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Welcome to the new year

Happy New Year! This is my favorite weekend of the year because it holds the promise of limitless possibilities. It is also the time of year that I take stock on where I’m at in life, express gratitude for what I’ve been given, and set goals for the upcoming year. This process is relatively new for me.

Earlier in my life I would assess where I was at, make resolutions to change some aspect of my behavior and charge into the year. The results of my earlier efforts were disappointing. Most years I felt as though I hadn’t measured up to the resolutions I made – stop smoking, get healthier, work on stained glass, read more, become a better person.

What changed? Why am I more satisfied today than in the past? Today I’m taking stock and setting goals, not just assessing and resolving. I’m fact-based when I take stock. When it comes to financial matters, this means preparing a personal financial statement – a list of assets and liabilities. Truth be told, it’s sometimes been a boring exercise and at times it’s been uncomfortable, but I’ve come to find that drafting this statement is the best first step to figure out how to improve a bad financial situation.

Next, I’ve moved from making resolutions to committing to goals. The difference is a resolution is often a vaguely defined promise involving a character trait or behavioral change while a commitment often involves a very specific plan or a course of action. Financially, my goals are to pay my future self a little more by increasing my 401(k) contribution by 2% and increase my charitable contributions by $40 a month while staying on my budget.

This year I have four overall goals I will work to achieve;

  1. Share my thoughts on financial services with you at least weekly
  2. Help launch Odyssey (odysseywise.com) out to an unsuspecting boomer population
  3. Launch a new division within TMG Financial Services to help credit unions grow, and
  4. Visit Europe with my beautiful wife Karen

Along the way I’ll introduce you to people who are doing good work in the financial services industry and invite you to see what they’re up to. All the best this year and I wish you success in achieving your goals.

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What is financial well-being?

In my last post I talked about the circumstances that have made you ultimately responsible for your financial well-being in retirement. It’s important to define what I mean when talking about financial well-being.

First and most important, financial well-being is not a number! “I’d be all set if I had a million dollars” is a great example of what financial well-being is not. Okay, you may be able to make it work on a million dollars, however the gap between what you have set aside for retirement today and a million dollars may seem unachievable, leading to despair. On the other hand, a million dollars equally divided over 20 years is $50,000 a year. You may think you need more than this to live on each year, or you may expect to live another 30 years or more, making the annual draw on your million dollars as little as $30,000 a year. The problem with this way of thinking is there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding retirement and no thought to the quality of retirement we’re looking to finance. Continue reading →

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The Financial Responsibility Facing 55+ Year Olds

Making good decisions – it’s something we’ve done with greater frequency as we’ve gained wisdom and experience.   Yes, we may regret a few decisions we’ve made however the consequences are in the past and we’ve learned our lessons well.  If you are like me, we are joining the more than 50 million Americans who will reach retirement age in the next 15 years. Continue reading →

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Hello and welcome

“What will you do with the rest of your life?”  It’s been a question I’ve been playing with like a kitten with a ball of string.  My time spent in the financial services industry and my mission to improve the financial lives of consumers leads me to this effort which will center around two broad themes – the future of financial services and improving the personal financial management methods we each use to manage our finances month to month.

I encourage you to hold a positive attitude about the future as we explore the possibilities and consider me a fellow traveller on this journey.  In return, my hope is to leave you with actionable insights you can take advantage of immediately.  I invite you to leave a comment or ask a question.