2020 Winter Newsletter: Kansas City

ELEVATED INSIDER

Making Time Tangible

Here we are. It’s the start of another year, it’s all anew again. I think the year 2020 sounds like science fiction; when you think back to when you were younger, could you even imagine living in the year 2020? Maybe you’re like me and find yourself meeting this new year with a combination of awe and unease. I’m uneasy because I tend to look back and ask myself, “Am I living the life I want?” I look ahead and think, “What will I do going forward, knowing what I know now?”

A number of years ago, I came across a concept that’s helped me and I wonder if it can help you too. It’s a way to reframe time so that it’s more tangible. It’s called ‘Momento Mori’ which translates to ‘remember that you will die.’ And while that can sound pretty bleak and ominous, the result of this exercise is quite the opposite. In short, you create a chart that represents each week with a box and includes a box for each week of a life lived to normal life expectancy. With each week that passes, you black out a box. The effect of seeing one’s life that’s already been lived – and the life that may still be remaining – can allow us to make choices with our time that are truly in alignment with our desires. It clears the noise and clutter to help us arrive at a place of healthy urgency. The chart screams at you to live well because it’s not going to last forever. I encourage you to create a chart for yourself.

Using this newfound sense of time as a backdrop, we bring you some thoughts this issue that really highlight the need for deliberate retirement planning. In Back to the Basics, we consider how budgeting your money in anticipation of retirement can help you make the best use of your time freedom in retirement. Then in Briefcase Study we discuss a big pension decision that many retirees must make and how to think through it.

With a new year upon us, many of your friends, family, and neighbors may be considering how to get a better handle on their retirement planning. Would you consider encouraging them to attend one of our retirement classes? We continue to believe that an educated retiree is a more successful retiree. These classroom sessions offer people an opportunity to immerse themselves in an education session that allows them to make better decisions with their financial and time resources. If you’ve been positively impacted by the work we do, is it possible that a friend may also find benefit? Please consider how you might be the very help they’re looking for this year.

Thanks for who you are and for what you do. We’re better together and 2020 looks to be an exciting time to live your best life…on purpose.