Watch Out For Snakes

Hello,

I’ve enjoyed cycling on and off most of my life, and I’ve recently come back around to mountain biking in the last year. We have a wonderful resource in Spartanburg called Croft State Park. It’s over 7,000 acres of mostly woods and it has endless miles of mountain biking trails. I think if more realized what fun could be had the forest would be filled up.

There are different sections of trails. Some are well marked and others are sparsely marked. Naturally early on I gravitated toward the well-marked trails, but the last few weeks I’ve begun exploring other trails. It’s added a nice element of surprise, because you never know what the new trail may be like.

Mallory and I divided and conquered yesterday. She took Ansley to vote and I took Amelia on the way to school.

Sunday afternoon I got on a trail that not many people had been on in a while. In fact, parts of it I could not even ride. I had to walk my bike because the trail became narrow. You always have to watch where you step. I got that reminder as a five-foot-long black snake slithered by. I was finally able to get back on my bike and ride, and I came upon a sign. It read “exit” and it had an arrow. What do you think I did? I went the opposite way of the exit. A short while later I figured out that I was looping the entire trail again. Back to the narrow snake-filled area!

Sometimes it’s easy to repeat our past experiences if we’re not sure why we are doing something. When retirees are polled it’s common for them to be worried about outliving their money. It’s easy to worry when we see money going out, but we don’t see our work paycheck coming in.

It can be particularly challenging when one spouse fears not having enough but the other one feels like things will work out fine. The Wall Street Journal has an article about a retired couple having a disagreement about resurfacing cabinets they’d had in their house for years. The cabinets were in bad repair and obviously the lady wanted the kitchen to look nice when company came over. But her husband lived in trepidation that they would not have enough funds despite working with a financial advisor and hearing from the advisor that they would be okay.

Amelia got her ballet costume for her upcoming recital at dance this week.

The longer I live the more I understand that much of our thoughts about money are shaped by our upbringing. The Journal article mentioned that one retiree worried about money because he had grown up hearing stories his dad told of his granddad losing his farm during the Great Depression. Hearing about such traumatic events, or having them happen to us directly, can have a profound effect on our mentality.

Ansley waited patiently at the dentist for her big sister this week.

It's important to meet with an advisor and understand what your spending could look like in different scenarios in retirement. We help our folks with this, and it can be difficult to get our clients to spend money. We’ve saved and saved and as I like to say suddenly the one-way saving street becomes a two-way street when we can spend money.

If you’re having issues using your money, make sure you have a financial plan for spending. Revisit the plan, and if you’re still having challenges, perhaps exploring the underlying “why” of why you feel that way would be worth thinking about.

Until next week,

David C. Treece,

Financial Planner

Did you miss one of our last newsletters?

Don't Get Spooked: Click here

Why We Do What We Do: Click here

Know These Things about Medicare: Click here

A look back

Here's what David wrote about a year ago: Click here

Here's what David wrote about two years ago: Click here

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