Every Tweet, news article, or Facebook post, it seems, has one thing in common: fear. Every week we see headlines about a looming recession, what the Fed is doing, housing collapses; and we can’t forget the favorite of these headlines: World War III. I am not saying that none of those things will happen, and I am not even saying that they aren’t important things to consider and be aware of. But the fact is that good news does not sell. You hardly ever see any good news come across your screen because that simply does not get the clicks, eyes, or likes that these institutions love to see.
As we look ahead, fear will continue to be the major selling point. We can rest easy knowing that everything that is going on today has already happened before, and it will happen again as history has shown us time and time again. “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
So, what can we do? It is simple; control what we can control. That is why we have the Five Critical Elements here at Financial Enhancement Group. The Five Critical Elements will, indeed, set us up for a great retirement plan, but they also have controllables within each Critical Element.
Your Life After Work
- We can control maintaining and knowing our standard of living and sticking to that. It requires work leading into Your Life After Work to nail that down and to know what that looks like.
- We can control our savings rate leading into Your Life After Work. A great place to start is around 8% of your take-home pay, and if you can get up to 15%, you are setting yourself up for great success down the road.
Tax Planning
- We don’t know what taxes will do in the future, but we do know what they are now, and we can control how we maximize a tax bracket through Roth conversions and maximize tax diversification.
Investment Playbook
- We can help you by making sure we are aware of your fees and expenses within your investment portfolio.
- We cannot promise or guarantee a return ever, but with the help of our portfolio managers Adam, Andrew, and Zach, we can try to limit the downside to the best of our abilities to help with longevity of the account.
Risk Management and Life Issues
- We can control if we are underinsured and managing our risk as much as possible.
Legacy Planning
- We can control updating our estate documents to ensure that our wishes are fulfilled, and we have done everything in our power to eliminate friction points after we are gone. If we have a Trust, we can control making necessary amendments and funding our Trust to eliminate friction points.
Remember, control what you can control. Following the principles of the Five Critical Elements can help you gain control and better prepare you for Your Life After Work.
Financial Enhancement Group is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Securities offered through World Equity Group, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services can be provided by Financial Enhancement Group (FEG) or World Equity Group. FEG and World Equity Group are separately owned and operated.
