The Biggest Financial Mistake You Can Make

For nearly 30 years, I have had the pleasure of helping many folks with their financial goals (and trying to fix some mistakes).

Usually, one's goals are centered around a particular concern. i.e worrying about retirement, wanting to buy a house, or maybe just paying down debt.

What a good Certified Financial Planner® practitioner does is, take a 30,000 foot view so they can see the whole picture.  If we just looked at retirement and focused only on that goal, a comfortable retirement might be had BUT other important items might be forgotten or at risk.

Let's say "Bob" is in his 30's and has a young family.  He realizes that if he starts saving for retirement early on, his success in saving enough for a comfortable retirement are increased vs. waiting ten more years.  The longer one has to save, not only is less money potentially needed to put away each month, but the longer time period allows for a great resistance to short term fluctuations.

But let's just say, Bob dies unexpectantly at 40 leaving a wife and two young children.  He was able save a respectable $50,000 toward retirement. By having a myopic view of just retirement, Bob failed to think about what would happen if he died prematurely.

If Bob worked until full retirement age and continued on the save savings path as initially intended, his retirement goal may have come to fruition.

But, as I've seen more than I care to admit, bad things can happen.

This is just one example of many where not taking a holistic view of one's financial life can cause the best of intentions to go very wrong.

In Bob's case, the likelihood of his wife and children having an easy life financially were slim.  How much easier if Bob had the correct amount of life insurance to provide for college for the kids as well as money to help his spouse have less of a stressful life.

So, what is the biggest financial mistake one can make?  In a nutshell, it is looking at only one area and doing it all on your own.  Working with a good Certified Financial Planner® practitioner will help you take that a 30,000 foot view that is imperative in having that secure financial life.

Just like how a good personal trainer will help your maintain the correct exercise form, working with a financial professional will do the same for your financial life.

If you or anyone you know anyone going through any type of financial situation, feel free to reach out to us or pass our name along.

I'm here to help.

All the best.

Rick Fingerman, CFP®
Rick@PlanWithFPS.com
617-630-4978

Financial Planning Solutions, LLC (FPS) is a Registered Investment Advisor. Financial Planning Solutions, LLC (FPS) provides this blog for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this blog should be considered investment, tax, or legal advice. FPS only renders personalized advice to each client. Information herein includes opinions and source information that is believed to be reliable. However, such information may not be independently verified by FPS. Please see important disclosures link at the bottom of this page.