Jan 22, 2021

The past 12 months have tested many people financially and the volatility doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. These are the times that can cause people to hurt their financial future by acting on fear.

What we’ve seen and heard from a lot of people recently is they have been worried about losing significant amounts of their personal wealth in the market so they moved to cash. The problem with is when you pull it all out and move to the sideline, you then lose out on the opportunity for the money to recover when the market comes back. Just look at how the market has bounced back from huge dips over the past year.

So what brings on that level of stress and causes people to hover over their long-term money? We’ve found it’s usually the result of failing to sit down and building a well thought out financial plan.

This leads to fear that you’ll lose it all and you subsequently make decisions based on that emotion. If you don’t develop a plan for your money, then you let life control you rather than the other way around.

Another problem area for many people is procrastination. We get so inundated with life that we fail to get our financial house in order. The result is people leave behind a mess for our loved ones when we pass if these things aren’t taken care of.

Be pragmatic about getting your planning tasks completed. Take a step back and look at it from someone’s else’s perspective. What type of paperwork do you need to put in order? What documents do you need to have prepared should something happen to you?

Here are some of the areas to pay attention to:

• Power of Attorney
• Name your beneficiaries
• Make plans for inherited IRA changes
• List your assets and passwords

Ultimately, our goal is to help you take your net worth and create something that will sustain you. We’re here to meet whenever you’re ready to take the next step, but go ahead and request the Building Your Fiscal House booklet we’ve put together and get some great information now.

Check out the full episode to hear Nancy discuss all of these things. Use the timestamps below to hear a specific segment.

0:44 – Treating your money like you could lose it all

4:21 – Procrastination

6:43 – How can you change your mindset?

7:47 – Power of Attorney

9:07 – Name your beneficiaries

11:16 – Changes to IRAs

14:51 – Passing on your house  

16:01 – Keep a list of assets and passwords

For more financial information and resources, visit us here: https://www.flemingfinancialservices.com/