Do you remember the old Simon and Garfunkel song that goes, “Slow down, you move to fast. You got to make the morning last. Just kicking down the cobblestones, looking for fun and feeling groovy.” Life really does just go too fast.
Do you every think about the time you spend on the Interstate? We all know the speed limit that we should be driving at, but let’s be honest: do you drive the speed limit, or do you go just a little bit over, or maybe...you go a lot over? Isn’t that how we sometimes drive our financial life. You feel like there’s just not enough time; you’ve got to get from Point A to point B faster. You’ve got a destination, and you want to get there as quickly as possible, even if it means risking getting stopped and ticketed along the way. You want to get to that future faster, even if it means taking some additional risks, getting into an accident, or leading to a ride in a tow truck or ambulance. You may have to repair some damage along the way then.
There is an opportunity to take a different path, a different journey. You can take a safer road. You can take a Sunday drive: enjoy life, enjoy some of the hills and the valleys along the way, and calmly drive to your future. Enjoy the day. Enjoy the drive. Don’t get stressed out about having to get from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible and disregard the risks.
The key to enjoying the journey, is to cover your bases Ahead of time instead of Just in time. You’ve already got a certain date in your mind; you want to retire at 55, 58, 62, 66, 70 etc. People will often rev their engines and floor it towards their goals without any airbags, without any seatbelts, or GPS. When you’re looking at your overall portfolio, are you seeing a lot of ETFs, stocks and bonds, and mutual funds? Are you trying to beat everyone else around the water cooler at work, comparing your 401K performance, your IRAs and Roths. None of these are providing you any safety features.
There is a product that can actually protect you on your journey. It can make sure that if you have a bump in the road, you are still able to get from Point A to Point B. Just like on the interstate, you know that there is that one spot, that certain mile marker, where there is often a backup of cars because someone’s been in an accident. People who were speeding through to get to their destination often end up just creeping forward or maybe even turning their cars off and waiting for the chaos and the cars to actually move. What are you doing to make certain that you are protected in case there’s a bump in the road? What is the backup plan? Is there a backup plan?
One of the areas that our firm works in is leveraging what we know is going to happen. I like to plan around knowing that I’m going to have an expiration date, eventually. Since I know I’m going to have an expiration date, I can use that certainty to make the engine of my investments work better for me. Instead of planning around the unknowns, I plan around what I know is absolutely going to happen. We don’t know the date and time, but we all know it will happen to us eventually. It’s not an If I die, it’s a When I die.
There are going to be some “ifs” along the way: disability, chronic illness, pre-mature death, etc. However, you can take your assets and leverage them so you can enjoy the journey without the stress of everything that usually happens on the Interstate of life on a day-to-day basis. I know I’m getting deep and talking about the philosophy of happiness, assurance, and contentment, but I know that no matter what happens in my life, my investments engine is going to create the maximum wealth that my income and assets are capable of providing to me and my family.
I will often say this at our office, “The day that I die, I would like to be overdrawn at the bank and I hope the last check I wrote was to the IRS, and I hope that it bounces.” That would mean that I was able to enjoy all of my money, my family was able to enjoy all my money, and I was able to have a rich and enduring life.
If you are looking for this in your life, start by reading my book, Investments Don’t Hug: Embracing the Life Insurance Asset. Then, connect with our office. We work virtually or in person. We can help you plan for the unexpected accidents, speeding tickets, and detours on the interstate of your life.
