Back in the day, I considered myself an ‘outsmarter’. It was the mid-80’s, I was young and carefree and believed, as did the vast majority of my friends and colleagues, that we had the winning formula for stock market success.
Today I had a Skype call with one of my favorite clients. Stacie, a 1st generation American, is in her late 30’s, currently lives in Florida, and up until very recently, had a very successful and lucrative career as an engineer for a global consulting firm. Stacie had the type of career that her family had dreamed of for her, and her parents were willing to immigrate to the U.S. to ensure that she could have.
If you’re like the majority of people, come the New Year, you feel almost a primal urge to do something about your finances.
It may be something simple like checking to see how your investments performed last year or perhaps something more ambitious like developing a comprehensive financial plan.
What exactly you do is not the point, but definitely do something, anything, just get started. What you’re looking to do is get into the habit, at least once a year, of investing some time in not only how your relationship with money is going individually as well as with your partner, but also in assessing the previous year from a your money and your life holistic perspective. Call it the year in review.
Facing reality when it comes to planning for a successful retirement is easier said than done. For many people, just effectively managing their day to day finances is already a daunting challenge. Add to that list of to-do’s developing a realistic retirement plan and you risk becoming overwhelmed by it all.
What often happens instead is a form of denial and fantasy. We tell ourselves that somehow, someway, our investments will reap double digit returns from now until retirement day. That our incomes will double and cash windfalls are right around the corner. That the 20,000 shares of that penny bio-tech stock we purchased will be worth a million or more dollars in ten years and our home will be worth much, much more than we ever anticipated down the road.
Some of the world’s leading economist’s have discovered something that is especially relevant as we get ready for Thanksgiving.
As the holidays approach and your credit cards get ready for their annual workout, please, make a promise to yourself that before the end of this month you’ll take action and place a credit freeze on your credit reports for all three major credit bureaus.
