Weekend Reading: The Power of Process in Financial Planning
This article appears as part of Casey Weade's Weekend Reading for Retirees series. Every Friday, Casey highlights four hand-picked articles on trending retirement topics and delivers them straight to your email inbox. Get on the list here.
I’m a firm believer that process helps allow you (and your assets) to perform at peak capacity. I developed our Retire With Purpose planning process after it allowed me to reach “Job Optional” status personally, and I’ve seen it be a game changer for many of the families we work with as well.
Power of three: Now, keep in mind – in this instance, process doesn’t deliver a “perfect” retirement plan. Instead, it has the capability to create a “really good” plan that’s customized to you. And, as stated here, a really good plan can look like a three-legged stool, containing:
📌 Cash flow: Your budget of expenses and savings, now and in the future
📌 Assets: An inventory of all your holdings, including bank assets, investments, real estate, etc., which also includes asset allocation, your risk profile and estate/protection planning
📌 Goals: This will include short-term goals, long-term goals, easily attainable goals and stretch goals
Your map to money confidence: Above all, this plan should be your financial baseline – or as stated here, the “North Star” in your financial journey. You put together life plans, business plans and health plans to reach your goals, and the same mindset should apply to your retirement. Without a map (or GPS), how do you ever expect to get to your desired destination?