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The Reverence In The Severance

Ending anything is one of the most difficult things to experience… even if you want it to end. Why? Because every ending gives rise to a new beginning, which is the unknown and the unknown is THE most terrifying emotion.

People choose abuse, poverty, and substandard healthcare because change is so difficult. We’ve all heard the phrase “The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.” Because we fear the unknown, uncharted waters, we continue a path with relationships which no longer serve us. Relationships with friends, healthcare providers, banks and financial professionals and even homes. This leads to the single biggest regret people have on their deathbed…not changing “something” when they had the chance.

So why is the “resistance to change” phenomena so common? Most of us never had to choose anything, ever, until we reached our retired-ish years.

Choice is so foreign to us that we would rather settle for...

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Adopting a Spend-Shift Mindset Doesn't Mean You Are A Spendthrift!

Bravo, you’ve done a fantastic job of saving your money over your working years. You have likely accumulated your savings by adopting a mantra that goes something like this: “this is money I can’t touch,” “this is earmarked for my future” or some variation of these words. You are at the crossroads of accumulation and distribution. The challenge is to keep moving and not breakdown in the middle of the crossroad. 

Our beliefs become part of our automatic subconscious behaviors. They become automatic like brushing your teeth or responding to a snake in your path. Somewhere along the line you learned that your reaction to the stimuli or belief, protected you from an unwanted result.

Not spending your retirement savings protected you from a dismal poverty-stricken retirement. Well, here is the flip side of your saving mindset; you have arrived at retirement and now have difficulty spending your retirement money. You wonder if the future is now or...

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Is Your Money Your Honey?

February is usually considered the “Love” month because on Valentine’s Day we take the time to acknowledge those we love. Few of us think about our relationship with money.

As we approach retirement, our relationship with money becomes almost the most important aspect of a secure and joyful retirement. Money isn’t everything but it sure gives you more choices. In many ways, searching for the perfect vehicle to make your money work for you is like searching for the perfect relationship.

Many of us begin with the “Blind Date” investment vehicle. You know, the one that your friends are so anxious to hook you up with because it’s perfect and just your type.

Then some of us have the “On Again Off Again” investment vehicle, where one day we are up but the very next day we are losing. Often, we stay in this relationship because we don’t know that there is anything better suited to our circumstances.

And then there’s the...

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"Hey 2020, We Need To Talk, I'm Breaking Up With You..."

It’s not you, it’s me.

Many of us remember this famous breakup line that George Costanza used on Seinfeld.

Well, I’m borrowing it for my breakup with 2020. I had such high hopes about our relationship. I believed you would be the best year of my life.

Our relationship changed almost instantly, overnight it seemed. One minute we were having a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner and not two weeks later, I was held hostage at home.

What happened?

I believed you would be my year in shining armor. What I got was a pile of rusty nails. You definitely misrepresented yourself and now I feel trapped. I’m disheartened you won’t allow me to hang with my family and friends. In fact, you feel the need to prescribe exactly how and when I should interact with my family and friends. Furthermore, you instigate arguments with my loved ones all the time about politics and masks yet censor any opinions I have in those discussions. You haven’t provided me with the...

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The Journey from "I should" to "I choose"

Why do we look forward to retirement and when we get there, we are often unhappy, unfulfilled or underwhelmed?

One reason may be for the first time we are being asked to “choose” and not being told what we “should” do. 

I’m inviting you to entertain the likelihood that we have been sleepwalking…robotically moving through our lives ignoring what WE choose for our best possible self. We’ve all heard that we “should” all over ourselves every day…and it’s true.

From the time we are toddlers to retirement we are barraged with parents, teachers, family, friends and bosses telling us what we “should” do. We should be walking by this age.

We should be potty trained by this age.

We should go to school and be proficient in xyz by this age.

We should get A’s and B’s and we should go to college.

We should graduate from college and get a great “job”.

We should strive for advancement in...

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It's About More Than The Money...Gimme Five! August 2020

You are counting the days and dollars to your big Freedom Day - the day you retire.

The truth is that most of us never really retire, we just move on to the second act of our lives. If you are a Boomer like me, you might be in retirement almost as long as you were in your career. This is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that you finally get to do what you want and not what others expect you to do. The curse is that you worry about outliving your money or giving it all back to Uncle Sam.

Few of us consider the Five Elements of Retirement, and money is only one of them. Not addressing all five may leave us unhappy, unfulfilled, insecure, and financially or physically unable to afford the bucket list we’ve been composing over the years.

Most of us have a preparedness plan for almost every aspect of our life - except retirement! We think that because we have completed an estate plan, we are good to go. Money and objects are only one element of our retirement planning,...

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