Smooth The Road: Plan & Invest - Edition One, July 2022.
Imagine you and your partner enter a room, and embark on a challenge to win a rewarding and lucrative prize. But, to claim the prize, you must first successfully complete a difficult task.
You are given three darts and told you must hit the dartboard on the other side of the room.
Sounds easy, right? There are a few issues, however, facing you.
Firstly you have never thrown a dart in your life, let alone three of the little arrows hitting a few bullseyes!
Then, you are blindfolded, spun around randomly and told to throw your darts at a distant unseen dartboard.
What are the chances of successfully hitting the dartboard and retiring home with your rich reward?
Unfortunately, this is what many of us unwittingly do when we have no financial plan for our future. We hope day by day, week by week, that things will work out, and eventually, one day, hopefully, we will hit a bullseye.
But trying to achieve financial goals without a plan means a lot of reliance on luck. We may get lucky; sure, things may work out. But the chances of hitting the bullseye are close to none.
Even the potential of hitting the dartboard in the first place is understandably low, just as it is in the blindfolded, spinny scenario mentioned above.
Talking of which...
Now imagine you enter the same room, but this time the blindfold is removed.
You can see the dartboard clearly this time, but it is a long way on the other side of the room. After some debate, some differences over who will throw the darts and how best to do so, you finally agree to a plan.
This is a DIY plan. Yes, you have a much better chance of achieving more of your financial dartboard goals than without one. But there is a lot of uncertainty, gaps and missing strategies that come from informed professional input. How do you know you are throwing and aiming the darts properly?
So let us go back to the room with that dartboard.
Like before, there are no blindfolds; you are not spun around; instead, you now get to enter the room with a professional. An adviser, a darts coach.
They lead you up to the dartboard and guide you on what, where and how to throw your darts. With their direction and guidance, you take turns aiming for what is important for you, and you have an understanding of how to hit the dart board and hit the bullseye
So in this scenario, do you think your chances of hitting the dartboard have improved dramatically compared to the first two times? Most definitely!
And this is what it’s like working with a professional financial adviser to achieve your financial goals.
You gain clarity of what you want to achieve, what you will aim for first and then guidance on how best to throw the darts to claim your lucrative prize!
As things progress, you are helped to implement strategies to improve your outcomes further and stay on track.
So are you currently throwing darts at your financial dartboard, blindfolded, in the dark, dizzy and uncertain?
This newsletter aims to help New Zealanders on the path to financial freedom with tips and tricks from the professional financial planning process. Stay tuned for more handy insights and knowledge.
If you are ready to take the next step and want to look at how working with a financial adviser for your planning and investment needs may benefit you, please reach out for an initial no-obligation chat - I would love to hear from you.