My wife is a very sweet person with many friends.  The other day one of her lifelong friends stopped at our home while traveling from central Florida to her new home in Oregon.  She used GPS to find her way into our neighborhood with no problems, especially since she had made the trip several times previously.  However, when she left our house on her way to Oregon she was treading new territory.   I asked her the name of the town she was moving to.  She wasn’t sure.  She planned to meet her husband in northern California and then follow him into Oregon.

The plan made me very uneasy.  I like the idea of knowing where I’m going.  It struck me that many folks approach their financial planning the same way that my wife’s friend approached cross-country travel.  Not real sure but trusting that someone else would get them to the finish line.

Financial planning should not be about putting your trust in someone else and following blindly.  A financial planner should work with the client to determine where the client wants to go, their resources for getting there, and what the financial situation should look like at various points along the way.  The client should stay actively involved.  Have regular conversations with your financial planner.  Are you staying on track?

Most people don’t plan to fail.  They simply fail to plan.  Take the time to figure out where you want to go and understand what it will take to get there.  Your chances of accidentally ending up where you want to go are not good.

-Fred Lee