Points on the Board

There came a time late in the game when Coach Adams called a play that we had been working on all season for just that right time to clinch the victory. It was a trick play that is no longer allowed in football.  Basically, at the end of a play, one of your guys—usually the running back—runs off the field over to the coach who is “setting up” the play. 

At this time you only have ten players on the field for your team.  As you are breaking the huddle to run the next offensive play, the coach sends the running back onto the field with last second instructions who sends the “hot” receiver, usually also another running back, to run off the field over to the coach.  Just before this running back gets to the sideline, you snap the ball and the running back breaks up the field, all alone, and you throw the ball to him for a touchdown.  Unfortunately for us, our guy did not catch the ball and we ended up in the tie.

On the bus going back to Nacogdoches, we were lamenting the poor conditions and the fact that our “trick” play that we hoped would win the game for us did not work out as planned.  We would have won the game if the running back could have caught the ball and run for a touchdown because no defensive back was anywhere near as the ball came to him.

Coach Adams was going around the bus checking on the players to see if everyone was ok and to inquire about injuries and so forth.  As he came towards me I said, “we should have beat these guys, if only we could have caught the ball and scored a touchdown, we would have won the game.”  Coach Adams looked at me with piercing eyes and said, “yeah Barnett, if ifs and buts were candies and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas.  We should have been able to drive down the field and put some ‘points on the board’.”

From the looks of many people who come seeking retirement planning advice, it seems that most Americans are hoping for a “trick” play to rescue them from failing to move the ball down the field and put some points on the board.

Are you in the fourth quarter, behind a few points, facing a fourth and six from your own 40 yard line?  Does it look hopeless?  Or, do you have the drive and determination to get down in the trenches and make a new plan to come out ahead and win the game of life?  Even if the score is 60 – 0, you should still be trying to find a way to put some “points on the board.” 

By making small advances—“baby steps”—you can find a way to make progress toward realizing your goal.  It is never too late to get started.  You just have to change the way that you view the world from, “I need a ‘hail Mary’ pass for a touchdown” to a “let’s get some positive yards so that we can keep putting points on the board.”

Just as important, you have to stop doing self-destructive things that take points off the board like paying taxes unnecessarily or making bad investments.

This book is a “how to” book designed to give you a few ideas of how to begin to put some points on the board and avoid taking points off of the board.  Ultimately, you should, in the author’s opinion, try to get with a team of advisors and map out a strategy or a plan for getting your “financial house in order.”  Sometimes, however, we dread taking this important first step because we fear that we will have to make big life changing decisions that are hard to change later on if we make a mistake.  In addition, we resist trying to solve all of our financial problems with one big plan.

The reality is that retirement planning is and should be a process.  A starting point, if you will.  You may be “retired” for 20, 30, or more years.  It is absolutely critical that you find out where you are right now and figure out what you will need to do now and in retirement so that you do not run out of money and be forced to live with family, or worse, in a nursing home paid for by Medicaid.

Once you have a budget, or determine how much money that you will need per month to maintain the lifestyle that you will want in your retirement, you can take your assets and liabilities and figure out at what rate your money will have to grow and at what rate you will distribute the cash flow to meet your current and future budget, accounting for inflation.

You should try a number of different scenarios and “what ifs” and run Monte Carlo simulations to see if the plan is going to work or if you will have to “jiggle” it a bit.  Maybe you will have to reduce your anticipated lifestyle, delay retirement, have a more aggressive investment portfolio, lower the rate of distribution of assets, or maybe take a part time job to make up for a shortfall in income.

These are all personal decisions based on what you and your spouse want in your life.  And these decisions should be talked about and put to bed by both you and your spouse so that you can work together to realize your goals.  But you must get a handle on it as soon as possible.  Waiting for the right time may put you back or make it harder to reach your goals once you realize what you actually want.  The risks of “winging it” are too great.

Getting this part of your life handled will have many benefits for you.  One, you will get some peace of mind and reduce stress by knowing what you need to do to win at retirement.  Second, you will have a benchmark for determining if your “plan” is working out over the years.  And third, if your plan is not working, you will have an opportunity to make changes so that you get back on track and keep putting points on the board and continue to avoid strategies that will take points off of the board.