Levesque Wealth Planning

As financial planners we are often asked to help clients who are trying to save for retirement.  Sometimes these potential clients are having difficulty saving money as their golden years rapidly approach.  Many of them are faced with the realization that they have to start setting some money aside in order to make this happen.

It is quite normal for people to have a mortgage, a car loan, credit card debt and bills to pay.  There is nothing wrong with that as many of us also face these same hurdles in our accumulation and working years.  Where we struggle to make headway with some is when we go through their monthly expenditures, we can see some obvious places to cut back.  Areas such as financing a luxury car or truck, multi vacations each year, dining out, jewelry, expensive clothes, expensive homes, and high end renos.  It is easy to get caught up in trying to live your best life in all its Instagramable glory.

But like that movie scene where the record skids to a stop when the main character walks into the room….eventually some critical junctions are reached, and very hard decisions have to be made.  It turns out the Joneses don’t have it so good.  The average American (and probably Canadian) has very little saved.  The typical millionaire in the US is a blue-collar worker, living in the suburbs driving a used car and eating dinner at home.  That guy or gal driving the fancy car, with the nice watch or handbag, wearing the flashy clothes with matching shoes is probably worse off than you.  It’s all a sham.   It’s human nature to compare ourselves to the person we think is more successful than us.

Delayed Gratification
If it was easy everyone would be doing it.  Impulse purchases and high-ticket items have financial effects many years on that can be measured in multiples of their current amounts.  Not only is delayed gratification infinitely more satisfying, it turns out that saving and investing for those golden years can multiply your happiness later in life.  Now my used Prius is hardly a head turner….but I was able to save buckets of money and I get 50 miles per gallon driving it.

We do see the satisfaction of many of our now retired clients who have sacrificed and saved to ensure their golden years actually have some gold left in it.  Winter vacations, cruises and estates to leave behind are very satisfying indeed.  Now only if this pesky inflation would go away.

Secret Formula
So, what’s the secret?  As many of you know the secret formula is to try and spend less than you make.  Some may find it hard at first, but it does get easier.  Part 2 of the formula is to invest the savings and let time and compounding do its thing.  Markets will move around considerably in the short run but tend to autocorrect over longer periods of time.
Living a little less glamorously now may allow for a little more bling in retirement.