Financial Planning – TGIF 2 Minutes with Kerrie Debbs, CFP

Checking in on New Year’s Resolutions

It may be a key time – before mid-year – to check in on goals made back in January. These goals could have focused on saving more or differently, spending reduction or realignment and areas of investment focus and diversification.

How is your progress on certain goals? Can tweaks be made? Can specific ones be scrapped and new goals or ideas formed?

One particular goal from January was something I nicknamed FSP:

“Focus on Saving in order to maintain Patience” – in the event of the inevitable market decline, or volatility similar to that of 2025.

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Rocky (But Good) Start to the Year… PS. “Alts”

This may be the last weekend we can say, “Happy New Year!” to friends. And a fairly happy new year it has been for the markets… with a few bumps here and there. The “bump” was a mini-cavernous plunge for shares of Nvidia shares, down 15% in one day without a rebound. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 (tech focused index) promptly rebounded.

However, there may have been a few investors, especially those newer to the markets or those less patient among us, who need a “gut check” when markets get rocky. Here are a handful of questions investors can ask themselves, in order to stay put with current investments in down and seriously down markets – providing a plan is already in place:

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Safety Check of Sensitive Information, Part 1

If the safety of your personal information is not currently at the top of your radar screen, please move it up to the top TODAY. Why? Because there are really bad actors lurking for over one or two decades – in the background of email, credit agencies, and whatever cyber universes exist – and these bad actors are both patient and aggressive about seeking to compromise your identity and financial transactions.

This is not new. In 2017, Equifax, one of the world’s largest credit reporting and monitoring agencies with sensitive data for over 800 million individual consumers, was hacked. Private information of over 147 million American citizens along with British and Canadian citizens were compromised in a security breach. This from a leading company whose entire purpose is monitoring the most sensitive of personal information.

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Save, Spend, Review… Repeat

More and more lately, perhaps as a result of the post-pandemic world, I am being asked for basic financial advice – from both young people AND those in the over-55 crowd. By the way, the over-55 crowd who ask this question are typically wealthy with comfortable lifestyles. The basic financial advice they seek includes the question, “Are we OK financially?”

A handful of smart people ask for further definition of “OK” and then ask the same question, “Well then, are we OK financially?” The answer comes down to super-basic elements, and thus today’s short edition of TGIF 2 Minutes.

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Hindsight is 2020

Perhaps the perfect way to “look at” 2020 – is in hindsight! Who on earth could have predicted what went down in world and market events in 2020, both bad and good? Who will ever be able to accurately predict markets? And why is this important?

Funny, there will always be those people who seriously believe and will say out loud that:

they knew a pandemic would strike,
the economy was due to come to a screeching halt,
they predicted the timing of the market turnaround,
they knew the US Fed would abruptly lower benchmark interest rates back to zero,
Etc., etc., etc.

*The smartest of the smart recently admitted they could never have predicted the events of 2020 and how they played out in stock, bond, real estate, and commodities markets.*

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Thankful vs. Grateful

A good one for Thanksgiving from the Archives of TGIF 2 Minutes….

Bottom line: being Thankful and Grateful are both positive things.

Simply saying “Thank you” out loud is hard to do without smiling either inwardly or outwardly. Try it! But say, “I am grateful for X” whether it is for a person, place, or thing, and it likely brings a deeper feeling. Perhaps that is why in the science of happiness – yes, there is a whole branch of science around happiness – the concept of gratitude is central.

Thankfulness to includes being simply “*conscious* of benefits received” versus gratefulness which involves a deeper “[*appreciation*] for benefits received”.
Photo by August de Richelieu on Pexels.com

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Goals Gut Check

From the TGIF 2 Minutes Archives earlier this year PRE-coronavirus…

Earlier this year in February things were GOOD! The economy was cranking, unemployment was low, wages were up, and it was a somewhat perfect time of the year to set goals. Think: it was pre-tax filing time and after the holidays.

Fast forward to today… the world has changed. Our savings have been tapped in the pandemic — and new savings and other goals need to be reset! While the kids may now be going back to school (followed by maybe not??) using this precious time to set just a handful of goals can pay off toward achieving those goals.

silver and gold coins — Give yourself a **“Goals Gut Check”** with this precious time before things potentially go a little haywire.

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Free Advice Offer

In the spirit of helping as many people as possible get through these truly trying times, I am volunteering my services in the following way:

Do you know or have you noticed a friend, family member, someone at your work, church or a parent at your kid’s school struggling (perhaps financially or job-wise) during the coronavirus pandemic and the related market turmoil?

In the case that you have, I am offering to get on the phone or a video call with that person or people and start by listening to them. If appropriate, I volunteer (free of charge) to offer advice on the basics of financial planning. Continue reading “Free Advice Offer”

Avoiding the Pain of Aging

It may be impossible to entirely avoid the pain of aging – in the context of you, a family member or both. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could at least lessen the pain and stress?

man and woman sitting on bench in grayscale photography — Knowing **what questions to ask** and simply where to go to get started in the “home care planning process” can greatly lessen the strains on time AND cost.

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What am I Saving For?

Most people would define their primary savings goal as “retirement.” …Or would they?

Of course, retirement is often a primary long-term savings goal, but not always. The definition of retirement itself has morphed over the recent decade with people living longer lives. “Retirement” encompasses more than simply stopping work and being on a “permanent vacation.” In fact, recent research published in the Journal of Financial Planning* reports that quitting work cold turkey often is not reality – for a number of reasons.

selective focus photography of person holding the adventure begins mug — There is more to the long-term savings equation that a simple line from Point A (today) to Point B (retirement).

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