You Can’t Always Land on Your Feet After A Financial Fall, But the Landing May Be Softer

Discipline is a universal life skill that can begin with grade-school homework, music lessons, athletics or a part-time, after-school job. Regardless of where one learns – or earns – their sense of discipline, its application to financial habits can be transformative. By applying discipline to financial and retirement planning, individuals and couples can:

· Save money from their earnings and capture “free money” from employers who offer to match contributions.

· Design goals and implement strategies for the long-term, to keep you from managing short-term setbacks.

· Recognize the shortcomings and uneasiness of managing risk or asset allocations, and seek help from a qualified, third party adviser.

· Discover their tolerance for risk, and create an investor profile that allows them to be guide their financial choices.

· Allocate their assets more conservatively as they age, relieving them of some of the burdensome mindset to always make assets grow.

· Trust their gut and ignore noise from media, neighbors or unqualified others who attempt to move them in an uncomfortable or unreasonable direction.

· Get organized, study, stay informed and keep current, easily accessible financial records.

· Have an open mind to new investment opportunities, like an annuity that offers guaranteed lifetime income, ignores risk and
can be a hedge against losses.

· Accept full responsibility for planning their retirement, as it won’t otherwise be done for them.

As a wise old nun once said, if you don’t discipline yourself, someone else will do it for you.