Thoughts on Time:
Time and again, couples, when they set an appointment for an initial visit will say things like “We’ve been planning on coming to see you for years”, to which I always reply “Why did you wait so long?”.
Generally, their replies will revolve around getting debt paid off, or they wanted to get some 401(k) contributions going, or maybe they wanted to finish up paying for their kids college. All important goals, but why do these things keep them from starting their plan? Maybe they incorrectly thought these were mutually exclusive goals. But in reality, everything having to do with your personal finances has everything to do with your long term financial success.
Trying to plan for retirement in a vacuum is rarely going to work out. All of these other financial goals are important too, and most importantly, they are interrelated. Why? Mainly due to time. We have some variables we can control when planning for personal financial success, but there are others we cannot control. Of those factors we cannot control, TIME is the bigee.
We can make up for down markets in recessions as long as we have TIME. We can make up for not having enough money to set aside as long a we have TIME for the funds to compound. The less time we have, the harder it gets to accomplish personal financial success. The less time we have, the more money it takes.
So whenever people ask me when is the right time to get started with a financial plan, I always say RIGHT NOW. Don’t wait another minute, because every single day counts when it comes to compounding interest.
You think you’re too young? Maybe you’re not even sure what you want yet from a personal financial success standpoint. It doesn’t matter, get started NOW. Get the ship pointed in the right direction, otherwise, you may at some point find yourself halfway to nowhere, lost at sea without a plan and limited resources.
