|
by Michael Rogan
Special to Tropical Breeze
A couple of years ago I was attending a
local charity function when I ran into a friend – a former
Safety Harbor City Commissioner - and he introduced me to his wife.
I was pleased when she mentioned that she enjoyed reading my
columns in the Tropical Breeze. My friend the commissioner
retorted, “You know, all of your columns sound the same to me
– you just keep saying the same things over and over!”
To which I replied, “Well, the truth never
changes.”
And so it is with experienced financial
planners. Our mission every day is to create the energy and
patience required to battle the same dangerous misinformation and
ignorance that we see and hear, day after day. Last week marked the
21st anniversary of my entrance into the financial services
industry. If you combine that with my undergraduate degree in
economics, I have spent most of the past quarter century focused on
financial and economic issues, and how they affect people.
The interesting and evolving discovery I
continue to make is that the longer I am involved in advising
people on financial matters, the simpler my solutions get. And the
problems, issues and causes of financial failure never change. So,
my comment to my friend was accurate, but probably needed some
explanation.
Most people read columns like this to
glean a specific tidbit or two of information that they can apply
in their everyday lives. And I could write these columns on
hundreds of ideas that are technical, specific and potentially even
useful to some of you. But I would never be able to shake the
knowledge that little, specific, short term fixes are not going to
meaningfully impact the outcome of your financial lives. For most
people I see, fundamental changes are needed to put their financial
ship back on course and to make sure it doesn’t capsize with
age. People need to view their financial lives as a whole picture,
not as individual pieces, and the only way I know to do that is
with a plan.
Literally thousands of times over the
years I have heard, “I’m a conservative investor, I
don’t like risk.” In truth, what they meant was, they
don’t like losing money. This is something I inherently
believe to be true of everyone, and thus have never really needed
to be told this. I am nearly as confident that no one cares for the
idea of running out of money in retirement and relying on friends
and family for their care and to make ends meet. Yet, according to
many studies, most people will be entering a woefully under funded
retirement unprepared for the consequences. Most people have never
taken the time to calculate how much income they will need in
retirement, where that income is going to come from, and how much
of a nest egg will be required to provide for income
shortfalls.
Week after week, I meet with people that
say they wished they had met someone like me years ago. I suppose
this is job security for me, but it mostly inspires me to continue
to ‘preach the gospel’ of financial planning. Overall
financial planning. Complete planning for every aspect of your
financial lives. (Putting together such a plan will require some
time, but it is likely not nearly as overwhelming a task as you
might think.)
So, I could write articles on the benefits
of the Roth IRA, or which Section 529 College Savings Plan is best,
or even how to title your assets for the best combination of
creditor protection and estate planning. But without context, they
may well do you more harm than good. So, instead, each month I will
attempt to write what my friend called ‘the same
column’ in a slightly different way, so I can try to reach
each of you before it’s too late. Thank you for
understanding.
Michael Rogan is president of Rogan &
Associates Financial Planners, a locally-owned financial planning
brokerage firm based in Safety Harbor. He brings nearly two decades
of financial expertise to the local airwaves on the radio show,
Financial Planning for Life, heard at 11 a.m. weekdays on AM 1250
WHNZ. For more information, call 727-712-3400 or visit
www.RoganFinancial.com.
|
Front Page 
Columns 
