Life Planning: Lost in the Daily Round? By Lewis J. Walker, CFP(R)

Dictionary.com defines a plan as “a scheme or method of acting, doing, proceeding, making, etc., developed in advance, battle plans; a design or scheme of arrangement, an elaborate plan for seating guests; a specific project or definite purpose, plans for the future.” What is your plan for the future...your life plan?

Easy question. How easy is the answer? As a financial planner one is called to think such thoughts on behalf of clients. “Financial planning” as a profession is relatively young, founded in the early 1970s, yet advancing in experience and wisdom over the past 43 years since the first batch of certified financial planners (CFP®) graduated from the College for Financial Planning. Along with the challenges aging presents, advisors and clients are riding the Age Wave, periodically pausing to ask life’s quintessential question, “Why am I here and where am I going?”

“Life planning” as a philosophy assumes that all rational human beings strive to live a life of meaning and purpose. “Financial life planning” recognizes that money is but one tool in the actualization of meaning and purpose. Money is part of a deeper, holistic picture.

Okay, fine. “But isn’t the future a bit fuzzy when I can’t even figure out how to get done all the stuff I have to do in the coming week?” It’s easy to get lost in the daily round. In one week alone I had four women tell me about the rigors of caregiving, temporary or permanent health challenges with spouses or parents, while juggling their own pressing needs. Money issues play into life’s challenges, but we must deal with the bigger picture. With few exceptions, financial advisors are not trained doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, or clergy, yet we draw on wisdom and ideas from other professions. We have learned to engage in a discovery process, conversations and analysis to determine the nature of a challenge. Given each challenge, we must figure out the best alternative to deal with each challenge, to identify the resources needed to move forward, having defined expectations, the desired outcome, what you wish to experience.

No matter what you are facing, a life transition, whether positive or difficult, the future is coming at you with relentless speed. You cannot stop the clock, no matter what life throws at you. At a seminar entitled 360º Spirituality, Deacon Henry Hein at St. Brigid Catholic Church in Johns Creek, GA, asked a key question. There are 168 hours in a week. Postulates Deacon Hein, “Many people spend about one hour per week in church and 167 hours doing other things. Our lives in that other 167 hours are filled with challenges, opportunities, problems, work, leisure, etc., etc. Sometimes we are so busy with so much that it is hard to step back and focus on what we really are doing with our lives. And, where does God fit into those other 167 hours?”

Step back from the daily round. There is life, which ends at some point. Then there is the afterlife, which is eternal. All questions, big and small, should be answered based on the premise that your Creator has a specific plan for your life and what comes after. If you do not believe that, hope is more elusive, challenges and suffering tougher to accept, success harder to put into meaningful perspective.

Deacon Hein suggests four introspections. What is going well in your life? What are some opportunities? How will you capitalize on those? What is not going well? What are some challenges or threats? For each challenge, define alternatives, resources, expectations. What will you change, starting next week?

Imagine you are on an island called “Now.” That is where you are today. You have to navigate across an open and potentially turbulent sea to one of three other islands. One is Paradise Island—your goals achieved, expectations met. Nearby is the Island of Lost Dreams—where you are now, only five years later. The last island is Devil’s Island, a penal colony of frustration and failure. Life planning is an exercise in navigation, not drifting off course, avoiding rocks and shoals, riding out storms, and finally reaching shore, mission accomplished, at home on Paradise Island!

Your future is a second away. There are 168 hours in the coming week, 365 days in the coming year, 1,825 days in the next five years. What is your plan?

Lewis Walker is President of Walker Capital Management, LLC. Securities and advisory services offered through The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc. (SFA). Lewis Walker is a registered representative and investment adviser representative of SFA which is otherwise unaffiliated with Walker Capital Management, LLC. lewisw@theinvestmentcoach.com

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