Sign up to receive
our E-newsletter

Financial Health is a Journey
(so don’t stop believin’)

By Brett Danko, CFP^®

My 8 year-old daughter Abbie once asked me what a financial planner did.

I told her, “Daddy helps people.”

“Like a doctor?” she asked.

“That’s a good way to look at it,” I said.

Financial planning does help people both in the short-term and in the long-term and is NOT dissimilar from a general practitioner in the field of medicine.

Both financial planners and doctors deal with short-term problems but tend to be just as concerned with long-term issues. For example, I admit I am not very good at taking care of myself. I don’t eat well all the time and certainly do not exercise enough.

Recently, my doctor sat me down and asked me if I wanted to be alive when I was 70. She went on to explain the even though I was 42, and seemingly in good health, all the things that I was doing now would affect my long-term well-being. Keeping extra pounds for the long haul would impact my knees and hips and could cause other problems such as heart disease and diabetes. (Yes, it was a sobering visit.)

If I wanted to be around to spend time with my grandchildren and be physically fit, she said, it would be all the little steps that I take over the next 30 years – like eating well and exercising regularly - that would help me accomplish that goal. The good news was I still had time to change my ways, BUT it was up to me to make the changes – no one else.

Combining my daughter’s observation and my doctor’s assessment of my health, I got to thinking – isn’t that what we do as financial planners? We talk about living within a budget and trying to save money each year for long-term goals like college, retirement or a second home. But, we sometimes spend more money than we should. Just Like we eat the extra piece of cheesecake or take off exercising for a week.

Budgets, saving and insurance should be thought of with a view toward the long term. We all know unexpected bills and car/home repairs will have an effect on our finances. However, we need to keep a positive attitude toward our financial outlook. Good financial habits will become more important IF, as many experts believe, we go into a long stretch of low growth and low expected returns on financial assets. We cannot lose hope that we will attain our long-term goals. Once you throw in the towel and give up, there is no chance of success.

While I am very passionate about financial planning, the health stuff tends not to interest me - EVEN THOUGH I SHOULD KNOW BETTER. Lack of follow through on important financial matters is a part of the expanding field of behavioral economics. Put simply, it is why we do things even though we know some of these behaviors are probably detrimental and could be considered irrational.

So let’s make a deal.

I respect the fact that many of you don’t get as excited about personal finance as I do.

However, I am willing to bet you do care about the long-term ramifications of your financial actions. I am going to start a blog detailing my journey to take my health more seriously. I plan to draw parallels between my quest for physical health and habits to help our readers and clients’ on the road to financial health. The blog can be found at my website www.fpresourcecenter.com

I hope you will join me on this journey.

<< Return to the Main Street Monitor E-Newsletter