Close your eyes for a moment and imagine your ideal retirement. What does it look like? Are you living in a new home right next to the beach, spending summers with your grandchildren, or putting in hours at a local charity that you care deeply about? Thinking about what you’d like your future to look like is an important step in building the retirement you want, but the next one is even more crucial: you have to set goals to get there.
Perhaps achieving the retirement of your dreams will take more saving and less spending, or shifting your allocations so that your money can grow more now, while you’re young, to allow enough funds to build up over time. Making changes to accomplish what you set out to do can be challenging, particularly if it requires a significant shift in your lifestyle or mindset. But the New Year is right around the corner, and with it comes a fresh opportunity to make strides toward your goals. With a little strategy and discipline, you can make 2020 your most productive year yet.
We’ve covered a crucial aspect of establishing financial security time and again on this blog: finding a wealth manager who will familiarize themselves with your circumstances and aspirations, and help you make a plan to reach them. It may seem redundant, but I cannot stress how essential having a clear picture—a map of sorts—of where you’re heading is to actually making it to that destination, as well as a competent guide, of course.
Once you’ve found a wealth manager or financial advisor who knows what you want and has established a path to get you there, it is imperative to listen to him or her and stay the course. The market may do things that make you want to go all in or head for the hills, but if you’re working with a qualified professional, he or she has put a lot of thought into your strategy and there is a method to what may seem like madness. Often, the madness is actually demonstrated by investors themselves, who let fear, rather than logic and experience, drive their behavior. You’ve chosen to work with your wealth manager for a reason, so trust them. When you follow their instructions about saving and spending, and let them manage your account in the way they see fit (which is exactly what you’re paying them to do), you’ll find yourself on the road to meeting those goals—and maintaining something incredibly important along the way: peace of mind.
