A financial fork in the road
You can do anything, but you can't do everything
Good morning,
I recently shared my thoughts about including more “and” in your financial decisions:
You need more "and" in your money decisions
Today, I want to acknowledge that you won’t always have the luxury of “and” decisions as you’ll inevitably be faced with some necessary “either-or” choices.
You’ll reach a financial fork in the road and you’ll have to choose one thing and forgo the other.
99.999% of the work I do with my clients revolves around helping them make more informed choices.
Some of these choices are easy.
Others… not so much.
Remember:
You can do anything, but you can’t do everything…
And while I’ve written about making choices before:
Choosing
And again here:
Today I’d like to recognize the fact that we’ll all have things we wish we’d done.
Or done differently…
I’ve previously described my retirement planning work as “regret minimization.”
And while I’d prefer to call it “regret elimination” I don’t believe that’s possible.
Because you can’t do it all.
You’ll have to say no to some things in order to say yes to others.
Maybe even an occasional “HELL YEAH!” 😉
Of course, making these decisions is easier once you’ve gotten clear on your values, your goals, and your priorities.
Easier… but not always easy.
You will have regrets.
So will I.
But my hope for you is that your regrets will pale in comparison to the joy and happy memories created from your deliberate choices about your money and your life.
For a sobering reminder about common end of life regrets, read this:
And yet again, this is really about trade-offs:
You’re gonna have to make some money decisions.
I just hope you make them eyes-wide-open and deliberately.
Where you can consider the impact of your choices both today and years from now.
All too often I hear about - and sometimes talk to - smart, hardworking people who take a moment to stop and survey their life.
They’re surprised to find themselves in their late 50s or 60s (or older) having not been very deliberate about many of the decisions they made along the way.
The good news: it’s never too late to get started making more informed decisions…
But just because you get to choose, doesn’t mean the best decision for you will always be clear.
And not every financial decision can be solved by a spreadsheet or software.
Sometimes, you have to go with your gut.
And that’s great!
As long as your gut is being informed by the entirety of your life and the people that are most important to you.
This is the work I’m proud to dive into each day with my clients.
If you’d like to explore any of these conversations and ideas, feel welcome to get in touch.
I’d love to hear from ya!
Links & Things
I encourage you to read this recent Morgan Housel article:
Bonus: Housel’s article references a great scene from Seinfeld.
What do you think?
Hit reply or leave a comment and share your thoughts…
Until next Wednesday,
Russ