Here is something to think about. At times, when it comes to people's finances, the concept of future planning comes up. Future planning, stated another way, is planning for the future - future needs, future events, future desires. However, I wonder if somehow, we miss the mark when talking about "future" planning.
I suspect that once we introduce the word future into the mix, concerning planning, we might be tempted to do that planning in the future, rather than now. I am not playing word games here. On the contrary, I realize that we human beings have fears, abundant fears. We might be afraid of what the future holds. Often, we do not like to talk about our fears. Instead, we kind of sweep them under the rug and try to forget about them.
Years ago, Bob Seger, the rock musician, came out with a song called Rock n Roll Never Forgets. I believe that our minds never completely forget our fears and concerns. We can attempt to run away from our fears, yet after a good long run, there they are again. That carpet we have swept our fears under sits squarely in our mind and we remember, all too well, what we have swept underneath it. And we might live anxiety ridden lives because of it.
Jean de La Fontaine, the 17th century French writer said, "A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." So many times in life people meet fates they need not have, precisely because they took the road of avoidance rather than facing their fears head on and working to surmount them.
Planning, by its nature, deals with creating a road map or model now, so that it may be employed to get us to where we want to go in the near or long-term future. We are better off talking about present planning than future planning. We need to be making plans now, in the present, that will lead us to our goals in the future.
When we talk about future planning, our fears might get the best of us and, because of this, we might give ourselves permission to do our planning in the future, instead of for the future. If you believe, like I do, that we are never truly free of our fears unless we confront them, doesn't it make sense to do our planning now, rather than leave our concerns about the future to fester, unattended?
Empower yourself to get where you want to go in life. You might do this by beginning to make plans now, plans that may work to help you have a more pleasant future, not to mention a present less addled by fear.
Consider a course of action. If you choose to, find a financial services professional you trust, to help you enact that course of action. Thinking is just that, thinking. Action makes things happen.
Scott R. McGimpsey June 28th, 2017
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