Early Career Goals

In this stage of life it is extremely important to be as efficient as possible.  Typically with so many demands on the budget, it requires effort to try to stretch each dollar to do as many jobs as possible.  Unfortunately, so many families have each piece of their financial life operating independently rather than working together to accomplish the greatest amount of work with the least amount of effort.  Now is a great time to start working with an advisor that can help you bring all the pieces together.

In your early career your are likely beginning to make a lot of major capital purchases.  Your first home.  As kids come along maybe you're upgrading to a larger home.  Those 2-door cars may now be too small for the family so maybe a minivan or SUV is more appropriate.  Every demand creates a greater expense.  Insurance is more expensive for all these things you're acquiring.  Unfortunately, there will be major expenses throughout your lifetime - a new roof when you weren't expecting it, vacations, weddings, vehicles - and on and on and on...

There are some very important financial concepts that you need to get your head around now before the losses begin to pile up.

You may have aspirations for your kids going to college, and it will get here sooner than you think.  The biggest mistake that we see as college planners is that people decimate their retirement in order to pay for college for their kids.  This is totally unnecessary if you do the proper planning.  As we often say in our college planning practice, "College Planning is Retirement Planning" because you must take both into consideration at the same time if you're going to do either one.

Retirement is a long way off for you, but it should definitely be on your radar.  Fortunately, if you will take the time to learn a few valuable lessons now, you may be able to have a better retirement than most of your peers because you have a lot of time on your side.  Even if there is not a lot left over to save right now, you should still begin to formulate a plan.  Having a plan and understanding the strategies that will result in a successful retirement are the keys.