More details please...
Effective retirement planning calls for specificity...
Good morning,
I screwed up and most of the links weren’t working in last week’s email.
They’ve been fixed if you want to check any of them out.
Sorry ‘bout that!
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming…
First, a quote from Zig Ziglar,
"The great majority of people are wandering generalities rather than meaningful specifics. The fact is that you can't hit a target that you can't see. If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else."
How many times have you heard someone say, "I'd like to have a comfortable retirement"?
Or use other generic words or phrases to describe the life they want to live in the future?
Words like:
comfortable (see above)
nice
carefree
flexible
relaxed
every day’s a Saturday
you get the idea
Heck, maybe you've used some of these yourself.
I know I've heard 'em a lot over my career from folks probably a lot like you.
The home page of my website even has “comfortably” in BIG, BOLD letters.
Of course, there's not a thing wrong with any of these words.
And perhaps they get used a lot because, you know, people don't like to talk about money.
But carefree?
What does that even mean?
My suspicion is that we talk in generic terms about the life we want to live because we haven't had a process (or the right guide) to help us think through the details which include:
your values
your vision
your goals
your priorities
what’s important to you
For example, many folks I talk to have no idea how much they're spending currently.
And I'm not talking about a budget here...
I'm talking about the blank look I often get when I ask someone what they currently spend in an average month.
Sure, some of you use spreadsheets or software to help you keep an eye on your money.
But many - maybe most - of you don't know how much you’re spending.
So how could you be expected to know how much you'll need to spend to have that "comfortable" retirement you always hear people talking about.
Now, before you think I'm suggesting you need to track every penny that you spend each month, I'm not.
Not at all.
Most of you spend less than you earn, so you're not in any jeopardy just because you don't keep a daily budget.
I don’t keep a budget.
Besides, no one likes budgets anyway.
Yuck!
But how much you spend is just one example - an important example - of the type of details you're going to need in order to:
Retire on your own terms.
Educate your grandchildren in the manner you'd like.
Care for your aging parents or other family or friends.
Or anything else that's important to you and that you want to plan for in the future.
Let me repeat... I'm NOT talking about "majoring in the minors" here and getting so lost in the details you lose sight of the vision for your life.
But in order to plan for the future, you have to first know where you are today.
Where you're starting from.
And where you want to go.
And what you’re willing - or not willing - to do to get there. (read more about trade-offs here)
We’re gonna need some details.
But not too many details.
Like most things in financial planning - and in life - it's about striking a balance.
It's about progress, not perfection.
Another quote, this time from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland:
“Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don't much care where.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.
Alice: ...So long as I get somewhere.
The Cheshire Cat: Oh, you're sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.”
If you'd like to discuss some of your financial details, or if I can help you build out a clear, personal vision for where you want to go, I'd love to have that conversation.
Simply reply to this email and let me know what's on your mind.
Links & things
Here’s an interesting infographic about “what financial success looks like for Americans” from the perspective of different age groups:
Looks like Gen Z has some work ahead of them…
Until next Wednesday,
Russ