Are you letting life sidetrack your financial future?

Are you stuck in reverse?

On the journey of life, there are many things that can quickly detour or sidetrack us. There are often financial barriers that create obstacles in our lives. They can sometimes be a tiny pothole in the road, possibly a quick pit stop, a small detour, or even a large roadblock.

I remember one time I took a long trip from New Hampshire to Pennsylvania for a wedding. I had the route mapped out perfectly. I knew the exact number of miles, the length of time it was expected to take down to the minute. I had a list of freeways to avoid and left at the most opportune time – after the morning rush hour spree. My goal was to make it to New York before evening rush hour and coast right into the Philadelphia area.

I calculated and tracked my time methodically. Things could not have been going any better. I even started to envision making it there early and having a little time to myself before the rehearsal dinner. There was no traffic. It was like everyone knew I was coming and I was the only car on the road. A little exaggeration, but you get my point. Life was good. I was making progress until I hit the Bronx area, and then BAM! Road construction! I exclaimed,”No, not today. This cannot be happening!” I felt like all my plans went down the drain…

My plans changed

My travels and plans were suddenly at a dead stop. From there, it only got worse. We were rerouted off the highway through the city streets all the way to the next exit some five miles away. It took nearly an hour to progress what would have taken less than five minutes on the highway. The rest of the trip did not improve: pit stops, traffic jams, trouble with one of my tires, and an extra two hours of driving. So much for my plan! What started out as a carefully calculated, precise plan turned into a long tedious, exhausting trip. However, much of this could have been avoided (alternate routes, leaving earlier, tire check before leaving, etc). Still, once on my journey, I could also have made some adjustments along the way that could have made my trip more bearable.

Sometimes we have great intentions and expectations, yet life throws us a curve. Even worse, many times we think we are fully prepared yet nothing can be further from the truth. A couple came into see me the other day. We’ll call them the Robinsons. They had saved nearly $500,000 for retirement. They planned to stop working within the next year or two and expected to be able to live comfortably in retirement. They had a false sense of security and expected God would take care of them. I agree God does provide for our needs but this does not excuse us from carefully planning our future. It will never go exactly according to plan, but it’s much easier to recalculate, readjust, and make minor changes rather than having to completely shift course.

It starts with an assessment

I had the Robinsons complete Values First Advisors new financial planning tool. CLICK HERE TO TRY FOR FREE. This FREE tool allows us to quickly check if someone’s goals are on track. The first step in our planning process is to understand our client’s financial goals and demographics so that we can accurately assess whether they are heading in the right direction. Our approach is based on the latest research in behavioral economics and designed to be visually engaging and easy to use. We quickly get our clients a financial result and provide several areas where they can drill down and adjust the assumptions that are being used.

The second step is the creation of the Starter Roadmap, which gives clients a high-level view of their personal finances after taking 5-10 minutes to answer some basic financial questions.

The third step provides ongoing support through the online Dashboard, that includes step-by-step guidance on goals and Ways to Protect Yourself, the ability to track accounts and net worth, “What If” modeling and targeted expert articles based on goals are also available.

An eye opening experience

After the Robinsons took ten minutes to enter their data, goals, and current status, our software crunched some financial calculations and accessed their current financial strategies. It was quickly determined that the Robinsons needed some additional planning. What they had assumed to be a solid plan actually lacked many core foundational strategies. This was an eye opening experience for them.

Many times we base our decisions on faulty or unrealistic data. We assume we will be fine. Yet fewer than 10 percent of people will ever truly experience financial freedom and independence. Will you be in the 1 of 10 who succeeds? Or will you be in the 9 of 10 who fail? Do you know if you’re heading in the right direction? I challenge you to take advantage of our free tool and access your current situation. You may be quite surprised or relieved once you get the results. What are you waiting for? CLICK HERE to see if your plan is on track.