How To Stop Worrying About Your Finances- In 3 Steps

Do you spend too much time worrying about your finances?

You’re not alone. Personal finance tops the list of a source of stress for more than two thirds of Americans. The most common finance worries include credit card debt, paying for college, budgeting, saving, market volatility and retirement savings.

The problem with worrying about finances

Worrying tends to lead to unproductive time and more worry, because you are spinning your wheels and not taking any set action.

“Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but gets you nowhere.”

How to stop worrying

From How To Stop Worrying & Start Living by Dale Carnegie:

1. Ninety percent of worry can be relieved by writing out a descriptive and specific account of what is worrying you.

   Next, write out potential things that you can do, to solve the problem. Once you have the list, pick the option that has the highest probability of success and do it. The act of doing something immediately relieves the pain of worrying. And begins the process of solving the problem.
   

   Example:

   I am worried about saving enough money to put my kid through college.

   Things I could do:

   1. Start setting aside $200 a month for college.

   2. Do nothing.

   3. Open a 529 and contribute $200 a month for the future.

   4. Go tiger mom on my kids so they will get all “A’s” which will lead to a scholarship.
      

      Likely best outcome: #3. Start doing it.

2. Ten percent of worry can be relieved by understanding the worst case scenario of what might happen were your worst worry to come true.

   Once you understand the worst possible outcome, it frees you up to think about solutions. That is the key issue with “worry” it keeps you from taking action by causing you to jump between too many options, without taking any action.

Worst case scenario: Doing nothing.

If I do nothing, my kids will likely need college loans and start off their adult life with lots of debt or perhaps, they won’t be able to go to college at all.

3. In order to stop worry from creeping back into your life, you need to compartmentalize your days.

Wake up each day as if you died at the end of yesterday, and today you were reborn. You have any options at your disposal to accomplish what you can. And if you do your best today, your tomorrow will be a positive foregone conclusion.

what is The best financial option?

Often you won’t know the best outcome to your finance worries. Stop worrying, I am here to help you explore and solve those problems. Drop me an email, let’s talk.

What You Need To Know About Crafting An Agile Financial Plan

Agile financial planning is the most effective method I’ve seen to help people successfully reach their financial goals.

“Plans are useless. But planning is INDISPENSABLE.”

-Eisenhower

What is Agile financial planning?

Agile financial planning is crafting and iterating a financial plan over time, through an ongoing partnership with clients, so it specifically suits the client’s short/med/longterm goals.

How is Agile financial planning different than the traditional financial planning process?

In a traditional financial planning engagement, a client needs to gather all of their personal financial documents such as bank accounts, brokerage accounts, 401ks, insurance for car and home, etc. Then, they have a brief meeting with a financial advisor, who will create a financial plan based on the data from the financial statements provided. The advisor and clients meet again, where the financial advisor hands off the financial plan for the clients to implement. It’s much akin to your physical therapist giving you a list of exercises to do at home, that you never do. Or a dietician giving you a strict diet plan that doesn’t allow you to eat any carbs, even though your little guilty pleasure is pasta.

What’s the benefit of Agile financial planning?

Your financial statements only captures a snapshot in time and tells the stats of your story. You, your family and your goals are all unique to you and should be reflected in your financial plan. Most people aren’t comfortable pouring out their hopes and dreams to a financial planner in a consultation meeting. As a result “personalized” financial plans often turn out to be just based on numbers and stats and the client doesn’t implement it or stick to it.

In addition, life changes: Children are born, careers change, houses are bought, tuition comes into play, debt becomes an issue, relatives need help, inheritances come your way, retirement comes on to the horizon, etc. If you don’t have an agile financial process in place, your financial plan, no matter how good it was when it first was purchased, quickly becomes out of date and out of alignment with your life for today and the future.

Reaching your financial goals requires three key pieces:

1. Having a plan that will actually work for you.

2. Implementing the plan.

3. Having a plan that adjusts with your family’s circumstances.

A sneak peak Into How I Implement Agile Financial Planning

The first step in my agile financial planning process is to start by building the family Profit and Loss (P+L).

To do this we need income statements and spending account statements: savings, checking, credit cards. I ask clients to send me their statements as they track them down, rather than having to dig around for a massive amount of documentation.

Once I have enough information, I review the family’s cash flow and share my observations. If I am way off… they let me know. If I am close … they let me know. For example, often clients tell me, “Oh, actually much of my spending is on this other credit card and I haven’t given you that statement yet.” Through this process, we start to build an understanding of how we best communicate, a common language and a shared awareness of the family’s financial habits. Based on this collaborative and iterative process, we organically begin to develop a plan for how to handle the P+L in the future, that actually works for the client.

Do you have a partner that you can work with, who will craft and iterate your financial plan over time, through life’s ups and downs, so it specifically suits you? Everyone needs that type of partner.

This Is How Much You Should Save For Your Kid's College

With the families I work with, a common early financial planning question I get is:

“Are we saving enough to put Junior through college?… is $50/month sufficient?”

It’s funny how common this question is, even down to the dollar amount.

My first question back to them is:

“Tell me about your college experience. Who paid for it? What do you think are your responsibilities?”

There are a variety of responses to this, but usually align with one of the following:

• “I came out with debt, and I don’t want my kids to carry that burden.”

• “My parents paid for (much of) my college, and I am super thankful.”

• “I put myself through school, and the experience made me who I am … and I want that for my kids.”

  Where do you fit on that spectrum? Do both partners agree?

My second question is, how old are your kids?

College usually is planned to start when they reach 18. So this number will determine the time frame for saving.

Then we get into a few subjective areas

The parents’ college education is indicative of their kid’s future college experience. If you went to an Ivy League college, and you have a MD/PhD, your kids are likely to follow a similar path. On the other hand, if you and your spouse got liberal arts degrees from a state school your kids will, in all likelihood, follow a different path than the MD/PhD kids.

This data will help me model the proper yearly college expenses.

Harvard current yearly expenses: $71,000

Harvard yearly expenses in 10 years: $127,000

Ga Tech current yearly price: $28,000

Ga Tech expenses in 10 years: $50,000

Find stats for your college here.

The last few subjective areas are: What is your current income (and capability to pay as you go) and are you “saver”.

At this point, we have the basics we need to start putting together a college savings plan.

The Basics for a College Savings Plan

• Your thoughts on paying for college

• Where you went to school and the type of degree = where your kid will likely go

• How long until the bill is due

• The approach to saving/paying for school

I typically advise clients to start with saving for two years worth of college expenses, and to think about using a standard in-state college tuition rate. There are a number of factors that have led me to this advice:

• The kids may not go to college

• They could get HOPE scholarship money

• College could be free in the future

• The kids may take an alternate route than their parents

• You don’t want to have all of this money tied up in an account that makes it difficult to access

That gives you a number: (Ga Tech 10 years out *2) = ~$80-100k

After you have wrapped your head around that big number, its time to add the additional factors from your own situation.

Lets say that you want to plan for 2 years of a top tier private school: (Harvard 10 years out * 2) = ~$250k

As the kids get closer to high school graduation, the muddy picture of their college future will begin to clear up. As the picture becomes more clear, the next planning steps will also become more clear.

The investment vehicle for college savings

You want a 529. A married couple can add ~$30k/year. You add money after tax. However the growth of the account is not taxed, if withdrawals are made for college expenses. The state of GA offers a small tax break for using the GA 529 program. If you live in a state that does not offer a tax break (like FLA, since they don’t collect state taxes), the VA plan gets high marks. If you need any help setting up these accounts, I can help.

The accounts should be in YOUR NAME,

with your child as the beneficiary.

I also recommend forwarding deposit information to your parents and other family members. In years to come, your kids will appreciate their college being paid for, much more than Poe’s x-wing lego set.

Josh’s College Saving Recommendations:

• Talk to your kids about this. They need to understand how much college costs.

• Children need to understand the value of their degree and future job prospects.

• Take them to college campus’ sooner than later … start when they are in middle school or freshmen. Don’t wait until they are seniors. The more colleges they see, the sooner kids will gain a better understanding of what they want from their college experience. And that means you will have a better picture of how much you should be saving for college.

This Is How I Reached My Goals

Proven Behaviors, Tools and Tips to reach your goals

Creating a set of goals is relatively easy, actually achieving them is the hard part. The key to reaching goals is setting up a structure to support your efforts. Last year I researched tools, tactics and behaviors to support my goals Here’s what worked.

1. Self Journal

My Wife and I live by our Self Journals.

I start each day, by completely allocating my day, by 30 minute task increments. These tasks filter up to three wildly important goals I am working towards. I check my calendar for any meetings I have, and check my task list that I left for myself the night before. I then take a moment to write out three positive things that are happening in my life. I am not verbose in any of this, its mostly a few words and bullets.

2. Deep Work

Last year I read Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport and it profoundly changed how I approach my work. Newport defines two styles of work:

Deep Work: Professional activities, in a distraction-free environment that pushes your cognitive abilities

Shallow Work: Non-cognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted

When scheduling my day, I focus my “deep” work in the morning between 7:30 and noon. I use this time to focus on my clients’ goals/problems/planning and developing solutions for them.

During my “deep work” I have several rituals to keep me focused:

• I put my phone on “Do Not Disturb“ mode.

• I pop in my ear buds and spin up a quiet acoustic guitar play list.

• I turn off all notifications on my laptop. I don’t check email, ESPN, the WSJ, Facebook or anything else.

• I wear a watch so that I can see the time at a glance and how I am progressing on my schedule.

• I keep my journal opened and beside my laptop so that I can be reminded of what I need to be doing, and for adding any to do’s as they pop into my head.

I normally have lunch at the end of my deep work session. And then shift over to my “shallow” work, where I focus on administrative tasks.

3. Rest

Another book that has been a big influence on my work is Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Pang.

Between 3pm and 8pm, I focus on what Pang would refer to as “rest”. My goal during this time, is to lose myself in the minutiae of daily life, clear my head. This is time for my subconscious to churn through my earlier work. I may take a walk around the neighborhood, workout at Decatur Crossfit, cook for the family and/or help the boys with homework.

I then close out the day, by listing out actions items and thoughts for picking back up the next day, in my Self Journal.

At the end of each week, I check my leading metrics (things that I can control, and will influence lag metrics, which are my goals). E.g., I want to get 30 new clients this year is a lag metric. Meeting perspective clients is a leading metric. And I take the opportunity to list out any wins/losses and lessons learned. I also take the time to update my score board, so that I have a reminder, both of my goals and how I fare as I am working towards them.

This may seem like a lot, but once you start seeing progress, its incredibly satisfying. And the tactics and planning have all been tried out and tested. It’s a great recipe for success.

Are you intentional in your daily routine, that has a proven track record of driving to success?

My 15 Goals for 2020

I’m always talking to my clients about their goals because without a concrete set of goals it is difficult to drive and sacrifice what is needed to reach financial independence. I also occasionally think that people think that goal setting can be a wasted effort, given either past failures in reaching goals, or the limited value in the results. It’s only fair to share my own goals as a good example — with the added benefit of external accountability.

my 3 areas of development for my life:

1. Work Hard

2. Love my friends and family

3. Have fun and stay fit

Work Hard

For my “Work Hard” category my key objectives are providing my current set of client families with the best service possible and growing the number of families I serve.

1. With my current client families, I aim to be an even more involved, high touch planner, by having quarterly touch points. The more context I have about a family, the better my advice can be.

2. My long term objective is helping 100 families reach a level of financial security that allows them to focus on their family values rather than on chasing the almighty $. I currently work with 30 families. I aim to double that number in 2020, to 60 with a revamped marketing plan.

3. I also believe that Decatur is a great hot bed of small entrepreneurial talent and I want to be a positive influence in that scene. With that in mind, I will continue to hold monthly coffee meet ups for the "Decatur Entrepreneurial Network (DEN)”. If you want to be added to the invite, send me an email.

Love My Family and Friends

My overarching objective is to develop and maintain deep, meaningful relationships based on honesty, openness, investment of time and encouragement.

1. With my wife, I aim to connect for an hour, just the two of us, outside of the house, twice a week.

2. With the boys, I want to connect for 30 minutes, individually, three times a week.

3. With my Dad and sister, I aim to spend a weekend together once every other month.

4. With our family in different states, we will host cousins week this summer.

5. We will host Thanksgiving at our house.

6. Will spend two weeks in Fl with my in-laws.

7. With our “framily” in the neighborhood, I aim to host “clean out the fridge Friday” or “Sunday supper” twice a month. And link up with my guy crew twice a month.

Have Fun And Stay Fit

For my family, fun is travel. We have scheduled trips to:

1. New Orleans

2. Kenya.

Trips that are not only fun, but also give our boys unique insights into the world, and allow Jenn and I unique opportunities to connect and experience the outside world.

Staying fit and healthy keeps me on top of my game in all aspects of my life, especially as I get older. I aim to stay fit (and have fun) by

1. Working out twice a week at xFit

2. Playing soccer and/or basketball each week.

There they are, all 15 goals. I don’t want to bore you with all the details. But they are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound. And they are things that you can hold me accountable for over the course of the year- like when you see me at YDFM or at a kid’s sporting event.

I want to help you reach your goals

I have seen great success for families with a shared set of short/mid/long term goals.
Download my free financial goals worksheet It provides a structured outline for your goals with tasks, milestones and accountability. 

Check out the strategies and tactics below for common family goals:

• Goal: As a couple, get on the same page with our finances
  Take The Smart Couples Finish RichFinancial Assessment

• Goal: Buy A New Car
  Buy smart. Read my car buying guide and save.

• Goal: Get your family's spending under control 
  Read: How to Start Budgeting (designed for people who hate budgeting)

• Goal: Get your finances in order
  Read "Tidying Up" Your Financial House

• How to Keep Your New Year's Resolution
  Want to be in the successful 35% that keep their resolution? Read 

Do Your Investments Match Your Values? Meet ESG Funds

There has been a growing movement among investors, to put their money where their mouth is by investing in companies that align with their morals and ethics. In this case, people who are interested in seeing responsible change around the areas of the (E) environment, (S) social justice and (G) governance, have started to buy “ESG funds”. The goal of these mutual funds is to buy into a set of companies that score well in these areas, while refusing to invest in companies that rank poorly. The basic notion - I am interested in being diversified across a set of companies, I want to have something that is managed, and I am interested in financially supporting companies that are aligned with my thinking.

Are you putting your money where your mouth is?

Did you know that buying a standard SP500 index fund, is putting money into cigarette makers, companies who hire child labor in foreign countries and gun makers?

To reach this objective, companies are scored based on how they measure up. MSCI is one company that provides a fairly standard measure. A mutual fund company will then invest in a set of companies that meet some criteria related to those measures. As an example, SUSL, a iShares ETF, only invests in companies that rate higher than “BB” in the MSCI ESG ratings. And expressly excludes companies deemed to be involved in problematic areas such as tobacco, alcohol, gambling, etc.

An interesting thing to note about many of these funds, is that they actually tend to perform as well as, if not better than the standard index/funds that invest in problematic companies.

You might think that it would be more costly to invest in these sort of funds. However, with a little research, you can find both super effective and inexpensive ETFs that meet ESG objectives, that actually have low expense ratios. Eg, SUSL, mentioned above, as a .10% expense ratio.

Yes!!! Investing in ESG funds can actually lead to better performance and be relatively inexpensive.

If you are interested in learning more about aligning your investing with your values, let’s schedule some time. ESG funds may be a perfect way to you to put your money where you mouth is.

Can You Fill A School With Artwork?

I was reminded of the benefits of a life well lived, while walking through Charlie’s school last week. The walls are covered by Steve McCurry’s art. You may not immediately recognize that name, but you definitely know his iconic artwork. This project was conceived and implemented by a friend, Massoud Besharat. Massoud strongly believes that kids need to be exposed early and often to art. Given the limited amount of time many school systems set aside for art, Massoud created a program to give away a large set of beautiful images, framed and installed, to elementary schools. Every day, the kids are exposed to this art as they walk around the halls. If you have not seen it, you really should walk through Talley St Upper Elementary as soon as possible.

A life well lived, is a beautiful and inspiring thing. Have you reached the point where you can easily give away a substantial gift, with the intent of helping many? And even better, right in your community?

With planning, sacrifice and heart, you too can reach this goal. Are you prepared to take the steps? How do you switch perspectives from accumulating to giving? How long will it take to accumulate this much? Who needs your help?

Lets set up some time to talk about how you can reach this goal.