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We can help you, but…
“You Gotta Have A Plan”©
Most of us starting out have some hopes and dreams and not much more. In order to make those hopes and dreams become a living reality while maintaining balance in our lives requires an assessment of our resources and an intentional effort to utilize them by doing the right things in the right way at the right time for the right reason. While many of us begin our life journey with only a job, we don’t think we have any resources to assess; therefore, the belief is that there is nothing to plan with or for. As a result, too many times our lives consist of reacting to events that are happening to us as opposed to proactively pursuing our hopes and dreams while seeking God’s Will for our life.
By not giving careful thought to our ways (Haggai 1:5), along earning money either with nothing to show for it or a bunch of “things” with little relativity to our true goals. Sometimes, the “things” occupy so much of our time and effort that we are deceived into believing that we have achieved happiness. Too often it takes a life changing event (either a tragedy that we aren’t prepared to face or an opportunity that we aren’t prepared to take advantage of) to make us realize that we aren’t where we want to be or heading to where we want to go.
How do we overcome the temptations to pursue the “things” that take us away from our goals and objectives? First of all, we must write down our hopes and dreams. We may just want to get a better handle on where our money is going; we may want to rid ourselves of the bondage of too much debt; it may be our desire to give away more money or serve others in a more significant way; we may want to legally reduce the amount of income taxes we are paying; we might want to provide the financial resources to send our children or grandchildren to college; it might be our dream to have a special vacation or even a vacation home; we just may want to trade cars on a regular basis or remodel our kitchen; maybe we just feel the need to improve the yield on our existing investment portfolio, IRA, or 401(k); it might give us greater peace of mind to know that we can retire when we want to at the lifestyle we want or if we are already retired, to be able to maintain that lifestyle in spite of inflation; we might want to make certain that we are properly insured in the event of death, disability, or a nursing home stay; and beyond all of those possibilities, we may feel the need to know that our Wills and Trusts are going to distribute our assets to the people desired in the most tax-wise way possible. Certain proactive actions will lead us to fulfillment while other reactive paths lead us in the opposite direction. If, however, we never crystallize our goals, we don’t know if a path is leading us to where we want to be or a place that consists of emptiness and frustration.
Conversely, many people have very definitive goals that consist of accumulating certain “things” and amounts of money only to find that when they get there the feeling of satisfaction still is absent. The thrill was in the chase – not the arrival (Psalm 16:11), we too often find the people we wanted to share with either aren’t interested in where we are or they’re gone. Others get there only to find they lack the health to enjoy everything.
We believe the obvious – if things don’t change, they’ll stay the same. Our lives are either staying the same, getting better, or getting worse. Each of us must decide if staying the same, getting better, or getting worse is acceptable to us and those we love (Romans 12:2).
Our belief is that each of us must develop a Personal Mission Statement. We must identify who we are, where we want to end up, what do we have to do to get there, how are we going to do what we have to do, and why we do what we are going to do. We must develop a Rule for our Life to determine the absolutes that will guide us in our decisions as we move through our journey. By having a Personal Mission Statement and Rule for Living, we are substantially less likely to be distracted from our true goals and objectives. We will more likely have balance in all areas of our lives including the areas of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social as well as financial.
While our goal is to help everyone become better stewards in all areas of their lives, our expertise is in helping people achieve their financial goals in the most efficient, tax-wise manner possible. While we have opinions and deep personal beliefs for many of the other areas of lives, we have identified and developed Six Keys to achieve whatever your definition is of financial independence. The implementation of those Six Keys have unlocked the doors for many people to get to where they want to be when they want to be there. Those Six Keys are:
- Cash Management (Haggai 1:6,7)
- Risk Management (1 Timothy 5:3-8)
- Investment Planning (Matthew 25:14-30)
- Tax Planning (Matthew 22:17, 21)
- Retirement Planning (Luke 12:19,20,21)
- Estate Planning (Proverbs 13:22)
However, these keys must all be tied together – coordinated, if you will. Too much emphasis cannot be placed on any one key. They are each equally important. Unfortunately, too many insurance agents, stock brokers, bankers, attorneys, accountants, and financial planners only want to seriously address one or two keys and only give “lip service” to the others. You can’t achieve total financial success without balance. We independently evaluate your complete financial picture by thoroughly examining each piece of the puzzle. We emphasize planning utilizing each of the keys.
To accomplish our Mission, we will help you discover what you own and owe, how much money you have coming in and where it is going, develop objective goals and time horizons to get there, and design a Comprehensive Financial Plan to actually take you from where you are to where you want to be when you want to be there in the most tax-wise, efficient manner possible. Our planning process is totally objective. Our recommendations are based on applying Biblical principles appropriately coordinated to make your hopes and dreams become living reality – not to see how much commission can be generated. You see, when you complete the planning process with us, you are under no obligation to buy products from us. You are free to implement the plan with whomever you choose. Therefore, our plans – by design – always place The Mission ahead of the commission. We want to help you achieve as many of your goals as possible — while challenging you to consider (Matthew 28:19,20).