Am I Going To Be Okay ?
By John J . Checki , Jr . CFP ®
Am I going to be okay ? Probably not . What ? Could my greatest fear of being old , sick and broke be in the cards for me and my family ? Honestly and statistically , you might not make it unless you do what so few people do . Spend less money than you make . Could that be an implied guarantee ? No , nor should you infer a guarantee .
How do the retirementaged millionaires get our money ? Thank you for asking . We earn it , save , invest , allocate , rebalance , seek and take advice , study , read , watch , ask questions , listen to the answers , and defer gratification . That is we put off buying the shiny objects and distractions of life and follow the one word of advice that Mr . Gates , his son Bill , and Warren Buffet gave one day at lunch : “ Focus .”
Oh no … you mean happy older wellheeled people in their fifties , sixties , seventies , and so forth , didn ’ t just get lucky and inherit their wealth ? Some do , but most don ’ t . I ’ m sorry if this is new news . Look it up . We have partnered with CEG Worldwide which is constantly doing research . They tell us , most people with over one million dollars of investable assets have made , saved , and invested . Fewer people simply inherited the money . One more thing , if we make our money , it seems to last longer than if we inherit it . Not sure why ? Even though the people who
made their own money and built their wealth had wanted to spend it waste it , they did not . They did not spend their way to being broke . We saved , invested , etc .
What do the heirs do with the new found wealth ? Their mentality was , “ Oh boy ! Now we can buy all that
stuff our meager incomes could not buy for us !” Whether it was a $ 50,000 harp , private school , a cool car , truck , house with a pool — and with neighbors who won ’ t talk to us because they speak a different language -- of financial restraint and understanding lacking impulse .
How long does a typical inheritance last ? We have been told somewhere between seventeen and thirty-seven months and the only question is , “ How big is the boat ?” Sorry , that seems to be the way it has worked in the past . Yet , it does not have to be that way . We can plan , work the plan , defer gratification , and in time , who knows ? It might work out for you like it has for so many of us before you .
We have been helping clients for years and are still wildly enthusiastic about the future . If you like , give us a call and let ’ s hear your story .
Best of good luck , and be well . I ’ m John Checki , “ That is my two cents and you can keep the change .”
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COLLIN COUNTY Living Well Magazine | MARCH / APRIL 2018