Fast Track to Financial Freedom

What does a financial plan do?  A financial plan will take everything we know about you today and guide us all the way through your retirement. But it isn’t a “plug n’ play” template because of life events: marriage, divorce, birth, death, college. All of those things impact finances and a financial plan, together with the help of financial advisors, can make sure all those changing puzzle pieces can fit together to ensure your financial freedom. Want to retire at 63? You might be able to retire at 60 if you’re willing to spend less a month after you retire. Or maybe you’re better off waiting until 70 because of social security. Want to travel the world? You might be better off traveling now than waiting, or maybe there are priorities that need to be taken care of first before you hop on a plane. Financial plans serve as a decision-making tool. They make big decisions easier and adapt as life changes. If you’d like to create a financial plan, free of charge, please contact me at mike.wegener@raymondjames.com.

This is the second post in our series “5 Financial Mistakes You’re Making Now”. Mistake #2: Taking On Too Much Bad DebtThere is good debt and bad debt. Mortgages can be good debt - everyone needs a roof over their heads and having a mortgage provides that. But taking on a mortgage that causes someone to live beyond their means is bad debt. Credit cards are usually considered bad debt because of the interest rates that are associated with them. Making only minimum payments, it might take 24 years to fully pay off a purchase along the interest - that’s bad debt. Navigating good debt and bad debt typically comes down to “wants vs. needs”. Deciding how much of a house you need vs. how much of a house do you want can be a big decision filled with lots of bias, opinions, and emotions, so talking with a financial advisor can offer an impartial third-party expert opinion that also takes into account your financial plan and future goals. If you’d like to create a financial plan, free of charge, please contact me at mike.wegener@raymondjames.com.

The cost of higher education is rising, and it’s a temptation for many parents to pull money from their retirement funds to help pay for their children’s college expenses. But if you pull money from your retirement, will you be able to replace that money or are you willing to make sacrifices in your retirement? As we age, we also decrease the time we have to contribute to retirement funds, making it harder and harder to replace the money we withdraw, compromising our retirement situation. Before you pull from your retirement funds, consider: Student loans, both private and federalFinancial aid opportunities like scholarships, work-study, or income-basedCommunity collegeTrade schools or other vocational training optionsIf you’d like to create a financial plan, free of charge, please contact me at mike.wegener@raymondjames.com.

Do enough Googling and you can figure out your financial on your own, right? Not really. Google IS great if you know what questions to ask, but then you also end up with the problem of having to sort through and synthesize a mountain of information that may or may not apply to you. The financial world is a complex world: budgets, investments, retirement planning, college planning, social security, estate planning, quality of life goals, and more. As financial advisors, we can simplify that complex world for you because we know you as an individual. We know what impact one financial decision will have on other aspects of your life. The shapes and sizes of your financial puzzle are constantly changing, and we help you put them together. If you’d like to create a financial plan, free of charge, please contact me at mike.wegener@raymondjames.com.

When it comes to financial planning, many people’s “plan” is “pay my bills, buy things I want, try to save some.” This isn’t a financial plan, and if you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time. Can people achieve financial success without a specific financial plan? Sure, but having a financial plan enhances your chances of success.You can have a budget, but a financial plan also takes into account all the “life” that happens along the way: births, deaths, job changes, retirements, etc. It also takes into account your goals and dreams - it’s not just about having the biggest pile of cash possible when you retire. Want to travel? The time to do that might be before you retire, and having a financial plan can ensure you can enjoy life both before and after retirement. If you’d like to create a financial plan, free of charge, please contact me at mike.wegener@raymondjames.com.

Today we start a series called “5 Financial Mistakes You’re Making Now” where we tackle the actions people take that will hurt their finances the most. Mistake #1: Not Paying Yourself FirstIs saving money the first thing you do with a paycheck or the last? Having a “war chest” is important - saved money that can be accessed for emergencies, fun things, or whatever you want to do that keeps you from putting money on a credit card. The war chest can be in the form of a regular savings account, investments, or a 401k - it doesn’t matter as long as the money is easily accessible to you. But if you spend the money before it goes into the war chest, it can’t help you. For example, let’s say you spend $10 on buying lunch every day at work. That’s $50 a week, or $2500 a year with two weeks of vacation.Paying yourself first can be in the form of making your own lunch a couple times a week and putting that money into an envelope, and at the end of the month, that money goes into an account. There are always opportunities to find money you can save. Pay yourself first with the money you make and achieve your financial goals!If you’d like to create a financial plan, free of charge, please contact me at mike.wegener@raymondjames.com.

What we love to do is help people and helping them get on the fast track to financial freedom. One of the ways we do that is by simplifying financial concepts. In the world of wealth management, there’s a lot to understand. Some people get intimidated by everything there is to know about money and investments and just say, “Forget it. I’m not going to worry about this.” But it’s never too early or too late to start talking to a wealth management expert about how to accomplish the things you want to accomplish. When I work out, I hire a personal trainer - they know better than I do about how to exercise and maximize my time and efficiency when I train. Financial advisors do similar things; we help clients understand, based on their own personal situation, what their financial plan needs to look like.  Understanding a client as an individual is one of the most important things we do. We analyze their specific financial situation, set goals, and then figure out the best way to achieve those goals. 

Feeling too much shame about the state of your finances to ask someone for help? Financial advisor Mike Wegener talks about why moving beyond what's happened in the past is critical to take control of your future. 

You might be wondering how a financial advisor can help you. Is it help with budgeting, investments, or retirement planning? The answer is "All of the above and more."