“Do you have a written plan forecasting income and expenses in retirement, designed to analyze whether or not you may run out of money?”

You need a financial plan in place while you are alive and for the sake of your loved ones when you are gone. It eliminates guessing. It is indeed the fear of the unknown that can hamstring you in retirement. Whether it’s founded or unfounded, it comes down to uncertainty. Without a financial plan, you don’t know whether or not you could fend off a real threat, and you may imagine a threat that doesn’t exist and therefore spend years scrimping. You deserve to enjoy life.

Imagine if you will, a couple in their 70s, in the early stages of their financial planning, and the wife is upset. She wants to go on vacation every year, but her husband insists they don’t have the money. She wants a professional to weigh in.

It would make sense to prepare a cash flow analysis and income projection and talk to them about how much they thought such vacations would cost. The answer may be right there in black and white. Perhaps there is no reason why they shouldn’t be taking yearly vacations.

And that’s the real purpose of a financial plan. People feel frozen when they don’t know what the future looks like. A couple may feel they need to hoard their money and not enjoy it, or at least one of the spouses feels that way. Next thing you know, one of them is too sick to go anywhere and they haven’t done anything. Put a plan in place so that you can go out and enjoy the fruits of your labor.