This man is surely not alone in his thinking. Maybe you feel the same way? 

Here’s my thought: It is NOT too much to ask that a financial advisor be a competent partner in helping you pursue realistic financial goals. 

It is, however, unrealistic to expect a financial advisor to “take care of you.” Such language prompts me to mention the three common mistakes people make when working with a financial advisor.

Mistake #1: Believing everything your advisor says

You should never enter an important relationship (such as the one you have with a financial advisor) without a high level of trust. 

A relationship of trust is not, however, permission for you to turn off your brain. Your advisor should be part coach and part teacher. He/she should not only help you do the right things financially, but be able to clearly communicate the reasons for any recommendations.

On your end, you’ve got to ask good questions. And if the answers you get are vague or full of technical jargon, ask for clarification. Make sure you understand why you are being advised to do certain things. And if you’ve got an advisor who bristles when you ask honest questions, that may be a sign you’ve got the wrong advisor.

Mistake #2: Believing nothing your advisor says 

If you’ve been burned (or disappointed), it may take some time before you are ready to trust someone again. While that emotion is understandable, it is not profitable. Getting help requires some level of trust. 

While no advisor is all-knowing and perfect, many are highly competent and trustworthy. If you keep your advisor at arm’s length, never fully trusting him, your relationship will not produce the results you both want and need. 

Don’t settle for a trust-less relationship. 

Mistake #3: Abdicating instead of delegating 

I would estimate that 5-10% of the population has the time, training, and temperament to do their own financial planning. Everyone else could benefit from professional advice. 

What you get from that advisory relationship, however, is not a full-time, “financial nanny.” Having an advisor doesn’t mean you never have to think about your finances again. I have a colleague who tells prospective clients, “I don’t want to care more about your financial situation than you do.” 

When you hire a financial advisor, you are simply delegating certain aspects of your financial life to that person. You are saying, “I want to buy a portion of your time, expertise, and experience to assist me in achieving my financial goals.” 

You know you have crossed the line between delegation and abdication when you stop thinking about what’s going on with your money, and choose not to meet with your advisor to find out. A healthy advisor-client relationship means staying in touch and staying informed. 

Bottom-line: It’s your money and your future. Ultimately, you will reap the benefits or suffer the consequences of the financial choices you make. 

If you are part of that 90-95% of the population that could benefit from professional help, find an advisor you can trust…and partner with him or her. 

And so that you’ll be ready to discuss your financial future with that advisor, grab my free list of “30-Something Questions for People Who are 60-Something.” Email me at bmoore@argentadvisors.com and I’ll send it to you right away.

Argent Advisors, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment adviser. A copy of our current written disclosure statement discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request. Please See Important Disclosure Information here.

Beaches are packed, Disney is bustling, and national parks and campgrounds are turning away visitors.

Our renewed wanderlust means a reintroduction to a regular feature of road trips: potholes! 

We’ve all had the unpleasant experience of driving along and hitting a pothole we didn’t see. Ouch! The vehicle creaks, the driver curses, and everyone in the back seat cries out from the jolt. 

“Why doesn’t someone fix that thing?” someone in the car moans—as they see stars and rub their aching head. Good question! It’s possible to fix a pothole before a minor bump becomes a major BAM! 

“Why doesn’t someone fix that thing?” is also a smart question to ask yourself about the potholes in your financial life. You probably don’t see them, but they are out there…right in your path. And if you hit one, it could just be a minor irritation. Or it could lead to an expensive or even catastrophic outcome. 

Better to be proactive and fix the potholes before you hit them.

What are the common potholes that you may need to fill in your own financial life? Here are a five to consider.

• Overspending. 

A recent Bloomberg article claimed that half the households in America with a $250,000 income live paycheck to paycheck. If you have that much income and little or no savings, you’re looking at a pothole with the potential to become a Grand Canyon of trouble. 

• Undersaving. 

Is this the flip side of #1? Maybe. But you don’t have to be making $250,000 to be able to save money. The way to start is to save first, then spend what’s left over. If you spend first, hoping you’ll have money left to save…you won’t. 

• Being mis-insured.

Many have insurance. Others complain of being “insurance poor.” What I often see are people spending money on the wrong kinds of insurance. Better to self-insure for little things and the low-dollar stuff. Buy insurance to protect against big catastrophes, not small inconveniences. 

• Not updating one’s investments. 

When was the last time you made a change to the investments in your portfolio? You should be regularly updating your investment or retirement account. Your asset allocation needs to align with your current stage in life and reflect the realities of the current economy. 

• Not having a retirement income plan. 

This last one is the most important one of all. It involves all aspects of your financial life: protection, debt-reduction, savings, growth, and retirement. It isn’t sufficient to simply have savings and investments. A 401(k) is a very useful savings and investment tool; it’s not the same as a plan for generating regular income in retirement. 

Hey, road tripper, have fun this summer! But be safe. The potholes are out there. So don’t get careless or think you’re somehow immune. 

And, as far as the potholes in your financial life—be smart. Take steps to fix them now.

To help you do just that, I wrote an e-book called “How to Put Money Worries in Your Rear View Mirror: The Financial Freedom Roadmap.” It’s free if you’d like a copy. Just email me at bmoore@argentadvisors.com, and I’ll send it to you right away.

Argent Advisors, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment adviser. A copy of our current written disclosure statement discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request. Please See Important Disclosure Information here.

Something in us loves to compare—and do whatever “everyone else is doing.” When it comes to finances, this is rarely wise:

• Right now, some 2 million homeowners are three months behind on their mortgage payments. 
• Nearly half of all Americans are carrying credit card debt balances. And many of them make only the minimum payment each month. 
• The median savings for a 50-year-old is about $117,000. But according to The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, someone that age should have savings of six to seven times their annual income.

See? Following the crowd when it comes to finances can lead to trouble! So why do people do it? Three reasons:

• Ignorance. That’s not an insult. If you grew up in an environment where money was never discussed or finances were constantly mishandled, how could you possibly know what to do? When people don’t learn the dangers of debt, or aren’t taught the importance of saving, they automatically imitate what they see “everyone else” doing.  

• Insecurity. Some don’t lack knowledge. On the contrary, they have so much financial information, they’re paralyzed. When this happens to people who lack confidence, they start “counting” opinions rather than “weighing” them. They get swayed by the quantity of advice, instead of its quality. As a result, they tend to opt for short-term comfort in the company of the majority.

• Influence. If there’s one thing social media has taught us, it’s that groups don’t look favorably on members who “don’t fit in.” Sticking out will get you kicked out! For many, this kind of peer pressure stokes a powerful fear of being ridiculed or even ostracized. The result is unhealthy conformity.

How can you fight against these tendencies, and avoid becoming a kind of “financial lemming”? Three recommendations:  

• Watch your emotions. Emotions serve a valid purpose, but that purpose isn’t to help you make big decisions under heavy pressure. In fact, strong, unchecked emotions like fear and insecurity will only push you towards “doing what everyone else is doing.” 

Within a framework of wisdom, emotions help make life worth living. Without such a framework, they make life a living hell. So…

• Seek wisdom to form convictions. Strong opinions are a dime a dozen. But convictions based on wisdom are immensely valuable. What is wisdom? It’s good judgment that comes from one’s personal knowledge and experience. And how about this: You can also glean wisdom from the knowledge and experience of others! 

As you form convictions based on wisdom (rather than “what everyone else is doing”), you can…

• Consider your specific situation. This is where real change happens. Right now, you face a unique set of circumstances, some of your own making and some over which you have no control. 

You don’t get to choose your age, race, or family background. But you do have the power of choice when it comes to things like education and occupation…and how you handle the money you’ve got. 

It may be that you need a financial plan. Without even knowing you, I can say this: Your plan should probably look very different from the way most people you know are living their financial lives. 

So, stop asking “What is everyone else doing?” Instead, do what most people are NOT doing: Begin to formulate a wise financial plan.

To help you think through such issues, I’ve created a comprehensive checklist of pre-retirement questions for people who are 60-something. It’s free if you’d like a copy. Just email me at bmoore@argentadvisors.com, and I’ll send it to you right away.

Argent Advisors, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment adviser. A copy of our current written disclosure statement discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request. Please See Important Disclosure Information here.

Their number one question? “Couldn’t I be doing better with my money?”

I always have to smile.

These driven individuals are used to optimizing everything they touch—or at least trying to. If they have three rental properties today, they want to own five a year from today. If their business brought in $1.5 million this year, they’d like to double that in two years.

Entrepreneurs aren’t interested in “good” or even “better.” They yearn for the “best.” And that’s usually a good thing—for them and for us. When innovative entrepreneurs compete, the consumer is usually the beneficiary. 

But like a jet pilot seeking to go faster and faster, entrepreneurs need to realize that at some point they’ve got to come in for a landing. 

This is why, when having financial conversations with hard-charging entrepreneurs, I don’t try to tell them how to go faster (i.e., make more money). They’re usually pretty good at that. 

Instead, I help them realize the importance of recognizing when and how to slow down. I show them ways to protect and preserve what they’ve made so they’ll one day be able to pass on their prosperity. I don’t want to see anyone crash and burn financially.

We talk about cash, government bonds, and insurance. They bring up stocks, private equity, alternative investments—even Bitcoin (not something I recommend, but a topic I am often asked about). 

Invariably the restless question comes.

“But couldn’t I be doing better with my money?”

And my answer is, “Yes…unless…”

Unless “something” happens to that beautifully optimized business of yours—like an unexpected change in the legal or civic environment that literally puts you out of business overnight. Or a regional economic collapse (think: Louisiana in the 1980s). Or a national financial crisis like we had in 2008. Or a global pandemic (like we’re having now). 

Or unless “something” happens to you personally—like a devastating accident, a prolonged illness, or a disability that takes away your earning power.

Don’t get me wrong. “Faster” has its place. For a big portion of any jet flight, speed is what you want. But when it’s time to “come in for a landing,” a good pilot knows he or she needs to trim the speed. 

Touching down at 550 mph is not recommended by the FAA.

In other words, both progress and protection matter. “Taking risks” and “playing it safe” are both necessary actions. Asking which one is more important is like asking which wing of a jet is more important. We need both! 

Entrepreneurs are smart to realize that when it comes to their money, trying to “optimize” everything, all the time, doesn’t tend to work out well. There are times and places when “satisfaction” is preferable to “optimization.” 

What does financial “satisfaction” look like—especially as one prepares to “land”? 

It might mean redeploying some assets from higher risk (and potentially higher growth) investments to assets that provide stability, safety and certainty…. things like cash, bonds, insurance, and guaranteed income annuities. 

In short, when it comes to your finances, it’s wrong to think you have to choose between growth (“optimizing”) and safety (being “satisfied”). It isn’t one versus the other. It’s a balance of the two.

The best way to achieve this kind of balance is with a plan—a plan that doesn’t seek to predict the future (impossible) but prepares for the uncertainties and surprises life brings. 

A great way to understand this delicate interplay between an “optimizing” mindset and a “satisfied” mindset is to read my free e-book “How to Put Money Worries in Your Rear View Mirror – The Financial Freedom Roadmap.” I’ll be glad to get you a free copy if you’ll email at bmoore@argentadvisors.com and ask for one.

Argent Advisors, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment adviser. A copy of our current written disclosure statement discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request. Please See Important Disclosure Information here.

A healthy company. A strong management team. The freedom to come and go. 

“Maybe it’s time,” he told me. “Time to pass on my business to my adult children—even though they’re not actually in the business. I’m thinking that if they’d just let the team I’ve put in place run things, it would be a smooth transition. What do you think?”

“Let’s play it out,” I responded. “Let’s say you walk away. You move to a secluded island. Or you get an RV and start traveling nonstop. You’re not just gone. You’re gone gone! 

“For the first couple months, nothing changes in the business. But then two members of the management team have a disagreement. It’s not a big deal. In the past something like this would have ended up in your office. You’d have handled it quickly, and in 24 hours nobody would remember it. 

But with you gone, and less experienced hands at the wheel, a brokered resolution never emerges. 

“As time passes, the disagreement festers into a bitter conflict. Words get exchanged. Motives get maligned. Slowly, factions form, and a key leader quits in frustration. 

“Now your ‘strong management team’ is weak. And workplace morale is in the toilet.

“And it isn’t just morale. What about money? Right now, when your team members make financial decisions, your presence provides a healthy sense of accountability.

“Who’ll be monitoring all those expenditures when you’re off swimming with the manatees in Florida?”

My friend’s eyes widened. He was crashing into a truth every business owner needs to consider: Your presence means more than you realize. And your absence leaves a greater void than you think.

(If you REALLY want to grapple with this reality, sometime over the next few weeks watch the holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life.)

My friend wasn’t on a wrong path. He’d actually cracked the code of success! His business could function without his day-to-day presence. That’s rare and admirable.

But no business can be healthy long-term without strong leadership. Translation: Every family business needs a well-thought-out succession plan.

If you’ve got a family business you want to remain viable, you need that too. Consider four components of a wise succession plan.

1. Family advice. Since you’ve never overseen a big transition like this before, seek outside help. It’s a tricky process. The stakes are too high, and family dynamics are usually too complex to wing it. 

Fortunately, there are wise advisors out there who have assisted many family businesses with successions. Interview several. Choose one. (Call or email me if you need a referral to someone.)

2. Family meeting. Maybe like my friend, you have a vague idea that you want to work until you drop, then pass on the business to your heirs. 

But do they know that? If not, you need to schedule a family meeting and tell them. Your advisor can help facilitate this critical gathering.

3. Family plan. Family members will surely ask a lot of questions. They’ll likely express concerns, excitement, hesitations, and/or interest. The good news? Out of such communication, you may actually get a rough draft for a successful family business transition! 

4. Family partnership, power, and pay. You want your transition plan to involve a gradual ramping up of the partnership, power, and pay of the family members who will one day inherit your business. 

Involving them in strategy (the partnership part), allowing them to take part in certain decisions (the power part) and remunerating them for their efforts (the pay part) will engage them even as they get up to speed about the business.

My friend aced the class on how to start and grow a profitable business. If you’ve accomplished a similar feat, give yourself an “A.” 

But just like my friend—and every business owner—there’s still a final final. 

The test? “Securing a successful succession.”That’s one exam you don’t want to flunk!

Argent Advisors, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment adviser. A copy of our current written disclosure statement discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request. Please See Important Disclosure Information here.

People in our lives who live in a chronic state of financial mess. When it comes to money, they habitually make poor choices.

There’s the friend who overspends. Despite his big salary, he’s got even bigger debt. There’s the parent who under-saves. The sibling who comes to you annually for “just a little help” because they lost money—again—in some sketchy investment.

It’s agonizing to watch, isn’t it? It kills you to see loved ones struggle. You want to help—get them to meet with your financial planner, read that book that was so helpful to you, anything.

Occasionally it happens. They show up and say they’re ready to get their financial act together. So you step in—again—and help. And nothing changes.

Here are a couple of things I’ve learned: First, it’s not enough for people to NEED change in their lives. They have to really WANT to change. Second, when you help people who don’t really want to change, you actually hurt them. 

It’s called enabling. It’s not your intent, but you actually enable them to continue down the road of financial foolishness.

I won’t kid you – situations of the type I am describing rarely turn out well. The person in the enabler role continues to hope, plead, and give . . . and the enabled person continues to deny reality, play the role of manipulator, and take. The dance often doesn’t stop until the enabler crashes.

And guess what the irresponsible person does then? He or she goes and finds someone else to take from.

I know. This isn’t easy to hear (it’s even harder to do). But if, in a genuine effort to be helpful and loving, you’ve actually been enabling someone, you need to do three things:

1. Be honest with yourself. Look hard at what you have been doing. Call it what it is, enabling. Stop rationalizing what your friend/loved one has been doing. It’s manipulation, pure and simple. They’re taking from you—and probably others too.

2. Draw some financial boundaries. Easier said than done, I realize. But if you want to save yourself (and maybe…just maybe…your sibling/child/friend), decide now that you have given your last dollar to them. 

Even if he’s late on his bills. Even if she loses her car to repossession. Even if they say they’re about to lose their house. Honor that boundary!

Because if you don’t make that kind commitment to yourself, a skilled taker (and talker) will keep working you till kingdom come. 

3. Let your loved one experience natural financial consequences. This is the heart of the issue. Many people have created lives for themselves where they never feel any pain for their financial misbehavior. They can always find one or two “soft touches” to shield them or bail them out. 

Listen, the only way enabled people can be motivated to live differently is for them to have to face the natural consequences of their actions (or inactions). True transformation only comes when we confront—and wrestle with—hard things (like the financial messes we ourselves have created.)

A warning: When you draw a firm financial boundary and stick to it, your enabled person will likely declare that you no longer love him. He’ll play the victim and try to make you feel guilty. He may even go find someone else to be his patsy. As painful as that is, it’s still better than the enabling relationship that exists now.

You can’t change another person. But you can change your own behavior. You can stop doing things that are keeping the one you love from experiencing needed change.

The only question is: Will you?

Argent Advisors, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment adviser. A copy of our current written disclosure statement discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request. Please See Important Disclosure Information here.

We chuckle, but it’s true.

Lending institutions couldn’t stay in business long if they loaned money to folks who couldn’t repay them (with interest). 

So banks are careful. They consider the risks before issuing a loan. We should do likewise before taking their money and going into debt.

When is debt constructive? When is it destructive? A brief examination of three popular approaches to debt can help us know the difference.

1. Debt instead of discipline. Debt is destructive when it is used because forethought, planning, and self-discipline were not.

Some people seem to believe credit cards possess a magical capacity to create wealth at the point of purchase. Quite the opposite actually. Once you start “revolving” credit on your card, every purchase you make increases in price due to the interest you’re paying. So those shoes costing $200 actually cost you $236 if you’re using a credit card that charges 18% interest.

People who live like this soon find themselves in a modern-day debtors’ prison. Their cards are maxed out but they’re still paying hundreds each month just to maintain their minimum payments.

It’s a painful existence.

Debt is simply a magnifying tool. It makes bad financial decisions worse and good financial decisions better.

Here’s a second approach to borrowing money:

2. Debt instead of delay. Years ago I met a man who had been listening to a Christian financial guru who argued that any and all debt was a sin against God. 

As a result, the man refused to take out a mortgage to buy a house. He would only purchase a home when he could pay cash. Consequently, he moved his family into a run-down rental property in a not-so-great neighborhood. It was the only place he could find a house large enough to accommodate his family.

What this man failed to realize is that what he saved in interest he lost in time. You only get to raise your family once. Constructive use of debt would have allowed him to raise his family in a better setting. 

Using debt to buy a home can be a very wise thing. Especially during times like these when lenders are “selling money” at all time lows. 

Here’s a third popular approach to debt:

3. Debt instead of diversion. I’ve had clients with enough assets to pay off their mortgages. Doing this would have made them debt-free. Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

But they also had the opportunity to buy into the business where they worked. They understood the business and saw its bright future. There was a good chance any money they put into the business would double in the next five years. 

Some in this situation would decide to be debt-free and be done with it. That’s a good choice for them.

My clients chose to keep their mortgage payments and invest their available cash in their business. Nothing is risk free, but they didn’t want to “divert” dollars away from their highest growth potential. 

Keeping some debt so they could invest instead—debt instead of diversion—was their best choice.

Debt is simply a magnifying tool. It makes bad financial decisions worse and good financial decisions better. 

I have a chapter on debt in my book “How to Put Your Money Worries In Your Rear View Mirror – The Financial Freedom Roadmap.” I’ll be glad to get you a free copy if you’ll email at bmoore@argentadvisors.com and ask for one.

Argent Advisors, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment adviser. A copy of our current written disclosure statement discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request. Please See Important Disclosure Information here.

In desperation, the coach summons the young man’s mother. She marches onto campus and proceeds to turns her son’s world upside down. She even attends class with him and “volunteers” him to recite all the answers she’s made him memorize! Everyone laughs as the basketball star squirms from embarrassment.

It’s a picture of great parenting. We see a mother’s clear priorities and obvious devotion. We witness her willingness to make big sacrifices. We marvel at her iron resolve to make sure her son has the work ethic he needs to succeed. 

The problem comes when this noble approach to child rearing gets applied to business building. (And it happens more often than you think.)

Your children are your children. Your business is your business. The latter needs to work for the former.

Businesses are extremely valuable, but they’re not children. They don’t deserve ultimate devotion. Sadly, however, many entrepreneurs view their business creations as beloved family members. They’d give up anything to see their business grow and prosper. 

All too often, this results in a damaged family, a business that’s only marginally healthy, and a financially stunted owner. 

Here are three ways you can avoid unhealthy business priorities (and the pain they leave behind):

1. Differentiate between a hobby and a business. Sometimes people daydream about their passions—e.g., cooking, bass fishing, showing hospitality, doing home improvement projects—and think, “It would be fun” to: open a restaurant, become a fishing guide, run a bed and breakfast, flip houses, etc.

Interests like these can be either a fun (and often expensive) hobby or a legitimate business. Either option is fine. It’s just vital not to confuse the two. The difference is this: If it’s going to be a business, you’ve got to . . .

2. Determine to make a profit (or plan to perish). Profits are the natural results of a well-run business that offers a product or service that helps people solve a problem. If the business doesn’t offer something customers want at a price that’s attractive yet also high enough to deliver a profit, the business will cease to exist. 

A successful business needs both—a desirable product and a pricing structure that both satisfies customers and sustains the company’s growth. The name for a business that fails on either or both of these fronts? Defunct.

3. Decide to put your profit ahead of the business’s profit. If you decide you want a profitable business, not just an enjoyable hobby, fine. But don’t stop there. Make your family’s financial health top priority. 

I’ve seen so many business owners postpone their life—and the lives of those they love—for the “health” of the business they own. 

They maintain ridiculously low salaries for themselves, while “re-investing” all those hard-earned profits back into the business. By refusing to borrow money to grow the business (“I’m saving interest!”), they rob themselves and deprive their family. 

Do you really want to lower your salary to make the books look better? Do you think it’s a good idea to put all profits back into the business if the business can’t even afford to pay today’s low interest rates on a commercial loan?

Forcing your business to carry its own weight will keep you honest about how healthy the business really is and how healthy your personal balance sheet ought to be.

Before you automatically plow profits back into the business, pay yourself. Demand that your business “earn” any bonuses or “raises.”

It is good to sacrifice for our children, to make them top priority, to go the extra thousand miles to see them succeed. Our “commercial offspring,” while important, are not worthy of that kind of extreme devotion. 

Your children are your children. Your business is your business. The latter needs to work for the former.

Best to not get that confused. 

Argent Advisors, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment adviser. A copy of our current written disclosure statement discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request. Please See Important Disclosure Information here.

Like the financial secrets you’ve been keeping from your spouse.

Gulp. Oh, yeah. Those.

I’m convinced this happens because some financial realities are painful to face. And yet the pain of dealing with those issues now is nothing compared to the pain that awaits those who procrastinate. And there’s also this: When secrets are discovered rather than revealed, the problem gets even bigger and messier.

If you’re keeping significant financial secrets from your spouse, I’m guessing you’re not only hiding problems from them, but also, to the degree possible, from yourself. 

For example, you get your credit card statement, but you don’t look closely at how much you owe or how long it will take to pay off the debt. You just make the minimum payment as quickly as possible, so that you won’t have to think about it again for 30 more days.

Or your spouse thinks you’re filing an income tax return every year, but you’re aren’t. And so you live in fear of being discovered. By your spouse and the IRS.

All you are doing is kicking the can down the road. And each time you do, the can gets bigger (and uglier).

Here’s a better plan than keeping secrets and worrying: Spill the beans, face the truth, assess the problem, attack the problem, and celebrate the victory.

• Spill the beans. You need to come clean to your spouse. The secrecy has to end. If you can’t do that by yourself, bring in a trusted third party to help break the news. But don’t just break the news—bring a commitment to work on a plan to solve the issue. 

• Face the truth. This isn’t a time for finger pointing and blaming. That won’t solve anything. What will help is owning your part in creating the mess. Did you do things you shouldn’t have done? Did you fail to do things you should have done? Then admit it. The five words “I’m sorry. Please forgive me” have great power when said sincerely and followed by a change in behavior.

• Assess the problem. The first order of business after everything is in the open and you’ve taken responsibility is to size up the problem. Again, when couples enlist the assistance of a trusted third party, this part can be much easier. You’ve got to get a handle on what you owe, how much money is coming in, how much you are spending, etc.

• Attack the problem. This is the long, hard part. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say, “This will test your marriage.” Overcoming a financial crisis might draw you closer, but there are no guarantees. It’s really up to you. What will be your attitude in addressing this situation? Blame and resentment—there will be ample opportunity for both. Or grace, humility, and a mutual resolve to get out of the pit…together…no matter what. 

I strongly suggest the latter.

• Celebrate the victory. It you do choose the later and work through this struggle together, you’ll have much to celebrate. You will have finished the marathon, climbed the mountain, gone the distance.

If you are keeping financial secrets from your spouse today, you’re facing a future of even greater pain. Don’t do it. Come clean, and get the help you need for a future that leads to rejoicing instead of regret.

A great place to start is by reading my new e-book “How to Put Money Worries in Your Rear View Mirror – The Financial Freedom Roadmap.” It’s free—and a quick read. Email me at bmoore@argentadvisors.com and I’ll get it to you right away. 

Argent Advisors, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment adviser. A copy of our current written disclosure statement discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request. Please See Important Disclosure Information here.

Even the “rich and famous” are part of this will-less majority.

The artist known as Prince died without a will. So did singer Aretha Franklin. Lest you think this phenomenon is restricted to “temperamental creative types,” Martin Luther King never got around to creating a will. Neither did billionaire Howard Hughes or President Abraham Lincoln.

Experience shows us again and again that dying without a will results in hassles and headaches. When Pablo Picasso passed away at 91, he was reportedly worth $90 million. However, because he’d never taken the time to spell out his wishes, it took six years and a third of his wealth (in legal fees) to settle his estate. 

Why don’t more people take this important step? Looking at the names above, it obviously isn’t due to laziness or stupidity. If anything, failing to write a will stems from busyness and distraction . . . and a few wrong assumptions. 

This isn’t intended to make you feel sheepish or guilty. It is intended to encourage you to start the process today.

Here are four of the most common:

1. Assuming “I’ll have time to do that later.” You may. But you may not. Here’s what we can say for sure: You and I are not going to live forever. We each have an expiration date.

2. Assuming loved ones (or judges) can read your mind. The subject of death makes most folks uncomfortable. We’d rather talk about anything else. But not talking about end-of-life realities doesn’t make them go away. 

And besides, if you keep your mouth shut (and your desires unrecorded), you’re asking others to read your mind. Your loved ones can’t do that when you’re alive. It’ll be even harder when you’re gone

3. Assuming they can read a document they cannot find. If you’ve created a will, fantastic! Well done! Now, do your heirs know where you keep it? And do they know the whereabouts of all your other important financial documents?

I recently heard about a man who left his “stock portfolio” to a favorite charity. His heirs figured they knew exactly what that phrase meant. They promptly delivered what they assumed were all the necessary documents to the fortunate charity.

The only problem? The man had additional stock (of which the heirs had no knowledge and no documentation). And because this “extra” stock account had been inactive for a long period of time, the state was preparing to take legal possession of it through a process know by its Latin name, escheating. Thankfully, another party got wind of these developments and intervened. 

Transferring this additional stock took over two years, but ultimately the charity received more than $1 million! 

The moral of the story?  Make sure your heirs know exactly where you keep both your will and all your important paperwork. Otherwise, your wealth may not end up where you want.

4. Assuming those you’re leaving behind can read your heart. Have you ever poured out your heart in a letter to your spouse? To your children? To lifelong friends? (A friend of mine calls these his “just in case” letters.)

Grieving spouses, children, and friends would give almost anything to hear “I love you!” one more time. You can give the special people in your life that experience by expressing your deepest feelings on paper and storing those letters with your will and other important estate documents. A million dollar inheritance might be gone in just a few years. But a heartfelt letter expressing your affection? That’s something they’ll treasure their whole lives.

If you are one of the estimated 64% of Americans that have not written a will, this isn’t intended to make you feel sheepish or guilty. It is intended to encourage you to start the process today. 

If you need some guidance, I’ve got a great checklist of things for you to think about before you go see an attorney. I’ll gladly send it to you if you email me at bmoore@argentadvisors.com. Just say, “Send me the free estate planning checklist.”

No more procrastination and no more assuming. Start planning now.

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