Is Your Plan The Best Plan For You?

Our stock in trade is helping our clients to formulate a plan that reflects their goals and interests, while allowing them to enjoy financial independence. Although we continually update our clients’ plans, sometimes it makes sense to question whether the plan we have formulated is really the best plan for you.

Typically someone will project out their current job status, lifestyle, interests, and various other activities into the future. This then becomes the basis for their plan. Sometimes the desire to have a plan that works is so strong that they do not make the time or have the inclination to explore whether other plan paths can get them to the same destination with more fun along the way.

For example, most prospective clients still come in to seek our advice on formulating what we tend to call a traditional retirement; that is, they work until a certain date and then walk away from their job completely and pursue other things that may be of interest to them. While this approach can work for some people, we feel that traditional retirement should be a conscious choice, not a default choice.

The key to identifying the best plan for you is to ruminate on what the ideal lifestyle would look like for you right now. Forget about the obstacles to your vision; just try to imagine what your ideal looks like. Now compare it with the reality that is your life today. Is there much of a divergence or is there alignment? If there is a significant divergence then it may be time to examine your plan. Are there other plans that will achieve the same result, but with you having a more fulfilling time along the way?

One of the benefits of working with a financial adviser is that we can free you from spending much of your time worrying about your money and instead, you can begin to focus on how you are spending your time. We believe that your time is as important as your money. Sometimes we can put more importance on things that can be easily measured. Sometimes that can be a mistake.