A few weeks ago, I underwent a minor surgery that required me to go under anesthesia. I had been under once before, and my recollection was waking up and feeling like I lost time – like I just did not exist while I was out – slightly terrifying. It brought to the front of my mind the possibility that I might not wake up.
Of course, I looked up the statistics of folks dying under anesthesia, and it appears to be safer than childbirth, so I figured well I’ve got two kids, I’ll be fine. The morning of the surgery, I hastily left notes for my wife about important account locations and passwords, balance sheets, and such. It occurred to me that even though I’m only 35, I need to have a better written plan in case something happens to me – something that lists all the accounts, assets, liabilities, insurance, and income sources. If I did not better prepare and something did happen to me, my wife would have problems figuring out how to get income from our assets. I could see cash sitting idle for years simply being spent down…a disaster long term. As a financial planner, I felt slightly embarrassed that I had not better prepared her for the unlikely. This is the backdrop that I decided to create a Financial Planning binder with two important tabs: 1) An asset summary and 2) a financial plan that has cash flow modeling illustrating what should happen if I’m not here. I realized that I’m not the only one who needs this. You probably do too. I think this is so important, I decided to put one of these together for our clients and anyone who will let us prepare a financial plan for them. You can get our expertise and time spent preparing your own customized asset summary and financial plan. This will be complete with options and recommendations on what to do with pensions and social security. Having a written financial plan will help you see your overall financial picture clearly. It is easier to make good decisions on the small details when you understand and see the big picture clearly. We build financial plans based on one underlying principal: align all your financial assets to maximize your income in retirement. Sometimes folks tell us “I don’t need more income.” That’s fine. You don’t have to spend it. You can re-invest it, figure out how to spend more, or give it away. Too much income is a problem we want you to have. Now you could do this yourself. You could create an asset summary. You could create a financial plan showing how cash flow should look, from what sources, and the tax implications. You could figure out for yourself what the best decisions for you pensions, social security, and investment allocations are. You could also re-plumb your house. Heck you might do a good job. But if you could get someone else who does it every day for a living to do it for you… for free, wouldn’t that make more sense? Besides, even if you put in all the work and then something does happen to you, will your spouse or family be able to decipher your chicken scratch or spreadsheet? Will they be able to find it? You need someone like Threadgill Financial, LLC who you can trust to be there should something happen to you prematurely. Besides, wouldn’t you rather spend your spare time doing what you enjoy and let someone else do the stuff you don’t enjoy and are not an expert at? Now if you’d like you can go to law school and get a law degree with a focus on tax, and spend 10 years in the financial industry managing hundreds of millions of dollars for several hundred families. You could study for the CFP exam, study different investment strategies, and then we might be on the same footing, and I would give you deference and say, you know you are just as qualified as me, but my guess is you don’t want to spend all that time and energy to address an issue that we can easily do for you while you sit back and relax. I know I could rebuild a transmission if I invested the time, but I don’t want to. It would take way too long. All the time I spent educating myself on how to properly service a transmission would be much better spent doing what I specialize in. This is the same for you. Chances are, you are really good at your job. You have spent a lot of time learning your skill set, and you could do your job much more easily and proficiently than me. If you have a written plan that spells out in clear terms how you are going to be able to retire, get the income you want, and not run out of money, you will be able to stop worrying and enjoy life more. We focus financial plans and investments on income – not stock market direction. Once you realize that your plan is income focused, you can turn your attention to a stable and growing income and not worry about the direction of the stock market, politics, media scare tactics, etc. Your family will appreciate that you were so wise to put all your financial affairs in such clear organized form, and you will make things easier on them. If you hire us, Threadgill Financial can help ensure your financial accounts go to your family directly, bypassing probate, and making things easy to deal with. Your family will love you for having a plan.
Call or email to schedule a time to get your financial plan. No obligation, no cost. Very likely Threadgill Financial will be able to identify ways to improve your financial situation, even if you don’t hire us. Don’t feel you would be wasting my time. I know that if you have a clear, easy to understand financial plan and you don’t hire me, when you’re no longer here, your spouse probably will!
