Financial Mapping: A Retirement Plan Is Like a Navigation System for Your Money and Time

Mapping Your Financial Future is Not Too Different from Mapping an Expedition Route

Financial mapping, creating a financial plan for your entire life, is similarly daunting to plotting your path for an expedition. In both cases you are trying to figure out how to get from a point A to a point B.

It is possible to be like an adventure racer, and use the equivalent of a paper map and highlighter pen to plot your financial route. However, employing the expertise of financial planners (either digital like the Boldin Retirement Planner or a licensed fiduciary fee only Certified Financial Planner®) can make the financial mapping process a lot easier. These resources can essentially serve as a deluxe navigation system for your money.

A good financial plan, like a well plotted route on a map, is like seeing into the future. You can project where you will be as you proceed along your route.

Financial Mapping: Where Are You Now and What is Your Ultimate Financial Destination?

The first step of any journey is to know where you are now and to set your ultimate destination.

For most people, the long term financial goal is being able to fund their life through longevity at a spending level at which they can live comfortably.

Understand Your Strengths and Values

There is no one right financial map for everyone. Your perfect path to a well funded life can be tuned for your strengths and values.

Your financial plan should prioritize what you are good at as well as what you enjoy and value.

What Methods of “Transportation” Do You Have Available?

Work, saving, investing, spending levels, debt, insurance, and benefits are all examples of “transportation” to your ultimate destination of an adequately funded life.

You can deploy these levers in different ways over different time periods to help you reach your long term financial goals while also living the life you want, with whatever stopovers you desire.

The Boldin Retirement Planner goes well beyond savings and investments, enabling you to maintain a holistic plan, a comprehensive financial map.

Choose Your Route: What Stopovers and Detours You Want to Take?

When traveling, some people like the scenic route. Others prefer super highways or to take a meandering path with lots of stopovers.

Some people, like Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) devotees, want the most direct, fastest route to retirement – no detours whatsoever. FIRE adherents want to retire as early as possible, scrimping and saving every possible dollar, working side gigs and limiting spending to be free of work.

Most people take a more conventional path, balancing spending to enhance their life in the short term with strategic savings to retire in their sixties. There is time on the freeway at the speed limit with a 9-5 job and saving 20% of your income. However, there is also time for scenic roads and enriching stopovers.

And, then there are always people who may go off any kind of road entirely for some period of time and play catch up on the super highway later or live peacefully in more meager circumstances.There are no right answers, just what is right for you. And, the Boldin Retirement Planner is designed to accommodate all kinds of plans.

Prepare for the Unexpected

You need to know what to do when circumstances change. Inflation, stock market troughs, health events, natural disasters, and more can wreak havoc on the best laid financial plans.

The right insurance can prepare you for the unexpected. Strategies for your savings, like a bucket system can maximize your money for an uncertain future by ensuring you have cash available for living expenses if things go awry.

You want a plan that anticipates things that can go wrong and know what you are going to do when the unexpected happens.

In fact, you should probably plot a best case and worst case scenario plan or financial map. The Boldin Retirement Planner enables you to do this in multiple ways. You can:

• Monitor your optimistic and pessimistic assumptions
• Run different scenarios for different possible circumstances (a long term care need, more conservative investments and returns, a job loss, a work bonus, an inheritance, etc…)
• Evaluate your Monte Carlo analysis

Prepare for the Unexpected

You know taxes are in your future. Plan in advance to do Roth conversions or strategize to minimize taxable income. See tax insights and the Roth Conversion Explorer in the Boldin Retirement Planner to assess your tax situation.

Anticipate healthcare spending. The average out of pocket healthcare cost for a 65 year old couple is $300,000. A plan for funding this expense is critical to achieving your long term financial goals. The Boldin Retirement Planner can give you a personalized estimate for your out of pocket healthcare spending, using your age, location, health status, and the type of coverage you desire.

You can also build a projected budget for the rest of your life, the more detailed the better. And then, take steps to guarantee income to cover your spending wants and needs.

Measure Progress

It is imperative to be constantly checking the map to ensure that you are where you need to be. Check landmarks, trail crossings, measure time and distance passed;omnitor your key financial metrics. What is your net worth now and projected longevity? Are your savings on track? Is your spending in line with expectations? Are you making progress toward your goals?

Don’t get financially lost. Stay on track by monitoring metrics.

Remap as the Need Arises

You will not be able to anticipate every roadblock, accident, an interesting side trip, or breakdown.

When financial circumstances like inflation projections change, you need to make adjustments to your plan with the updated information and, when necessary, plot a new route to your goal.

Keep Remapping

Life is hopefully long and interesting. You will likely make significant adjustments to your financial plan over time. We recommend that you walk through your entire plan at least quarterly to update your data and make adjustments as necessary.

What Resources Are You Using to Map a Route to Your Financial Goals?

The Boldin Retirement Planner can serve as a guide or financial mapping to your goals(s). Building and maintaining a financial plan improves financial habits, decisions and outcomes.

• Coaching: Walk through your plan 1:1 with a Boldin coach.  Make sure your inputs are accurate and learn how to answer your questions using the tool.
• Classes: Enroll in our 8 week session about how to best use the planner. Or, try our more in depth classes covering tax planning, portfolio and asset allocation strategies, building your income plan, and meeting your goals for spending, stewardship, legacy, and asset transfer. (Log into the Planner and click on “Classroom” in the left hand navigation.)

Now, get mapping!