Should I have a financial check up? We all understand the value of regular medical checkups and dental checkups. The obvious benefit for annual and semi-annual checkups is to monitor your body for conditions that could become much a greater problem if left unaddressed. There's also a more subtle reason for regular checkups. I call it nudges. You see, sometimes we're just moving slightly in the wrong direction. During a regular checkup your doctor can “nudge” you to make some adjustments, even when there's no immediate problem at hand.
These are the same benefits of a regular financial checkup. If there's something obvious, well of course you want to address that. But, there's also the benefit from nudges. Nudges to make some changes in savings or spending rates. Nudges to make some adjustments to investments.
Just like your physical health, there may be consequences for ignoring regular checkups. The longer we put off these checkups, the greater the probability that a minor issue can become a much graver one as time goes by. I use a sophisticated analysis tool to analyze and model various scenarios in order to reach useful insights for all my clients. It's one they all appreciate and we usually do this for an annual review. A basic question we model is what is a sustainable standard of living given their income, assets, and social security (i.e. how much can I spend and not run out of money). It takes only a small effort to collect the information needed. Whether you do this annually or every few years is up to you. I want you to realize that you don't have to wait for a problem to get a checkup.
These are the same benefits of a regular financial checkup. If there's something obvious, well of course you want to address that. But, there's also the benefit from nudges. Nudges to make some changes in savings or spending rates. Nudges to make some adjustments to investments.
Just like your physical health, there may be consequences for ignoring regular checkups. The longer we put off these checkups, the greater the probability that a minor issue can become a much graver one as time goes by. I use a sophisticated analysis tool to analyze and model various scenarios in order to reach useful insights for all my clients. It's one they all appreciate and we usually do this for an annual review. A basic question we model is what is a sustainable standard of living given their income, assets, and social security (i.e. how much can I spend and not run out of money). It takes only a small effort to collect the information needed. Whether you do this annually or every few years is up to you. I want you to realize that you don't have to wait for a problem to get a checkup.
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