Emily Guy Birken: What to Do in the Five Years Before You Retire

Our guest on the podcast today is Emily Guy Birken . Emily’s the author of The Five Years Before You Retire . She also co-authored Stacked: Your Super-Serious Guide to Modern Money Management , with Joe Saul-Sehy. Other books include End Financial Stress Now, Making Social Security Work for You and Choose Your Retirement: Find The Right Path to Your New Adventure . Emily received her master’s degree in education from the Ohio State University and her undergraduate degree in English from Kenyon College. Episode Highlights 00:00:00 Emily Guy Birken’s Path to Money and Retirement Writing 00:04:26 Why the Five Years Before Retirement Are Crucial and How Much Is “Enough” Savings 00:10:31 How Expectations Can Shape Happiness in Retirement 00:13:14 Key Moves for Preretirees to Cover Retirement Savings Shortfalls 00:15:58 Social Security: Benefits of Delaying and Advice for Young Workers 00:27:06 Budgets in Retirement and Irregular Expenses on a Fixed Income 00:33:14 Why Long‑Term‑Care Insurance Rarely Pays Off Today 00:36:10 Pre-Medicare Health Insurance Options 00:40:17 Early Mortgage Payoff vs. Investing in Retirement 00:42:26 How Writing About Retirement Changed Guy Birken’s Own Planning More From Morningstar 5 Things to Do Today If You Want to Retire in 5 Years Dan Haylett: ‘The Retirement You Didn’t See Coming’ The Best Strategies for Consistent Retirement Spending If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com . Follow Christine Benz ( @christine_benz ) and Ben Johnson ( @MstarBenJohnson ) on X, and Christine Benz , Amy Arnott , and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit Morningstar.com for new research and insights from Christine , Ben , and Amy.

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Emily Guy Birken: What to Do in the Five Years Before You Retire is an episode from The Long View by Morningstar.

This episode is 00:47:56 long.

This episode was published on Mar 17, 2026.

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