Build your blueprint. Manage the clock.
by William Stewart, Director, Client Advisor
Alex. Brown | Raymond James
Successful business owners, movers and shakers by definition, endlessly wrestle with the challenge of balancing multiple priorities against the relentless march of time. They are typically juggling multiple priorities which simultaneously compete for their wisdom, insights and precious time. Managing the clock is mission critical. After all, as a wise friend said in a conversation about the passing of my 87-year-old mom, “Sadly, time is undefeated.”
An ocean of priorities, constantly interrupted by the tyranny of the urgent, challenges even the most capable, well organized business owners. The need for a solution is universal and ironically, it demands an investment of time to bring to fruition. Nonetheless, a customized, dynamic personal financial plan can effectively serve as a life plan blueprint. Whether you are closing Act I or into Act III of your life journey, the financial plan will inform the grand design and the corresponding decisions and timeline for its successful execution.
We all know that having blueprints is a requirement to build a home, and intuitively, we know that a comparable development plan is required to build a neighborhood or a “town center” community. However, most people operate without a financial plan serving as the foundation of their personal grand design plan. If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there and where you are when you arrive?
The baseline checklist of items included in a comprehensive financial plan is telling, and it begins to reveal the breadth and scope of the many variables affecting our lives. As an interesting side note, one of the most difficult numbers to determine is the “estimated annual income need.” Amazingly, the vast majority of people do not know this critical number, and in this instance, ignorance is most assuredly not bliss. Not knowing wastes precious time and increases long-term financial risk exponentially..
Financial Plan Checklist
• Year-end credit card statement(s)
• Most recent mortgage statement(s)
• Life insurance and Long-Term Care insurance policies
• Recent account statements (checking, savings, investment, IRA, 401k, etc.)
• Car payments and statements from car loans
• Estimated pending education liabilities
• Estimated annual income need
• Anticipated one-off future expenses/purchases: including specific items,
$ amounts and expected year incurred
• Current value of your business
• Projected value of your business when sold in 20??
Time is undefeated, and we all want to know where we are, whenever we arrive, wherever we are going. Investing time and effort into building a customized, dynamic, personal financial plan will create the foundation for your next Act. It will inform multiple decisions along the way and include a corresponding timeline to ensure you arrive timely in the place(s) where you want to go. Today is the first day of the rest of your life, and the time to build your plan is now.
About the author:
William Stewart, Director, Client Advisor of Alex. Brown | Raymond James is a member of Banyan Partners, a team focused on helping founders and owners of lower middle market companies, and their families, successfully navigate the challenging arc of company transformation and personal transition. He can be reached at william.stewart@alexbrown.com or by phone at 443-214-7751. Banyan Partners’ website is www.alexbrown.com/banyanpartners
