“I believe that the biggest mistake that most people make when it comes to their retirement is they do not plan for it. They take the same route as Alice in the story from “Alice in Wonderland,” in which the cat tells Alice that surely, she will get somewhere as long as she walks long enough. It may not be exactly where you wanted to get to, but you certainly get somewhere.”

― Mark Singer, The Changing Landscape of Retirement – What You Don’t Know Could Hurt You

Introduction:

Keeping a daily, yearly and long-term plan in front of you is not an easy feat. Those who are most successful in life have learned (often with many failures) how to constantly gauge their trajectory. They know how to do the daily things well in order to get to where they want to be, and they sacrifice to get there. Those daily (boring) things are often the very source of their successes. Those daily habits were often the source of greatest frustrations as well, but like anything worth doing, it takes painful sacrifice and organization.

So how about you? Are you Alice? Are you wandering aimlessly with no roadmap for your financial well being?

How do you know if you are Alice?

1) You don't budget. You have no idea how much you are spending each month on things like groceries, clothing, and household items. You don't know what you are spending on gas. You also don't know how much you are saving for things like tires, sinking fund for appliances, roof repairs, car repairs. Having a rough guess is not enough. Many who have a rough guess of their regular expenditures are often spending far more than they realize. Areas such as food is often the biggest culprit for shortfalls in cash flow. Get a budget and keep a budget. It is also not enough to just write it down. You will need to track and reconcile your budget at least monthly. If you are married, sit down and do this with your spouse.

2) You don't know your financial independence number

Not knowing something brings a great deal of stress into our lives. Not knowing how much you need for retirement (AKA Financial Independence Number) is also a very scary place to be. At TerraWealth White and Associates, we can help you learn how much you need for retirement, and then formulate a plan to ensure that pile of cash is available, protected as much as can be, and design a strategy together to ensure that will happen. Annual reviews to track it, adjust as needed or recalibrated are also part of the financial planning process.

The most important thing to understand, that many get wrong is this: "Retirement is not an age, it's the amount of money you will need." Know your financial independence number.

So, don't be an Alice. Talk with us today, and make sure, like anything worth doing, that you have a plan and stick to it.

"Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds;" Proverbs 27:23