Gerontologist and best-selling author Ken Dychtwald likes to compare planning for retirement to space travel - saying it's a long journey and it's easy to get off course along the way. Indeed, for most people, saving and planning for retirement is a ~40 year process. Dychtwald continued by saying he believes that when planning for such a distant future, we should keep the Apollo 11 mission in mind. "The Apollo 11 mission was the most planned mission in the history of the world, yet 90% of the time it was off course. The project was one of continual course correcting.”
Remember that as we wander through 2022. Inflation is up, financial markets are down, and many people are on edge. Might your financial plan need a small course correction? It's possible. Understand, however, your financial plan has already accounted for a down 15-20% year in the S&P 500 (the S&P 500 is currently down 18% YTD). In fact, we've accounted for worse. Still, keep in mind if you are a financial planning client that you're paying me (in part) to be a collaborator on your journey. One of my jobs is to give you peace of mind and to hold your hand along the way. Peace of mind should be giving you a sense that even though 2022 hasn't been the greatest year for your portfolio, if you're doing what I've advised, then you're doing alright, and are still on track to reach your retirement goal. So if you feel like you don't have peace of mind right now, and are following a prescribed course, then let's talk!