I have had a series of events recently with my older son who is attending college. He’s learning that when you make decisions, there are a lot of issues that are interconnected. Things are not as easy as they used to be in high school. Your choices actually make a difference.
The same is true with your money and planning, especially in your retirement. There is a lot that financial planners need to know about tax laws, asset allocation, investments, retirement income, estate planning, insurance and a host of other issues. Most importantly is how all these issues go together.
I hope you all know that there is no perfect plan and absolutely no perfect investment. All there really is, is trade offs wrapped up with a little bit (or a lot) of math.
Very simply, even though there are lots of pieces to the puzzle, at the end of it all is just trade offs and math. Someway they must both be paired in order to meet your objectives and for you to be able to live your retirement in most reliable and tax efficient manner possible.
I wish I can say that the trade offs and math are always on your side. They are not. Especially, with money because we all have a finite amount of money.
Sometimes there is no room to budge without it causing major impact in the coming years and we must look at plan B, C, or D or just say NO altogether. However, if I say no, it never means you can’t do it, it’s always your money and you can spend it how you wish. Just understand that at some point, like the saying states “THE BILL COMES DUE”. Sooner rather than later, math comes into play and adjustments will probably have to be made.
And that folks is how planning works.