I’m thrilled that you are taking the time to learn all you can about the new retirement. My work is designed to not only make a potentially dry, dour subject into an entertaining, informative read, but to help you face the inevitable issues that come with growing older in America, financially-speaking.

If there is one piece of advice that I can give you from my 25+ years working with high net-worth individuals and their financial planning needs, it is this: prepare to die. Not in the “I am Inigo Montoya. You have killed my father; prepare to die*” IMMEDIATELY sense, but some day. No one likes to talk about death (except maybe morticians), but guess what? Talking and preparing for it really does help take a lot of the bite out of the whole situation. As the saying goes, there are no guarantees in life except death and taxes – and we’ll talk a little bit here about how the two are, generally-speaking, intertwined.

We’ll ease into this whole planning endeavor with a simple exercise. List all valuable material and intangible assets (like an insurance policy or an IRA) that you have – and yes, that super cool collection of retro salt and pepper shakers counts too, if you think anyone will fight over it after you’re gone.

Now that that’s done, go ahead and list all of those tchotchkes that are collecting dust in your attic on eBay. Or have a garage sale. Or donate them to a thrift store (and keep the receipts for your taxes!). The very act of de-cluttering makes life in general less overwhelming, and can be therapeutic and soul-soothing as you take a trip down memory lane; assuming you can remember where all this stuff came from!

I hope that this exercise helps to alleviate a bit of the burden of preparing for the future and has empowered you to do more. My goal through this blog is to drive home a few key points – and your input and feedback are more than welcome!

• We are incredibly financially vulnerable if we don’t plan ahead for retirement, illness/disability, and death
• The economy of today makes planning for the future different than how our parents planned for theirs
• Yes, you should worry about your future, but only to the point that it activates you to plan for it
• PREPARATION + PLANNING = POSITIVE OUTCOME

My hope is that reading these posts will bring you a sense of comfort (the worst is over, believe me, if I happened to shock you by the big death reveal that will happen to all of us) through the power of planning. By providing you with the information and tools you need to ensure a secure future, we can look forward to the effortless enjoyment of our older years and rest easy knowing that we, and our families, are prepared. Check back often for more tips to guide you on the road to the future.

To your future,

Scott