If you find yourself just about ready to say yes and commit to the development of a comprehensive financial plan but for some reason you keep getting stuck on making the final move, my guess is the thought of compiling the documents needed is your roadblock.
So imagine my joyful surprise when a new client just emailed me her very positive feedback after gathering all the info needed to design her financial plan...
During their working years, baby boomers have invested a significant portion of their retirement savings in stocks, boosting equity valuations above historical averages for the past 30 years. As the baby boom generation retires and begins spending from their investment portfolios, future equity returns could decrease. With that in mind, it’s crucial that boomers nearing retirement develop retirement income strategies with prudent as well as realistic expectations of future investment returns.
The Role Demographics Will Play
Yet another study - this one telling me something I've noticed in my own financial planning practice for several years. According to Prudential Financial's latest study, The Financial Experience and Behaviors Among Women, 53% of the 1,400+ women surveyed are primary breadwinners in their households. The study polled 1,410 American women and 604 American men between the ages of 25 and 68.
Women are taking on the primary breadwinner role for several reasons; because of their partners loss of employment as a result of the financial crisis, as a result of divorce and because women are marrying later in life.
Investing, managing, saving, spending and earning money - these linear, left brain aspects of our money relationship offer plenty of potential for challenges. But it’s when we delve into the other dimension of our relationship with money, our feelings, that things get really tricky and mighty interesting.
Our feelings, that messy and confusing aspect of our relationship with money will often hold us hostage to our egos and prevent us from feeling the fulfillment and peace of mind we so desire. Way too many of us live our lives with feelings of scarcity and poverty consciousness. Instead of money being our servant, it becomes our master.
And now for the bonus round - a few multiple choice questions about Americans and retirement.
Thanks to my friend and client Eddie Mac for passing on this excellent article about raising your kids with a good set of values around money.
Of the many aspects involved when designing a comprehensive financial plan, probably my favorite element of all is helping clients decide on their number. The number I’m referring to is your total net-worth, but more specifically, the amount of liquid assets you’ll need to accumulate by the time you’re ready to retire or stop working for money.
Imagine for a second you and your life mate are headed out on a 30+ year journey, one that you had been planning to take for as long as you both can remember. You’ve dreamed about all the places you’re going to visit and the people and friends you’re going to meet along the way.
You know given your age, this will likely be the last, yet greatest adventure of your life with memories and experiences you’ll cherish forever. And vital to the success of this journey will be the confidence and knowing that the hard earned money you saved your entire working life will last the duration of your great adventure called retirement. You also know that once you set sail for the great unknown, there will be no chance for a do-over 10-15 years from now if you failed to properly plan.
