wedding. And, you know, I smile and nod, and we definitely can incorporate those. But my goal is to defend and take care of my client first and and make sure that, you know, their retirement plan is feasible before we start layering in, hey, making sure we can set up the kids with this much large of an inheritance and so on, because I think, you know, their kids would agree, especially later in life, that they don't want to see their parents become impoverished at the expense of helping them set up, you know, get set up with a you know five-star wedding plan. So it's um I I I get to be the bad guy, if you will, sometimes that a client isn't saying, you know, they're not only running the math but making the decision and having to tell their wife or their kids and say, you know what, sorry, I'm not able to help you buy a first home. That that's a big emotional weight that somebody has to take. But if I'm able to be the one that is able to honestly and objectively run through the numbers for them and say, you know what, it is, I don't feel it's in your best interest, I get to be the scapegoat. And so they can go back to their family members and say, you know what, I would love to do so. But this, you know, nerdy bad guy named Taylor, you know, he's not letting me. And and so then I get to be that that that one that helps make sure that that they're not overextending themselves, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

You nerdy bad guy, you. That's me. You know, it's it's a great point though, right? Because sometimes it is tough, right? We want to help our kids, we want to do the best things we can for them, but you do have to be realistic. They've still got probably decades, you know, to get themselves prepared and ready for retirement. We just don't have that time at that point, right? So you gotta consider those things as well. All right, number three on the list the expensive toys that become expensive burdens. I think we can all relate to this because it feels like when you get over 50, you're like you got that additional income and things, you know, you're like, oh, I got the boat and I want this and I want that, you know. But at some point, I think you also get a little older and then you go, I do I want all this crap anymore?

SPEAKER_02 6:07

You know, it's true. It's true, yeah. And and then this becomes part of the exercise, you know, before one retires is we want to make sure we understand, hey, what is your ideal lifestyle costing you today? Because last thing I think most clients want is say, Yep, ee, I'm retired. Now I get to tighten my belt and not do the things I I want to or wish to do. And so if I had to, you know, be blunt, I said this isn't one that I would out of the gate just agree with. Um the video that we're you know critiquing here is made by Dave Zoller and love the guy. I'm in a mastermind with him and uh just met with up with him a few months ago and highly respect what he's doing for his channel. So thanks to him for coming out with this video. Yeah. And I think he'd agree with me that this is obviously not a not a uh you know rule of thumb that extends to all people because I have clients that have an extensive guitar collection. I just had a client that bought a hundred uh thousand plus uh dollar RV last week and they're putting another 25 grand into it uh and just updates and renovations because it's gonna be their their their their home for the for the next several years.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

By the way, I'd like to get the inform if you would share the information of the guitar collection guy with me. I would love to chat with him because I as a guitar collector as well. That would be fun. But anyway, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Oh, I'd love to. I actually visited his uh his home earlier this year and he lives uh out of state out of my city, so he let me play with him as guitars. But nice in any case, the the expensive toys, you it the the the catch I think that Dave is warning against here is is letting too much of your discretionary spending uh get away from itself. And then you find yourself overspending on areas that you don't necessarily have to have at the expense of a sustainable retirement. And so that's that's just part of the process. Is I have several clients, you know, we have dedicated line items in our retirement planning where it's hey, not just the monthly uh, you know, property tax and insurance expense line items, but the month-to-month spending and the healthcare spending, but we have dedicated line items for just hobbies, uh, to the tune of thousands of dollars, uh, sometimes a month, but many times per year. So a client feels that, hey, being able to spend on X thing. I've got a client in California who loves uh model RC planes. That's his that's his thing. That's his jam. Okay. That's his jam. Yeah. And and to be able to know that he has a dedicated line item that says, hey, you you your wife doesn't have to guilt you. Each time there's a sale, you know that your your your plan can sustain it. I think that's that's the healthy balance to be able to play.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

All right, good stuff there for sure. And yeah, I mean it's uh obviously I you know I agree with a lot of these points. I think these things are certainly uh viable, good conversations for pre-retirees or retirees to have with their financial professional. This one, however, I don't know. I'm not sure if I agree with this one too much, but I'll I'm gonna get your thoughts as well here, Taylor. I think just from a personal standpoint, like everybody's reaction as Americans, right? I think one of the things that uh really separated our country and our nation, you know, really took us in a different direction was the create creation of the uh the interstate system, right? Back in the back in the 50s, Eisenhower uh signed that. Um our love affair with the automobile has been great, right? Obviously, right? Ford, right? You know, the assembly line, all those things. And so on this list that Dave did was the second car. Without the commute, two cars sitting in the garage in the garage may be costing more than they're worth, right? And all the things that you know come to the car. But boy, giving up that second car, that might be something that a retiree or pre-retired couple is not down with, right? I mean, sometimes if you and I were talking about my my injury that I sustained, personal freedom, when that's taken away for whatever reason, that's a big thing that like that's hard to get over, right? Like, I want to be able to jump in the car and go someplace when I need to. Well, what if what if she's got the the only car we have kind of thing? So what do you think?

SPEAKER_02 9:48

It's true. Yeah, it's true. Second, I think it I think it's a point that comes up eventually for all clients. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Just from a can't drive anymore standpoint.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Yeah, or you know, we're not driving independently anymore, but that's usually with my clients in their mid to late 80s, okay, right? Where we start to consider, hey, do you need two cars? But you know, worst case scenario, you're paying insurance on a second car that gets used a handful of times the year. If you're playing, if you're you know, at that point you're you have your car paid off, so why are you trying to sell it to get an extra, you know, 10, maybe. That's kind of what I was thinking, too, right? Yeah. And plus, many times my clients have two cars in retirement because not only the independence for each, you know, uh spouse doing their thing, but they're doing different jobs. So, you know, I have a client that just bought a brand new truck, but they also love to road trip. They're probably going to take the more comfortable, you know, SUV that his wife drives on the road trip rather than the truck. And so Yeah, gas as well, too.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Gas, yeah. And so just having different jobs, different cars for different jobs is is, I think, reason enough to keep two of them. I have clients that have many more than that, and they probably should be selling those off.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

But that's a different conversation. But the two, I I'd have trouble getting bought. Just me personally. I could see my wife and I going, yeah, I'm not getting rid of mine. Are you getting rid of yours? No. Yeah. So but to your point, if they're paid off, that's I think this is really probably more maybe this was the spirit he meant it out, I'm not sure. But uh, especially if you've got those payments, right? Is it still worth it having? And and of course, lifestyle and and individual needs can change that equation as well, as with any of this stuff. So true. Uh final one. You can't sell this one on eBay, Taylor, but it's your work identity, right? So the argument that uh, you know, and this is the I mean, this is the main argument, I think, for retirees, period. It's who am I once I don't go to the job?

SPEAKER_02 11:31

Right, right. Yeah, this can't this question is a pertinent one because I just had a client review uh last Friday, and they're on the home stretch retirement. So here we are in June, and they're retiring in uh this client couple in August and September, respectively. And the wife, she's worked at UPS for 28 years. Nice. And she's got the the home stretch jitters, as I like to call it, for retirement. She knows that the numbers work, she knows we've done our due diligence with the planning, but she's just looked at me and was just saying, I just don't know if I am ready. And I asked her, I said, are you not sure because you're you know you have doubts about our planning, or you're just worried about making a once-in-lifetime transition? And she said, I think it's the latter, right? And it's hard to you know pull out of someone who they are, uh, who are who they have been for decades. And so I see that in clients like her who are gonna need it. She has hobbies. She is, she's she's got a she's actually the same client who's gonna be living in the the RV for a couple of years. So she's gonna do some amazing things. She loves to go to Botswana and do photography and and so she's got plenty of things to go to. But I also have clients like another one who uh who's an OBGYN, and he told me uh uh that he has not taken more than a week and a half away from work his entire career. Uh which, you know, I think is not atypical for a lot of high-performing Americans because they they're good at their job, maybe they love their job, maybe they just feel a dedication to, you know, provide for their family. And that's that's that's hard because he's gonna retire at the end of this year. And maybe I've taken the liberty of saying this. I th I think he's got a bit of nervousness as far as okay, what am I going to do with my time when I'm no longer, you know, the life-saving OBGYN.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Well, we often talk about retiring to something, right? Not from something.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

Right. Yeah. Yeah. And you gotta have both, right? You gotta feel like you're ready to move away from it, but you all have something to you have something to go to.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

So Yeah, because humans need, I mean, we need to do things, right? I think to think it's in our our basic programming, right? You know, like I I had this incident, Taylor, I I had to sit in the bed for four weeks at a 45 degree angle, sleep at a 45 degree angle, set at a 45 degree angle, you know, and and sometimes people go, I can't wait to just do nothing. And it was, you know, okay for I mean, take out the pain part obviously, but it was okay for a little bit, like just being able to chill and rest. But at the same time, it's after, you know, just a few days or maybe a week at the most, maybe two weeks at the most. Most people are going, Oh my gosh, I need to do something. I'm so bored, right? So I think we I think we crave uh structure.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

So no a hundred percent. There's uh there's too much of a good thing could be a bad thing. Yeah, there you go. There you go. Yeah, there's there's some people that poo-poo on early retirement because they say, Oh, you're gonna retire and expire. Yeah, that's true. I think there are those people that that do that because they become you know lazy boy champions of the armchair, and and that's unfortunate. But for those that are willing to, you know, keep moving so they can keep moving, that's that's that's what they should be moving towards, is away away from that decoupling from the work identity and yeah, and finding ways to to to still use those skills that they built a career up to to develop, but then uh apply them to to their day-to-day, maybe volunteering, maybe mentoring, who knows?

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Yeah, that's a great point. Well, you know, I know we're getting a little long here, but I wanted to toss in this last piece because the video ends with a a cool little practical three question framework. I just kind of want I'm gonna round two of them together uh and we'll wrap it up with this on your thoughts on it. I love I love the saying here. Does does this item, whatever we're thinking about selling, serve my new life or my old one? And then kind of coupling that with the if I let this thing go, what becomes possible? So instead of maybe looking at it as, oh, I don't want to get rid of the well, we just use the extra car that I was upset about, right? You know, if I let it go, what becomes possible? So I think that's a cool way of thinking about this exercise.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

That's true. Yeah, that's true. We all are only given so many, only 24 hours in the day and and limited financial resources. So every time we say yes to something, we're also saying no to something else.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

All right. Well, what do you guys think about this video and the concept? You know, certainly if you've got questions and how it might affect you, or if you think it's something you would like to, you know, see implemented in your plan or just like to learn more or get a plan, uh, well, it obviously resonated with 3.7 million people for a reason, so maybe it resonates with you as well, right? So reach out to Taylor if you've got some questions, need some help as always at demarsfinancial.com. If you're not currently working with them, just click on the could we be a fit button. Again, demarsfinancial.com, and get started with a conversation. And of course, if you are working with them and you just want to have a chat about it, reach out to the team and let them know you'd like to do that as well. But get that retirement readiness roadmap underway and reach out to the folks again at demarsfinancial.com and subscribe to us on Apple or Spotify or check out Taylor's YouTube channel as well. My friend, thanks for breaking it down.

SPEAKER_02 16:24

Hey, my pleasure. Thanks for your time, Mark.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

We'll see you next time right here on Taylor Made Retirement with Taylor Demars.