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As you might expect, it is quite common for people to visit us at Moneywatch as they are in their 50’s and 60’s and can, maybe for the first time, actually envision a time when they will be retired. Although they, correctly, have a myriad of financial questions that I will describe later, the question WE ask THEM is – What’s your grand plan? Meaning, you have plenty of life left, how do you plan on living it?

Simply put, fee-only financial planners – like Moneywatch Advisors – are compensated by the clients they serve, no one else. As a result, their loyalty is to their clients and only their clients. Fee-based financial planners charge you and then are often paid a commission from a 3rd party company to sell you their products, too. So, where is their loyalty?

This week’s post will not contain any advice on financial planning or investments or how much to save to achieve financial freedom. Today, I take a break from that to discuss what may be the most important issue in America today: keeping our children safe while in school. I was recently appointed to the District Safety Advisory Council organized by Fayette County Superintendent Manny Caulk. This Council is charged with “developing specific and actionable recommendations” on ways to make our schools safer. We had our first meeting on March 1 and will submit our recommendations no later than the first week of April, so this is designed to be a crisp process.

I get asked all the time by both clients and prospective clients – how am I doing? Personally, I like Chris Rock’s line on relative wealth: “If Bill Gates woke up with Oprah’s money, he’d jump out the window.” Perspective is an amazing thing.

It isn’t at all unusual for someone in their 50’s or even early 60’s to ask us for advice as they approach retirement with too little savings. As you might guess, there are as many reasons for being behind as there are people: a late start saving, frequent job changes, personal student loan debt, college expenses for their children, or just plain bad luck. Our first advice? Forgive yourself, your predicament is not about the past, it’s about the future. Let’s consider Joey’s story:

I have a fond memory of my maternal Grandfather sitting me down soon before I graduated from college and telling me, “Steve, whatever you do, don’t borrow money.” While Grandpa John lived far from an easy life as a dairy farmer in Nebraska, he and his mother did inherit the farm when his father died so he didn’t have to incur debt to get started. Circumstances are just different now. Buying a home or even a car is almost impossible without a mortgage or car loan. According to AARP, larger mortgages, higher student loans and a greater overall comfort with debt than displayed by earlier generations has increased the average debt for households approaching retirement by nearly 160% from 1989 to 2010.

Eric Monday, UK’s Executive VP for Finance, is one of the brightest people I have ever known but he had a brief lapse in judgment when he recently asked me to speak to his class titled, “Personal Investing and Financial Planning.” This is a class for non-Business majors who are interested in learning about financial planning, decision making and investing activities. They discuss and learn about stocks and bonds, 401(k)’s, IRA’s, insurance and many topics most of the population never learns or even considers. Dr. Monday asked me to speak to the class about my career path, particularly my experience as a client of a financial planner, then becoming one. The students were bright and engaged and here are a few of the topics we discussed and the students’ thoughts:

You have undoubtedly read and heard about the whiplash-producing stock market this week because the so-called experts at every newspaper and news channel have been talking about it incessantly. It reminds me of the breathless excitement of meteorologists prior to an anticipated snowstorm. In fact, these “experts” are about as accurate as the weather forecasters too. Part of the reason these trading days have been such a shock to many is that the markets have been so calm for so long. In fact, the market in 2017 exhibited the least volatility of any year in history. So, when we see a drop of 4% in the S&P 500 in one day, it is natural to feel some anxiety. Before you get too worked up, consider these four steps during a market downturn: