What is holding you back?
What is getting in your way in your ultimate quest for financial security?
Is it lack of time to plan or keep up with your plan? Do you have a plan? Are you expenses too high? Or have you just been putting your planning on hold?
In many ways, when it comes to financial planning, people become their own worst enemy.
Over the past 15 years of helping others with their planning, I can’t help but notice all of the excuses to not get started….or to not get a solid plan in place with the help of a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM professional that always places your interests first.
Your quest for financial security doesn’t have to be so difficult.
When it comes to financial planning and the various decisions required over the years, many people are just not geared to be able to make non-emotional decisions and a lot of behavioral mistakes can be made as a result. I have a solid understanding of the behavioral issues that can come up as a result of the planning process and have developed ways to help others work through these situations. By having an individualized plan, or simple set of systems in place, it is possible for nearly everyone to move past these issues.
What do I mean by behavioral issues? Here are a few examples:
Being a victim of “Lifestyle creep” – this is when your ongoing expenses (or overall lifestyle) tend to increase along with your earnings. With proper systems in place, and the discipline to follow them, you can stay on your path and prevent this from happening. You can always make sure that there is a gap and that you don’t become a victim.
Making purchases on impulse – By having the proper systems in place and an organized plan, you can work to prevent these types of purchases….especially the ones that add to your debt.
Chasing returns – When it comes to investing, are you chasing returns? Are you investing in a mutual fund (or other investment) solely because of its track record? Very rarely will this work out.
Being too risk averse – When it comes to risk, and the different types, there is often a misunderstanding. This can lead you to not take the amount of risk that you need to, or make you avoid risk altogether. Without risk, there is no payoff. This of course, will make it very difficult for you to succeed. If you believe that you’re not taking risk by avoiding investing in the stock market, you are actually taking on other, forms of risk that can be very difficult to overcome. Examples of this are running out of money while retired and losing your purchasing power.
Procrastination – Just remember that this is a decision in itself. If you tend to procrastinate, or choose to not make a decision or plan, this is possibly the worst of all.
All of these examples can be extremely costly and knock you off of your path (if you have one), but are most often a result of not having a comprehensive plan in place to begin with. This results in knee-jerk reactions to nearly everything around you when it comes to your finances. And, if and when it gets out of hand, or goes on for too long, it can really wreck just about any situation….which is flat out depressing.
I have seen study after study over the years, and seen direct results in my clients, that when people have clear goals and know their path, they often feel much more confident financially and tend to make much more informed decisions. A solid plan and clear goals ends up helping you stay disciplined, on the right path, and can lead to a drastically higher chance that you’ll be successful and achieve the security that you’re looking for.
Don’t miss out on getting the professional guidance you need.
Want to get started? Want to revisit your situation? Have someone that you care about who could use some professional guidance? This is all easily remedied…..contact me today.