Secret Retirement Killers. What No One Is Talking About. Confusing Investing With Financial Planning.

As seen in South Lake Neighbors Magazine (March 2019)

By Marc D. Langva, CFP®, Founder & CEO at WorkOptional

Why do you save? Why do you invest? What is all that hard work for? What is your purpose? It’s because you have a vision, a dream, and certain expectations for you and your family’s future, right? If you answered yes to this question then I’ll assume that you have some sort of plan in place. If you don’t, you’d better get moving…

No matter if I’m with a new client in my office or at a cocktail party, the minute you talk about financial planning, the conversation moves immediately to investments. People I meet ask, “What do you do?” I used to say, “I’m a Certified Financial Planner”, and to that they’d say, “oh, you do investments” or “I already have an investment guy”.

It’s amazing to me that the majority of the public and most financial advisors believe investments are financial planning. Let me be clear. Investments are NOT financial planning! Investments represent maybe 10% of your overall financial strategy, that’s a small piece of the puzzle in achieving and maintaining a WorkOptional lifestyle.

The masses are missing out on the other 90% of the puzzle, which is your roadmap, your financial plan, your life strategy. You see, in order to ensure that your portfolio is managed properly you must have a few basic questions answered. What’s the purpose for these funds? How much do you plan on withdrawing now or in the future? What’s your time frame? What’s your tax situation? What are your liquidity needs? Do you plan to pass any capital on to your loved ones? Without answers to these basic questions it would be virtually impossible for a portfolio manager to prudently manage your investments.

Your portfolio is worthless if you don’t have a clear-cut purpose and a sound plan. Your investments should be customized to fit your vision, dreams, and expectations for the future. And if 90% of becoming WorkOptional rides on your overall strategy, it had better be a good one, with suitable assumptions and your investments had better be ready for the portfolio killers!

Most strategies I’ve seen are built on weak foundations. In fact, one huff or puff from the big bad wolf could destroy most people’s plans and dreams for the future. It’s no wonder only a small percent of us ever achieve true financial security. It’s very unfortunate. The bottom line is the quickest way to achieve WorkOptional is to develop and implement your WorkOptional Strategy and ensure your investments match your strategy.

 *13 Secret Retirement Killers, hardcover book written by Marc D. Langva, 2010, is available by contacting workoptional.com

Margaret Leto March 18th, 2019

Posted In: Uncategorized

Tags: financial planning, investing, Portfolio management, retire early, wealth management, work is optional, work optional book, work optional life