Madison MoneySports - Personal Finance Thread

[WRXtranceformed]

Im going to be honest with you Lee,  that sounds like sales talk.

Your finances are a number not an emotion, and Id like to know a life situation, given no other tradeoffs,  where you would rather that number be smaller.

I don't have anything to sell here, I'm not a financial adviser 

It's not about smaller numbers, its about keeping that number as high as possible despite life changes or market changes that may force you to readjust your strategy along the way (ie. your wife gets pregnant with twins, you decide you want to pay for a college fund, you get hospitalized with cancer, you're ready to retire and want to shift to fixed income investments, your tax structure changes, etc. etc. etc.).  If you're managing your money the same way in 30 years as you are now, especially considering the tax implications of retirement, inflation and maintaining a standard of living, you're doing it wrong imo.  

I've already got a tailored plan of attack in place to meet my specific goals, regularly review it and make changes if necessary to address those things and that will continue into retirement.  Do you?  If your answer is yes, good job, you're among a very small % of people in America that are actually able to do it themselves.  If you don't have an actual plan to meet your retirement goals (ie. you're setting and forgetting it), it should give you something to think about, research and add to your plate as a priority to "wrench on" yourself.

I am an SME in my line of work at this point, I am competent but not an expert in finance or investment strategy. As Chris said in so many words, I'm buying the peace of mind of expertise and proven track record so that I don't have to worry about making those decisions completely on my own.