What’s Your Comfort Zone?
Posted @ 9:38 pm - Filed under Purposeful Planning, Retirement
Jonathon asked one of the best questions of the year so far. Actually, it was his own observation. He was concerned our Purposeful Plan might be out of his comfort zone.
That is by definition - IMPOSSIBLE. Our Plans are tailored not only to the needs of the client as it relates to their retirement, but to their specific comfort level. It just wouldn’t make sense otherwise.
Keeping our clients snuggly relaxing in their comfort zone is always one of our primary goals.
Each client is treated as a unique investor with their own strengths and weaknesses — and comfort zones. We have many clients who need growth and need it now. However, if their comfort zone is in any way counter to the Purposeful Plan we’ve constructed for them, their comfort zone prevails - period. It’s not our job to force a square peg into a round hole.
Instead, we find a way to fit what is required to ensure a solid retirement income with our Plan. For instance, we have a client who insisted they wanted to include a New Hampshire condo into their tax deferred exchange. Was it going to grow as well as where the bulk of their exchange equity landed? No way. Did we get it done? Absolutely. (They actually found the perfect condo.)
What’s the point? It’s your money — your life — and your retirement. If we can possibly figure a way to get you what you need and still take the side road you’d like to explore — we’ll do our best to make it happen. We do it all the time.
A final thought on your comfort zone. We find that for a small percentage of our clients, low down payments cause anxiety. Our response? If we can’t allay their fears, we double the proposed down payment. It sometimes provides comic relief for them. One client thought I was kidding when I said that. When they saw I was serious as a bloodhound guarding a pork chop, they cracked up in relief. It simply doesn’t make sense to violate someone’s comfort zone.
So Jonathon — thanks for your comment. Your comfort zone is more important than any Purposeful Plan. The Plan will always have to give way. Planning your retirement should be fun and full of anticipation — not anxiety.
Oh, and the clients who asked if they could include a New Hampshire condo in their tax deferred exchange? They go there almost every fall to enjoy the changing of the leaves. Now how cool do you think that makes me feel?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 1st, 2007 at 9:38 pm and is filed under Purposeful Planning, Retirement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
