Why Planning Matters
Carter Michaelson, CFP?, CSLP?, BFA?
Wealth Advisor | Financial Planner | Student Loan Expert | Christ Follower | Washed-up Athlete
You don’t have to work on Wall Street to be aware of the recent volatility in the stock market. It is during times like this when you need to remind yourself of the purpose behind your financial plan.
A comprehensive financial plan should prepare you for the certainty of uncertainty; in other words, it should prepare you for 1) a long life or a premature death 2) sickness or good health 3) good markets and bad markets.
As humans, our emotions have a way of clouding our better judgment and the rational parts of our brains. Whether we're faced with a bear market or a bear in the woods, our immediate reaction is typically to fight, flight or sometimes even freeze. So often, our emotional response can hijack our decision-making and lead to mistakes.
We can become fixated on the areas outside of our control and forget about the areas we can control.
Things you CAN'T control:
Things you CAN control:
In the face of highly emotional situations, especially those with financial implications, I’ve come to understand the importance of what Doug Lennick* refers to as the 4 R’s:
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RECOGNIZE all of the elements of your current situation and how you are interpreting your situation.
REFLECT on the big picture and what matters most (your values and guiding principles).
REFRAME what you are thinking and how you are describing the situation to yourself.
RESPOND in a way that is consistent with your values, goals, and the big picture.
Behaviors and habits drive the decisions we make. Planning involves intentional thought about where we are now and where we want be in the future. It is about the steps we can take today to accomplish the goals we have for tomorrow. Making values-based decisions helps us to gain confidence, clarity, and peace of mind; in other words, allowing us to think beyond our money.
If you’d like to begin planning for the certainty of uncertainty, please schedule an introductory meeting with me.
*Doug Lennick, CFP? - Financial Intelligence
Engineering @ UiPath | ? AI Agentic Automation
2 年Carter, these articles you’re making are incredible… you’ve already told me much of this in person of course, but I’d be setting up an intro meeting today if we weren’t already working together ??