What Are the Missing Pieces in Your Financial Puzzle?

There's a closet in the playroom of our house, stacked high from the floor up with board games and puzzles, each of which have gotten tremendous use from all three of our kids throughout the years.

In the age of online gaming and hand-held electronic entertainment, it's heartwarming to know that my children still derive pleasure from a round of Candyland, Life, or even good old Uncle Wiggly. By the same token, I'm delighted to teach chess to my 9-year old, and witness my 6-year old's pride at completing a puzzle.

Stashed safely away in their boxes, all of these games appear to be in pristine condition. But as we all know, looks can be deceiving. More often than not, while attempting to set up a game, I'm disappointed to find that pieces are missing, rendering it unplayable. It usually isn't until the entire game has been unpacked that I realize we're without some vital components. Attempting to put together a puzzle under these circumstances is all the more frustrating because I can get close to completion before discovering the glaring gaping holes in my creation. If you're a parent as well, I'm sure this sounds all too familiar!

I don't know about you, but I'm bothered when I can't play a simple board game or finish a puzzle because pieces are missing. While those missing pieces in a puzzle that I attempt on a rainy day end up as merely being annoyances, the missing pieces that most (if not all) of us have in our financial puzzles are downright troubling. The reason being, is that if we don't have the proper solutions in place for a variety of potential needs, we risk sabotaging our best intentions in other areas. Just like how we assume a board game or puzzle sitting in its box is complete, our financial puzzles may appear appropriate at a glance, even if that's not truly the case. For example, you may have a sound approach to investing in the stock market. But are you left over-exposed to volatility and do you understand the tax implications? You may be fairly young and know you're healthy, but will you be able to withstand the financial consequences in the event of a disabling illness or injury? You may be confident in your retirement plan, but it's impossible to predict what you'll truly need to live comfortably in retirement, let alone the strain that building an estate can have on your retirement. In that case, are you dedicating assets appropriately to your financial legacy while you fund your retirement?

These are just a few areas of concern in which a financial puzzle can have missing pieces. And yet, there is some good news! Unlike the puzzles that we do with our kids that need to be completely replaced when we don't have all the pieces we need, the gaps in our finances usually just have to be filled in. However, just as we often don't know what pieces a puzzle is missing until it's just about complete, we won't know what's lacking in our financial puzzles until we take inventory of what we have in order to see where the vulnerabilities lie.

Even if your initial reaction to the idea of adjusting your portfolio is "I'm good right now. I've got what I need and I'm not doing anything more", you're almost certainly ignoring the gaps. Sure, you might already have Life Insurance, but is it Whole Life? Or Term? When does it expire or convert? Will the premium rise? Does it have a cash value component which builds and shelters wealth in a tax-advantaged way? Do you receive a dividend with your policy? How about Disability or Long-Term Care? Have you gotten your kids insured yet at a time when the premiums will be low and they will be able to lock in a lifetime of insurability, while benefitting greatly from cash value accumulation?

If you receive benefits through your job, how extensive is the coverage? Can you take the benefits with you or roll them into some other qualified account if you leave the job? If you're going to receive a pension, do you understand some of the ways that you can maximize it?

If you own a business, are you providing your employees access to as many benefits as possible? Do you know of all of the no-cost-to-you ways that you can offer your employees even more benefits, thereby making your business an even more attractive place to work? Are your key employees covered? How well protected are you and your business from permanent changes in its management or partnership structure?

Those were a lot of questions to consider, and they still don't address every area of potential need. But if you answered "no" to, or were unsure on even a single one of them, then your financial puzzle has missing pieces, and I'd be delighted to help you fill them in.

As your licensed Agent with the New York Life Insurance Company, I will assist you in completing your financial picture with custom solutions for you, your family, and your business that can provide you with asset protection, guaranteed growth, and a level of certainty that's absent when the puzzle in incomplete.

Please reach out to me on LinkedIn or by email at [email protected] to get started. I'm eager to hear from you and be a resource for you.