Saving | Live a Life By Design

Three Steps to Reduce Risk In Your Portfolio

Posted on January 21, 2022January 21, 2022 by Jimmy J. Williams, CPA/PFS, CFP®

Wouldn’t the world be a better place if you could predictably earn 8% returns on your portfolio every year and only invest in certificates of deposit? Of course! One problem with this thinking is that you wouldn’t live in the United States of America and the dollar would be worthless.

You face some type of risk every day of your life. While driving your car through town, you may experience an automobile accident. This is the risk of driving a vehicle. You think about staying home and raking leaves. A sudden gust of wind causes a tree limb to fall on your roof causing significant damage to your home. This is environmental risk.

We all seek the best outcomes but many of us do not wish to experience the associated risks involved in the process. The universe works within a risk/reward paradigm. When more risk is accepted, we expect a higher reward. By investing in certificates of deposit, you believe you are undertaking a risk-free investment. Alas, you may expose yourself to interest rate risk, inflation risk, default risk (highly improbable, but a risk nonetheless) and liquidity risk. That sounds like a great deal of risk for an FDIC-insured investment.

Diversify Your Portfolio

The best approach to life is to manage risk, not attempt to alleviate it. The first method of mitigating risk is to fully diversify your portfolio. Diversification does not remove the risk factors but may lower them to a more acceptable level by investing in many different types of investments that are noncorrelated. Simply put, don’t put all of your monetary eggs in one basket.

Inexperienced investors make mistakes that may cost them significant money and time.

Two emotions generally guide individuals in their investment approach – fear and greed. One of the best methods of taking advantage of the stock market, an auction market in which one entity is selling the shares and another is buying them, is the focus on the emotions of other investors in the market. The famous investor, Warren Buffett, is cited as originating a quote that is used as the premise to maximizing your opportunities in the stock market – “Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.”

Understand the Investments You Are Buying

The second method of reducing risk in your portfolio is to understand the investments you are buying. Significant hype typically precedes Initial Public Offerings (IPO) as the underwriter is attempting to create a market for a stock. Without a historic picture of the company’s capabilities to generate a profit and pay a dividend, beyond its operations as a private company, the investor is buying based solely on prospective anticipated performance (i.e., hope). Many of the companies going public provide novel products and services not yet proven in the marketplace. For example, many IPOs will list for a price that reflects much higher value than the performance of the company may sustain. After the hype of the issue, realism sets in and the price may fall to a level that is a fraction of the issue price.

When to Rebalance Your Portfolio

Lastly, consider rebalancing your portfolio to its original target allocation when the variance is 5% – 10% above the intended percentage. For example, when your portfolio experiences growth in one asset class, the allocation for the original investments will change. Stocks have performed reasonably well in 2021 and bonds have provided lower yields. After the year has faded, you look at your portfolio and realize your 60/40 portfolio is now 75/25! Good news is that you have a larger portfolio value but inherently gained more risk. By rebalancing the portfolio consistently and timely, you will maintain better control of the risk in the portfolio.

Many investors may receive a benefit from seeking the assistance of a Certified Financial Planner^TM professional to analyze their portfolio. By implementing a few consistent steps in managing your retirement assets, you may increase your probabilities to achieve your ultimate goals.

See you on the jogging trail!

Related Podcasts

How To Secure a Happy Retirement Life

Posted on January 12, 2022January 12, 2022 by Jimmy J. Williams, CPA/PFS, CFP®

One of the most asked questions from our new clients is “How much wealth do I need to last my lifetime?” The obvious answer is “depends.” To help you quantify your needed savings for lifetime income, we will provide you three areas of life that must master to live the life you choose.

First, you must become a saver, not continue as a consumer. The highest savings rate in U.S. history was reached during the pandemic. Not surprising as most people did not feel safe shopping at local stores and malls but rather ordered online. Granted the online experience for shopping has improved exponentially, it is still not the experience most shoppers seek when a day is planned for the exchange of goods and currency (that is the phrase I use when my wife and daughters go shopping).

The savings rate for U.S. citizens in 2021 was a whopping 13.7% (www.statista.com)! This level of savings exceeds the 11% experienced in 1960. Is it enough to meet the demands of rising costs of living for most people? Perhaps if this savings trend were to continue for a period of 40 years representing the work life of most people, their post-career years would be sufficiently funded.

To bring another statistic into this discussion, the total savings of U.S. citizen in 2021 exceeded $2.3 trillion. This is a staggering amount of money considering the U.S. Government has distributed $4 trillion dollars during the pandemic. The average balance maintained in the 401(k) plan of a 65 years of age and older person is $216,720 according to www.personalcapital.com.

If you seek a lifetime of income, in the realm of reasonable support, it is important that you become a saver on a consistent basis to allow the compounding of investments to perform over a significant period of time.

Second, you must determine what happiness is for you in life. One of our clients was an older woman whose husband predeceased her while she was in her career. Her position was mostly clerical, and she enjoyed her work. During her career, she had the opportunity to invest in the company’s stock through a plan where the employer matched her contributions to buy the stock. The highest salary she earned during her career was $51,000, which was two years before her retirement from the company. Granted she worked for a good company and was fortunate to begin her career with the company while it was a fledgling start up organization.

At the age of 66 and 4 months, coincidentally her full retirement age for Social Security Benefits, we assisted her in filing for her benefits and prepared her for retirement. When we opened the most recent envelope containing her statement from the employee stock ownership plan, she could not help but grin at my expression. Her stock value was $1.5 million! She also was prudent and saved money through her employee retirement plan. The sum of this account exceeded $700,000. She looked at me and asked, “Is this enough for me to retire and keep my lifestyle?” Of course, we needed to perform our analysis and testing but offered her some probabilities that she would be simply fine in retirement.

The moral of the story is that time, once again, is the greatest impact on lifetime savings. Start early, be consistent with contributions and treat the account as your next income stream by never borrowing from the account for current lifestyle needs. Happiness for her was continuing to live in her home, travel to worldly destinations and help her grandchildren with college expenses. She, by thoughtfully planning, is still doing all the things that make her most happy in life.

Lastly, you must protect your health as you prepare for an active retirement. My father was one of those people that worked hard all his life and genuinely enjoyed his career. He suffered a heart attack in his early 40’s that opened his eyes to better care for himself so his future would be enjoyable. After finally retiring at 72 years of age, he has lived a wonderful life in retirement. He is reasonably healthy, has enjoyed cruises to Alaska and continues to do whatever he chooses to keep a smile on his face.

His father, my grandfather, died in his early 60’s. I always told dad that he would need to take advantage of the opportunities to maintain his health so that he could break the average mortality for males in our family. He smiled that sheepish grin and said, “I am setting a new bar for the Williams men!”

Exercise regularly, save consistently and find your happiness in life. By preparing prudently today, your tomorrows will be most enjoyable!

Related Podcasts

Change — The Most difficult Task To Accomplish

Posted on October 28, 2021October 28, 2021 by Jimmy J. Williams, CPA/PFS, CFP®

Life happens with – or without – our consent! One of the most problematic areas of life is managing the fast-paced world of ever-changing financial, tax and estate information. In the past two weeks, the United States Congress has proposed more than ten bills, between the Senate and the House of Representatives, to increase tax revenue for the United States of America. Some of these proposed bills would impact your family. Others will impact families with greater wealth. Too often elected officials feel that they must act, whether it is a good outcome or bad one, to give the appearance of working for their electorate. Change is one outcome of working in our government and the impact is real.

As a CERTIFIED FINANACIAL PLANNER^TM professional, one of the areas of control we bring to our clients is change. Of course, life is going to change almost daily. However, when you have a plan of action, with an expert in the field of planning guiding you through the maze of change, your probability of achieving your intended outcomes is much higher. Our role is to help you understand the impact of the changes on your personal life and finances. Frequently, you are subjected to changes without your knowledge. Consider inflationary impact on your investments.

One need only watch a few minutes of network television news daily to know her life is being impacted in positive and negative ways. Inflation has risen to 5.4% in 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, and may not have reached its peak. How does this affect your life? Think about the different consumer goods you purchase in a typical week. How much has gasoline, milk, bread and medications increased in the past year? Has your income maintained the pace of this increased cost of living? In most instances, the answer to this question is “no”.

What you need is to formulate a plan that considers inflation as a pressure on your family’s budget. One of the economic factors that is pertinacious is inflation. This challenge to the value of a dollar is always a factor in planning. The bigger question is how much will inflation be in 2022, 2023 and 2024? If I knew the answer to this quandary, well, I would be on an island in the Caribbean sipping on an iced tea while watching the sun set. Oh, back to reality.

One mitigating approach to combatting the negative impact of inflation is to invest in assets that are inflation resistant. For example, you wouldn’t wish to buy a 30-year U.S. Treasury Bond while inflation is rising. The impact of inflation on the value of the security is considerably negative. However, you may wish to analyze your portfolio for investments in stocks that are more growth oriented to overcome the inflationary pressure you are experiencing.

Another area of change for which we have no control is the loss of a spouse or other family member. This type of change, we refer to as familial change, is difficult for most families to navigate, particularly when the person was a breadwinner for the family. What do you do now? It is critical that you seek the appropriate counseling from a licensed therapist or group to deal with grief. The next step would be to regain control of your finances. Seek out a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional to help gain clarity of focus and to manage the change to your best outcomes. When you meet with someone to discuss your personal finances, it takes a tremendous amount of trust. The good news is that you will gain significant optimism from the assistance that will empower you with confidence that life is back to your design.

Change will be present in our lives forever. However, you have the power to determine if the changes control you or you control the effects of the changes. One powerful tool in maintaining your control is to have a plan. Contact a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^TM professional to help you gain control of your financial life. See you on the jogging trail!

Related Podcasts

Your Future Depends on It

Posted on October 1, 2021 by Jimmy J. Williams, CPA/PFS, CFP®

Life consists of many different, and small, actions that create outcomes in a desired manner. This is a double-edged sword for many of us. Should we wish to purchase a new car or save for the future education of our children? Can we live in the current home or should be buy a much larger one?

The biggest challenge that American citizens face is one of priorities. Our country offers so much in potential personal and financial growth opportunities it becomes overwhelming for many people causing difficulties. Do I wish we had a different system than the current capitalistic markets? No way! However, I do wish to help people make more sound decisions with their hard-earned money.

An analysis of the savings rate, defined as the ration of money saved by individuals or families to their disposable income (income after taxes), reflects periods of time in which savings diminishes far below the required level to sustain the futures of the savers. Based on a review of the personal savings rate in the United States for the years 1960 – 2020, savings ranges were a low of 3.6% in 2007 and a high of 13.7% in 2020.

The explanations for the differences in savings rates could be many different reasons – concern for the future due to the pandemic as in 2020 or loss of a job due to economic downturn effects. One obvious impact for savings is the need for short-term may be the purchase of large, durable goods such as cars, appliances for the home, etc. Savings for long-term needs may be for the purchase of a home, college education for the children, retirement funding needs as well as many other purposes.

According to research performed by Jack Caporal of The Motley Fool, 40% of Americans are afraid they won’t be able to retire because of setbacks caused by the pandemic. One method of mitigating the impact of economic emergencies beyond your control is save more money. I know, this is simply said and difficult to accomplish.

To reach your goal of saving more for the future, you must be honest with yourself and know exactly where you are today. If you are saving 3% of your after-tax income and wish to be saving 10% of after-tax income, this is quite a large difference in your lifestyle. One of the best means of saving for the future is the pre-tax contributions to your employer’s retirement plan. If you don’t receive the money in hand, the likelihood that your lifestyle will not conflate to a higher level is remote. My mother’s old adage of, “Out of sight, out of mind,” bears out this truth about money.

Second, record and analyze every penny of after-tax dollars that you spend over a two-week period. Earnestly think about the future and how you might be able to limit your spending in areas that aren’t positive in your life such as smoking or tobacco use. By saving the money he would have spent on cigarettes, my older brother informed me that he had an additional $3,118 in his savings and, as a bonus, felt better about himself. If that isn’t a win-win situation, I don’t know that I could think of one!

Cash flow management is the foundation to financial success. All things spring from the flow of cash and assets in our lives. Live your life as you wish; however, if you want to live longer, quit worrying about the daily costs of life and truly enjoy your senior years, you must start today. One of the best actions to start saving and stay focused on the long-term perspectives you wish to achieve is to seek out a coach or someone that can give you honest advice for your best interest. A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional can help you plan for the best outcomes in your life. What you do today is critical for your life. Your future depends on it.

Related Podcasts

Basic Economics; Complex World

Posted on September 24, 2021September 24, 2021 by Jimmy J. Williams, CPA/PFS, CFP®

There have been times when the world around us seemed like it was always a sunny day and when it wasn’t rainbows appeared boldly in the sky. Recently, most Americans are feeling isolated and anxious because of factors beyond their control. The pandemic has forced us to abruptly change our lifestyle from one of hope to one of despair and desperation.

I have some good news and bad news. First, the good news is that the world is never bad in and of itself. Your interpretation of the world’s events causes you to perceive your current situation as bad. The bad news is that many of us lack the will, vision and desire to turn the current events into positive ones.

One of my favorite pastimes is watching people. I don’t mean watching them for purposes of finding humor but rather to understand why and how they may be feeling about life. Too often the hard times are written on their faces, hands and the gait of their walk. Life has a method of breaking people based on outcomes from poor decisions.

A young mother and her very small daughter were in a convenience store recently while I was purchasing gasoline for my car. As I watched the little girl, of maybe three or four years of age, relentlessly asking her mother for some food to eat, the resounding decline of her mother rang loudly in my ears. She was told that they didn’t have any money for food. As I thought about this situation, I quickly decided to act by purchasing some food and drinks for the little girl. When I reached the counter to pay for the food and hand it to the little girl, I noticed the mother was ordering cigarettes and slowly found the money to pay the attendant.

This simple, yet excellent, example of economics popped into my mind. When faced with a decision that impacted them both – the buying of food to eat – the individual purchased something that only the mother could utilize for satiation. Addictions of all types are experienced, and holding captive, too many people in world. Poor choices with money cause even greater harm to the family unit when more wholesome choices were obvious.

After asking the mother if I could give the little girl the food and drinks, I saw a smile radiate on the little girl’s face like the noon-day sun! The two of them made their way out the door and a stranger came up to me and, with a haughty tone in his voice, said, “I wouldn’t have bought them food! Didn’t you see her buy the cigarettes?” I smiled and simply replied, “For me, it was only economics and kindness to buy the little girl some food. For her, it was the difference between going hungry and losing hope. You see, we live in a complex world that functions on simple, basic economics.”

The moral of this story is that each of us has limited means. What we choice to do with this resource can be an investment (buying a little girl food to help and provide hope) or simply an expense (cigarettes). The former pays dividends many times over. The latter causes greater pain when the goods are used up.

Before making spontaneous purchases for items, you may not have the means to buy, think about the type of use of your funds. Are you making an investment or simply spending money? The difference is enormous.

It takes producers and consumer to maintain an economy. Next week we will investigate the savings rate in the United States and provide you some strategies to help you become an exponential, economic saver.

Until next week, be a help to someone in need. Help change their life by applying this simple lesson in economics. You will be the one who receives the dividends of goodwill!

Related Podcasts

Primed and Ready to Spend

Posted on August 12, 2021August 12, 2021 by Ashley Stieb

For the past year-and-a-half, scientists raced to develop effective COVID-19 vaccines and governments and companies worked to make vaccines available. Today, seven vaccines are approved in 176 countries. More than 2 billion doses have been administered, and about 14 percent of the world’s population has been vaccinated. It’s a remarkable achievement.

While there is a lot of work left to do, the Centers for Disease Control offered new and more lenient guidance for fully-vaccinated people in May, and restrictions across the country are being lifted. The result has been a surge in social activities we used to take for granted. According to the latest Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index:

“…Americans’ reemergence is moving full steam ahead. A majority have dined in a restaurant or visited friends and relatives in the past week – and these numbers continue to climb each week…At the same time, Americans are reporting small improvements to their mental and emotional health.”

One unexpected side effect of the pandemic is Americans spent less and saved more than normal. As a result, credit card balances are lower and personal finances have improved.

You know what they say about money burning a hole in your pocket.

Americans are ready to spend some of their savings. While some remain reluctant to venture far from home, others are ready to travel. The 2021 Summer Travel Index showed:

63% of survey participants planned to take a trip in the next three months
74% planned to travel in the United States
13% will travel abroad
29% have weekend jaunts planned
28% will be traveling for 10 or more days

People who aren’t ready to travel are spending, too. Morning Consult asked Americans what they were excited about doing as the economy reopens and found that 46% were ‘very excited’ to return to a ‘normal’ routine. The list of activities includes eating at a restaurant, socializing, attending parties or weddings, going to the movies, visiting amusement parks or museums, and attending concerts and sporting events.

While having extra money inspires many people to splurge, it’s important to keep a level head. Spending has risen sharply during 2021. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, spending increased:

20.6% in January
14.7% in February
27.7% in March
14.9% in April

While the idea of ‘revenge spending’ may be appealing, very few household budgets can withstand sustained increases in spending without significant increases in income. So, as you break free from pandemic restrictions, it may help to keep some basic principles in mind:

Decide which savings habits you’d like to keep. During the pandemic, Americans saved a lot of money. The average household saved about $245 by not going out to eat, $1,400 by not vacationing, and almost $5,700 by not making major purchases, according to the Covid-19 & Finances Survey. Consider whether and how much to continue saving.
Be aware of how much you are spending. When people have extra money saved, it’s just fine to splurge on something fun, especially after a long stretch of missing out on traditional everyday activities. Decide the amount to spend and then track how much has been spent.
Eliminate things that are not needed. During the last year, many people prioritized spending differently. Optional expenses, like dry cleaning, house cleaning, commuting, and happy hours, were eliminated. In some cases, the result was an increase in savings. Review your financial priorities to see if they have changed.

Many people experienced financial insecurity during the pandemic lockdown. As a result, emergency savings accounts and other types of saving have become more important. If your financial priorities have shifted, be sure to talk to a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™. Spending less and saving more may help you build wealth and improve financial security.

Related Podcasts

Small Mistakes, Big Consequences

Posted on May 21, 2021May 21, 2021 by Jimmy J. Williams, CPA/PFS, CFP®

As humans, we make mistakes all the time. Some mistakes may relate to your career choice. Other mistakes may relate to the location of your home. However, some of us make, seemingly, small mistakes and don’t realize the impact the outcomes will bring to our lives.

Small mistake #1: Failing to save for retirement early in your career. When a person is 23 years of age, the future seems so distant. Their entire career is just launching from the starting gates of their recent college graduation and time is their friend. Fast forward twenty-five years and the person is looking at their future with a different lens. Kids, mortgage, car payments, and other living expenses caused by the choices made many years earlier has redirected their otherwise retirement savings to current expenses of life.

The obvious outcome is one that none of us wishes to realize – working until we are much older than we would prefer. By initiating your future savings at the beginning of your career, time and compounding of money will help you realize your financial goals later in life. Start with your employer’s plan and contribute at least the amount the company will match. For example, if your employer matches 5% of your salary then you should seek a goal of contributing 5% of your salary. The math is easy on this one. You will have doubled your contribution amount annually with the employer’s matching contribution. Let’s assume the markets treated you favorable and the investment in your employer’s plan grew by 8% for the year. Now, you can experience growth far beyond your 5% initial deferral from your salary.

Small mistake #2: Failing to live within your means. A philosophy practiced in our retirement planning business is one of “pay yourself first” for our clients. You want to do things differently in your life than most of your friends – save first, spend second. What this means is that you will treat your retirement contributions as a priority before incurring and spending your earnings on current pleasures of life. Too often we experience clients that meet with us that have all the toys of the day but lack any liquid savings or future investments.

Maximize your probability for retirement success by implementing a budget and focus on “paying yourself first”. By taking a more realistic approach to your future, you will continue to enjoy life and enjoy it more abundantly when you retire. Of course, prudent investment selection and monitoring are critical during the accumulation phase of life. You may wish to seek the guidance of a Certified Financial Planner practitioner to initiate your plan and provide you annual feedback on your progress.

Small mistake #3: Allowing your credit card balance to remain unpaid after one month. This is something that too many of us fall victim to early in life and it is a difficult problem to solve if left unattended. Based on a survey performed by Nerdwallet in January, 2021, the average balance carried on a credit card is $7,149 and the U.S. household will pay interest charges of $1,155 on average for 2021. Further, the survey discovered 63% of the responses indicated that they feel their household finances have worsened from that of the previous year.

The best method of controlling the interest accruing on credit card balances is to remember the card is for emergency purposes only. Do not use a credit card for a purchase that can’t be paid in full with your current savings or income. To be obvious, the use of a credit card is a means to live outside your current means.

To resolve this mistake, use a debit card that immediately withdraws the funds from your bank account. Another method of solving the credit card debt issue is to ask your credit card issuer to draft the full payment each month from your checking account. This is a critical step since you must be certain the funds are available for the payment each month.

Lastly, place your credit card in a small plastic bowl of water. Place the bowl in the freezer and leave it there for about 3 days. Remove the bowl and note the credit card is safely stored in a block of ice that requires thought and effort to free the card. I know this sounds silly, but it is effective for those people who are impulse buyers with their credit cards.

Don’t wait to improve your life by eliminating or resolving these three little mistakes from your life. Seek out a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional to guide you in managing your cash flow to maximize your future savings. What have you got to lose? Worry, anxiety, stress, etc. See you on the golf course!

Related Podcasts

The Cost of Cash

Posted on April 9, 2021April 9, 2021 by Jimmy J. Williams, CPA/PFS, CFP®

One of the most important areas of planning for a secure future is to be able to weather the storms of life without invading your long-term investments. When working with a new client, we always ask questions regarding their current monthly living needs. By monitoring and managing your basic living needs such as food, shelter, clothing, entertainment, gifts, etc., you can determine your cash needs on a monthly basis.

This is the first step to developing a cash management plan that will serve you well in life. Once you know the cash flow need for a typical month, it is critical that you expand the thought process to cover a period of 90 – 120 days. Should a catastrophic event affect your family you will be confident that you can sustain your lifestyle without negatively impacting your future by withdrawing retirement assets prematurely.

The process of cash management is a delicate one. There is such a state of having too much cash. Yes, you read the sentence correctly! When a portion of your overall net worth is in cash you are experiencing something negative in your overall financial picture – loss of purchasing power. One of the most critical costs of retaining cash is that you lose the opportunity for the investment (cash) to maintain or exceed inflation with growth. A prime example is a recent client who came to meet with us for retirement planning. When we spoke about his overall wealth, he was rather proud of the fact that he had accumulated what he thought would be sufficient assets to live the life he desired.

However, when we applied inflation and taxes to the overall asset structure he maintained currently, he was not so happy. When your investments are stressed with the actual costs of living, and we all know that inflation and taxation may be present during our lives, the overall balance of assets for your lifestyle is less than the amount you currently see in your bank account.

The key to creating and maintaining a successful cash management program is in the process you utilize for your total investment portfolio. Cash is important and should be maintained in your financial plan. To arrive at the appropriate amount of cash needs it is critical you analyze your spending for a period of a month that is typical of your life. Do not measure a month like November when you are buying more food for Thanksgiving or gifts for Christmas. Rather, choose a month without these extraordinary expenses and evaluate what you are truly using the cash to provide you.

Once you understand where your money is being utilized, you may wish to make some adjustments. Now multiply the amount of cash flow needed in the month you analyzed it and multiply it by 3 or 4. The result of this calculation is the amount of cash you should maintain in a checking or savings account. If it sounds like you are losing money on these funds by not investing them in something that will meet or exceed inflation, you are correct. However, the real purpose of these funds is to provide you confidence and security if, or should I say “when”, a disaster was to strike your family.

Review your cash balance account every month and make certain you return it to your target amount. This is your security blanket. It is a good practice to analyze your spending at least one month per month to determine if you need to adjust your cash balance account for possible changes in life such as added prescriptions, increases in insurance needs, etc.

It is critical you plan properly for the future while sustaining your lifestyle today. If you don’t feel secure about your future, it is time to seek help. Contact a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional to assist you in creating and maintaining a plan for your future. I’ll see you on the golf course!

Related Podcasts

Predict Your Future By Creating It

Posted on February 5, 2021February 5, 2021 by Jimmy J. Williams, CPA/PFS, CFP®

Many of you will read the title of this article and wonder what it means. President Abraham Lincoln once said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” One of the roles I relish, when working with our clients, is the ability to help people reach their goals in life. Often clients will look at me during the planning process and possess only two items of information: 1) where she currently resides financially; and 2) where she wishes to be at retirement. The chasm between these two points of life may seem bottomless and unreachable. Before you shake your head that you agree with the previous statement, let me share a proven method of predicting your future.

First, you must clearly define your desires for your future. It is often said that “no archer can hit a target that doesn’t exist.” The process of future design begins with your imagination. Do you wish to relocate in retirement? Do you dream of a second career? What about your volunteerism you wish to enhance during retirement? Will you need specialty medical assistance and support in retirement? What type of home do you wish to reside in retirement? There are many considerations and you should list all of them that you wish. There are no wrong answers!

A plain piece of paper and your favorite writing instrument will open your mind to the world you want to develop. Once the list is completed, for now, you should breathe a sigh of relief. You have now performed more planning for your future than most people. More time is spent by individuals planning their vacation than planning their future!

Second, you should evaluate your current financial statement. What have you saved for the future? Do you possess an emergency fund? One of the quantitative misunderstandings by most people is that your life in retirement will cost you less than your current lifestyle when working. This is not necessarily true. Think about it. Your medical costs may rise due to age or you may locate where you wish to spend most of your day in your hobby. These types of activities require funds and it is a fact that most retired individuals will continue to require 90% – 95% of their currently living expense in retirement.

When planning for our clients’ future, we assume the same lifestyle in retirement as experienced in their career. Why? It is better to assume more income is required and save more than enough for a lifetime than to be deficient. No one wants to simply exist in their retirement. Therefore, it is critical that a projection assuming taxes, cost of living increases, medical needs, housing costs, etc. be developed into your plan for the future. Success in retirement depends on the ability to weather any financial storm that may arise.

Lastly, you must bridge the chasm with an active savings plan that allows you to maximize growth for the future. Time is your friend when investing. Start early and be consistent in the savings process. If you are starting a little later than intended to save for retirement, there is hope for you. With a proper review of your current circumstances, you can make strategic changes in your savings plan that will give you the most probable opportunity for success. As retirement planning specialists, we have witnessed the fear people experience when the vision for the future is not clear.

Seek out a complimentary consultation to see if you qualify for a “second opinion” of your plan for retirement. If you don’t have a plan, lets get one started. Live for today but plan for your future. Might as well, that’s where you will be spending your time in retirement. See you on the walking trail!

Related Podcasts

The Habit of Saving

Posted on November 5, 2020November 5, 2020 by Jimmy J. Williams, CPA/PFS, CFP®

One of the most difficult habits to instill is saving. In this time we are living, too many of us want to experience a lifestyle that our current income cannot maintain while saving for our future. Before we realize it, our future is the present and we are in a bind. Forced working past the age of retirement that you would have desired to initiate your travel plans and other activities will not make you happy.

While reflecting on my younger days, I remember a couple of lessons learned about saving for the future. My goals were not lofty as a child except for the area of sports equipment. With limited means, my siblings and I purchased our own sports equipment if we wanted something beyond my parents’ budgeted funds for sports. This is where my saving habit came into existence. One of the most important lessons you can learn early in life is the habit of saving. Every child should be taught this valuable habit before graduating grade school.

During my childhood, I saved depending upon the item needed in life. For example, I needed a new baseball glove because George Brett of the Kansas City Royals said so and he was a Hall of Fame Player. (Well it wasn’t only that fact but I also liked the Wilson A2000 glove and how it looked on my left hand.). My parents took me to the sporting goods store and we looked at the gloves. There it was on the rack in front of me – the baseball equipment that would make me a Golden Glove Award winner!

I was smiling ear-to-ear until the salesman told me the price of the glove, $125. Ouch! I had saved $35 and thought it would get me a glove used by the great third baseman, George Brett. Lesson #1: The investment required for worthwhile items may cost more than you originally thought.

So, I went to work saving the remaining funds needed to buy the glove. To insure that the glove would not be sold when I returned, the salesman placed the glove in layaway for me. For the next several weeks, I would bring a payment to the store to be applied to the glove. After six weeks, I was in the store and smiling with a Cheshire Cat grin. I could take my glove home today!

This is where I learned my Lesson #2: Things don’t make you a better ball player, practice does. My new glove was my pride and joy. My abilities to play 3^rd base did not immediately improve and I will a little disappointed with myself.

The moral of this story is that you may want to examine why you want something and allow time to pass before you buy on an impulse. Saving for your future should be a habit that we develop early in life. You will find that you are less stressed in life, prepared for inconvenient hardships that arise and are more prepared to take advantage of future opportunities. The great investor, Warren Buffett, began his savings habit while a little boy. This habit helped him become one of the wealthiest people in the world. I am not saying we will all be as rich as Warren Buffett but I am saying you may enjoy a pretty good lifestyle.

If you need help finding a strategy for saving that creates your bigger future, seek out a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professional. This is one habit that will serve you well in life. See you on the golf course!