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“I’ve yet to meet anyone who regretted being early on a good decision.”
After a few decades of doing this work, I can tell you that most of the worst mistakes in a family’s financial life are the result of a long string of small postponements.
- The estate plan conversation gets pushed another year.
- The buy-sell agreement or valuation isn’t prioritized.
- A spouse is in the dark on the current financial condition of the family.
- The decision to delay retirement, assuming we’ll still be very healthy in a few years.
It’s not that people don’t care as much as we’re prone to being short-sighted. The next vacation, the new house, the new grandchild, make sure there’s always something right in front of you that feels more pressing than the things ten years away.
People delay making the hard call because they’re waiting for the “right time” or “better conditions.” They hold cash because the market feels uncertain, or they avoid tax strategy meetings because, frankly, not everyone thinks they’re fun.
And yet, every one of those choices has a future version of you attached to it. With a few decades as an advisor, I’ve sat with families in each season of life. In the future, you will either say, “I’m glad we took care of that when we did,” or “I wish we hadn’t waited.”
What am I trying to say here? This would be my challenge: think of one area of your financial life that keeps getting pushed to the back burner. Then ask, what would the future me thank me for doing now?
Maybe it’s finishing the trust work. Maybe it’s cleaning up partnership documents. Maybe it’s finally talking with your kids about what’s coming next.
Whatever it is, don’t wait for perfect timing. I’ve yet to meet anyone who regretted being early on a good decision.
