Read -- Records and fractures
Enduring planning concepts and best practices that support thoughtful financial decisions across life stages and evolving priorities.
There used to be a singular notion of retirement: Walk away from your career one day and begin a life of leisure the next. You never envision working another day in your life. When planning for the retirement date circled on your calendar, you saved as much as you could for decades to ensure that you’d have enough money to comfortably live out your golden years.
This one-size-fits-all approach to retirement – and the financial planning that supports it – is rapidly changing.
Owning a home outright is a dream that many Americans share. Having a mortgage can be a huge burden, and paying it off may be the first item on your financial to-do list. But competing with the desire to own your home free and clear is your need to invest for retirement, your child’s college education, or some other goal. Putting extra cash toward one of these goals may mean sacrificing another. So how do you choose?
One of the main benefits of having a financial plan is that it can help you balance competing financial priorities. A financial plan will clearly show you how your financial goals are related. Like how, for example, saving for your children’s college education might impact your ability to save for retirement. Then you can use the information you’ve gleaned to decide how to prioritize your goals, implement specific strategies and choose suitable products or services. Best of all, you’ll know that your financial life is headed in the right direction.
