There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. But there is a strategic framework that can help you make smart, confident choices. Let’s walk through the key considerations.
This is where many business owners get stuck. Reinvesting can fuel growth, while taking distributions can help you reach personal milestones like buying a home, building an emergency fund, or maxing out retirement contributions.
11 Things I’ve Learned as a Financial Planner
by Elliott Appel, CFP®, RLP®, Kindness Financial Planning
Being a financial planner comes with incredible privilege. You get an intimate look into the lives of people who can start out as total strangers and transform into being one of the most trusted persons in their life.
I hear about people planning for kids before they tell others. I hear about the depths of grief when losing a spouse. I hear about how challenging it is to save money for decades and then be afraid to spend it.
I listen for what people want for their kids — some who are excelling at life and others who are struggling. We talk about fears, dreams, anxieties, how to protect those we love, how to provide for those we care about, charitable endeavours, and more.
We talk about money. After all, I’m a financial planner. But, it’s mostly not about the money — even if it may feel like it’s about the money. It’s typically not.
It’s a gift hearing these stories. It’s a blessing to be in a position where clients will wrestle with the hard stuff, be open to questions, and enter a space they normally don’t enter.
I not only love helping people align their money into a more ideal life for themselves and family, but I also enjoy bringing their decades of wisdom and experience into my own life and sharing it with others.
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5 Lessons Chronic Pain Has Taught Me About Personal Finance
by Zack Gutches, CFP®, CPA, True Riches Financial Planning
It was the Fall of 2017. Another routine day at the gym. Except this time, the Power Clean lift hurt my back. Like real bad. One thing leads to another, and I’ve got a herniated disk at L5-S1, and have battled ongoing chronic nerve pain since that time.
While I’m still in the fight in some form daily, I’ve had seasons where its gotten a lot better, and seasons where I feel like I’m at square negative 7. These ebbs and flows have allowed me to see things from multiple perspectives, and more recently, I took the time to reflect on the analogies of my battle with chronic nerve pain to personal finances. May one (or more) speak to you.
1) Impressing Others is Overrated
One of the main reasons I started weight-lifting in the first place is I was tired of being thought of as the nice, skinny kid. I still remember 1 yearbook signature vividly: “Zack, you were the funniest and scrawniest kid in our whole class!” While this may seem childish (and it is), it had a lasting impression on me. I committed to do everything in my power to change myself, BECAUSE of how I wanted to be seen by others.
