Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve… But Did You?
And like that… half of 2020 is gone.
What’s new? Miss anything?
Yes, that's sarcasm.
Lots happening with honest discussions, realizations and expressions for change, all good things for a society of freedom and opportunity. Being a financial planning column, I wanted to draw a few parallels where action, not just talk, is needed to have meaningful, long-term solutions.
The past few years I’ve encountered prospective clients seeking help; however, their focus wasn’t on holistic planning as it was voicing frustration over waiting. Sitting in large sums of cash waiting for a good time to invest or worse, “when this market crashes”.
Why do I say worse?
If equity markets are down 20% or more, there is a reason and it becomes the new shiny object leading to continued analysis-paralysis. Sure enough, in March and April I circled back, none working with a financial planner and responses varied from “too much going on right now”, “cash is king”, and my favorite, “are you bleeping crazy?!”
Few predicted a V-shaped recovery of the US stock market. To be clear, adversity, uncertainties, risks and opportunities continue. The stock and bond markets are voting machines into the future. Instead of talking about how that will turn out, focus actions for the constants of change and time.
Time In, Not Timing - Building income and wealth passively in markets or actively through a business, time invested is necessary. The further one moves away from entry points or start dates, the less important they become. Focus shifts to plans for what’s next and adapting personal and systematic changes.
Bucket Strategy - To increase comfort with volatility and discount bad timing, consider allocating money to timeframes of need and align investment risk accordingly. In simplest form, there are 3 buckets: One is 12-36 months, Two is 3-5 years and Three is 5+ years. It is customizable, one example being Bucket One for income gap not overall expenses for 36 months in cash, as unrealistic and an opportunity cost for most. This strategy requires confidence in planning inputs, process and proactive action to Buckets One & Two as things change.
Time Waits For No One - In their 20’s, The Stones covered Time Is On My Side, 10 years later Jagger/Richards wrote more telling Time Waits For No One. One a hit, the other a dark reality few like to hear. Procrastination, while easy, makes things harder to solve as it limits both options and opportunities as time marches forward.
Blink and 2021 will be here. Another year older, goals another year shorter.
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.
Glenn Brown is a Holliston resident and owner of PlanDynamic, LLC, www.PlanDynamic.com. Glenn is a Certified Financial Planner™, Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor and fee-only fiduciary helping clients take control of planning and investing, so they can balance kids, aging parents and financial independence.
This article appeared in the July editions of Holliston Local Town Pages, Ashland Local Town Pages and Natick Local Town Pages.
Please call me at (508) 834-7733 or directly schedule a meeting to learn more about considerations for planning and investing so you can balance kids, aging parents and your financial independence.
PlanDynamic, LLC is a registered investment advisor. This article is intended to provide general information. It is not intended to offer or deliver investment advice in any way. Information regarding investment services are provided solely to gain a better understanding of the subject or the article. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable.
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