“Skate to where the puck is going to be.” – Wayne Gretzky The leading Point-Scorer in NHL history and holder of 61 NHL Records
Meet Up With Your Puck
While reaching for our career and financial objectives, the conditions will change constantly, so we need to make every step count, check our direction constantly, and aim where our target will be. It will seem impossible to begin with, but if we stick to a good Plan, our skills and our opportunities will grow.
The jobs that can make us rich are few, and they go to people who are gifted or have the inside track. It is safer for the rest of us to get something working for ourselves other than with our hands. We need investments that will give us money that requires little or no work. To do so requires saving money and judgment—which we can only get over time.
If we eat right and stay fit, we can live two or more decades beyond our employable years. We will need money to do so; lots of money. The cost of being in a modest assisted living facility can be between $35,000 to $60,000 per year depending on the state you live in (see Genworth Cost of Care Survey at https://www.genworth.com/aging-and-you/finances/cost-of-care.html) Medicines alone can cost more than our entire Social Security checks. We also need money to have fun and keep our family together.
Having enough money to do all of this is the puck of our financial plan. If your current trajectory will not get you there, keep revising it until it will. That’s what Series B in Get Life Right is for.
Your Plan is the map to the life you want. It sets your direction, funnels your energies toward your goals and makes you alert to more facts and ideas that can help you make your Plan happen.
In Get Life Right, Series B, Topic 1, we look deeper into planning, and choosing and using goals.
Many people make the most important decisions of their lives based on their present situation. That’s like setting sail for Tahiti in the direction that looks best from the dock! How much planning does the rest of your life deserve?
When you write a plan, it becomes the framework for your life. When you haven’t written a plan for your future, you are probably using one of these four standard plans:
- You do what seems to work until you feel pain; then you do something else.
- You follow a vague plan, which changes to suit your moods.
- You settle for whatever happens.
- You work so hard at what you are doing tat the moment that you don’t spend time planning where you want to go.
Start your plan by writing down any thoughts, wishes, and imaginings in any order. Then arrange them in the order you will most likely be able to accomplish them. The will create the most efficient path to your goals. The better you plan, the less time you’ll waste recovering from unnecessary mistakes and dead ends. Your Plan will align, prioritize, and funnel your decisions, energy, and resources toward the goals you have chosen. Start where your Plan will end and plan back toward today. That is skating to where the puck will be.
