Welcome to "The
Finance Gym Action Plan for a Better Life with Money" video series. My
name is Stacey Powell and if you're ready to not just know better, but do
better your money, then you've come to the right place.
The last several videos,
I've been focusing on Chapter 7 in my book, which is the grown up stuff.
All the stuff which is
for most of us not really fun to do. Making decisions about insurance. Hiring a
financial planner. Do I hire a tax accountant or not?
One of the things I try
and do in that chapter is I try to help people make a decision about: is this
something that I can learn on my own, and make decisions for myself? Or is this
an area where I should go hire a professional?
And so today I'm going to
share a story with you about my Dad, may he rest in peace, and sorry Mom, if
you're watching this, but you know it's true.
I love my Dad, and
anyone in my family will tell you: I'm just like my Dad. He was super
smart, he was highly capable, and he loved learning. It's really unfortunate
that he lived in a time mostly before the advent the internet until he got into
his later years. He was also a little
mistrusting of salesmen, even though he was kind of a salesman.
What all of that
meant for him was he would not seek the advice of a financial planner until he
had studied everything he needed to study to learn to make his own decision. Then, maybe, he'd go see someone. The same thing about
insurance. And not just simple things like car insurance, but complicated insurances like long term care insurance.
When I started getting
more and more into financial stuff and realized my parents had two long term
care policies, I asked "Why do you have two long term care
policies?" His answer? "I haven't done all the research I need to decide which one to keep." So he just kept them
both. There's many of
those stories that my brothers and I chuckle about from time to
time.
Why didn't he make decisions? Because he hadn't fully
studied everything he needed to study to make a final decision.
Here's what I like to
teach people using my Dad as an example: sometimes
the best reason to hire professionals is to have an appointment and a deadline.
For my Dad, a deadline would have changed everything. He put stuff off because
he was such a perfectionist and he was so smart that he wouldn't get to the
point of making a decision. If he had just hired a
financial planner and put a little bit of trust in that person, or simply had
an appointment he had to show up to, it would have been an impetus for him to
get all that reading done, go see that person and make a decision.
Left to our
own devices, we all walk around thinking, "Hmmm, I should get my estate
planning done; I should probably buy life insurance; I should probably take
care of that long-term care insurance." But we don't have a deadline.
Hiring a financial
planner provides you an appointment and a deadline to get it done.
On any given
day, what are we going to do? Do you want to go to swim practice with your kids or stay
home and make decisions about insurance? It's a
no-brainer.
When I started the firm
Creating Answers, a financial coaching company, providing consistent accountability was one of the core objectives. Once a month, clients have an appointment to get on the phone or walk in
the door and talk to us about their money.
Are they getting value
from that conversation? Absolutely. But I'll tell you what
they're really getting value from: every single month having an appointment to talk about their money.
So take a lesson from my Dad. If you don't have an appointment with someone in your world to talk
about your finances, go make one.
If you'd like to talk
about this more, come join us over at our Facebook group, Team Do Better, signup for the videos below, or go sign up for our weekly newsletters at Finance Gym.
