Welcome to a new week here on the Retirement Quick Tips podcast! I'm your host and guide, Ashley Micciche.

I'm a financial advisor and co-owner of True North Retirement Advisors, a fee-only fiduciary financial advisory practice managing over $425M in assets. For 17 years, I've helped my clients retire with confidence, and my goal on this podcast is to help you simplify the complexities of retirement so you can focus on what truly matters— living a fulfilling retirement while maintaining financial security.

I just turned 40 last week. I still don't know how I feel about it. They say that age is just a number, but I don't really agree with that. Another birthday and another trip around the sun is an annual reminder that life on this earth is very brief, and hopefully we all grow to be better & wiser along our journey of life.

Do I feel older this year? I've been having a lot of pain in my hips and back recently. The other day I was bending over to help one of my kids with something, and as I stood up again, I couldn't do that all at once. I got stuck about ⅔ of the way back up, and had to pause and move slow the rest of the way back to vertical.

I'm constantly putting on hand lotion because the skin on the back of my hands are starting to look all crepey. Stuff that didn't even enter into my orbit now occupies mental space in my head - like I better take it slow standing back up and did I remember to put my crepe cream on before bed.

So I definitely feel older. Wiser too? Maybe, we'll see…Because this week and next week on the podcast, I'll be sharing with you 40 life lessons I've learned over the last 40 years.