Babysteps to filling a sizable void

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As I mentioned in my last post… it would be hard for a financial planner to justify spending the time to sit down with a 35 year old with little assets and no plan.

Personally, I’d love to spend 1 hour with every 35 yr old I come across and talk to them about the importance of preparing for the future, opening a Roth IRA or about making the right investment choices in their company 401k (or 403B, etc.) plan; but there’s not enough time in the day.

(BTW, for the purposes of many of these posts I will use an arbitrary age or age range… I’m really speaking to all of you in your 30’s and 40’s and anyone else that may find this information relevant)

But a little light bulb went off in my head and I figured out a way to speak with one voice to a large audience…

So I got on the phone and called Giant Stadium and asked if there were any days still available to pack 70,000 people in there, to talk about the importance of Roth IRA’s and GenX financial planning issues. Unfortunately, they told me that U2 and Ozzfest had priority over my little function and I’d have to wait til 2020.

Haha… I hope you didn’t believe that but don’t tempt me in the future.

Filling the void

The way for me to reach out to you and begin to fill this sizable void is right here… through Chance Favors!

If you’re 35-45 yrs old… it’s really not that hard (or that time consuming) for you to put together a solid road-map for the future. Obviously, every case is unique but by and large the game-plan will be very similar for many of you. The real shame in this game is if you don’t do anything at all.

You can continue to put it off and procrastinate and not much will change in your day to day life. You will only see the ill effects of not properly planning later on down the road… in 20-30 years time, when you can’t afford to do any of the things you always dreamed of, when your hopes and lifelong aspirations are no longer attainable.

Here’s a scary analogy for you

You see a dark spot on your hand that looks a bit unusual and you chalk it up to spending alot of time in the sun. So you’re aware of it but decide to do nothing about it.

The years pass… the spot becomes irregular in shape, larger and darker and you start to get very worried. You finally decide to get it checked out but its too late. They need to operate on your hand immediately and you will lose some functionality in your hand… and who knows what else the future holds?

Although that analogy came out a bit darker than I originally anticipated, it does drive the point home. Something that seems harmless NOW and can easily be put off… can have a direct impact on your life later on and restrict what you can and can’t do.

You don’t want that. In retirement you want to enjoy your life to the fullest and that means having the control and flexibility to make choices, right?

Oh and by the way, get your skin checked if you see something irregular:) and NOW that I scared the shiitake out of you, go enjoy a cool refreshing glass of lemonade:) I promise to make it up to you…

Continue up the steps

In future posts, I will provide step by step detailed instructions on what I think GenXer’s should be focusing on when it comes to preparing for your future. I will present hypothethical client scenarios, detailing a road-map for accomplishing the stated objectives of most GenXer’s.

Maybe you will be able to find a mockup that reminds you of you. But I don’t want to get too ahead of myself here, like the title says Babysteps first…

Tags: Featured, Financial Planning Retirement and Now!, Psychology Behind Financial Planning