Spring is coming! No, seriously

We’ve officially reached that part of winter where it feels like this season will never end. You know what I’m talking about – this last part of the winter where you start dogging it on shoveling, because maybe it will melt; and besides, we’re just sick and tired of it all.

I just took a look at the ten day forecast and noticed that the high temperature predicted ten days from now is around ten degrees. In March.

I’ve got news: Spring is coming. It will. It may not feel like it, but at some point … that white blanket outside will give way to mud, which will give way to tan, and then to green. That’s the way it goes.

I’m speaking the obvious because sometimes we need to hear it. Here’s another obvious statement: your retirement is coming. It may not feel like it, but at some point, you’ll hang up your key fob and …

… and what? The first part of the sentence is obvious; the second, for many folks, is unclear. What will you do when you retire? Where will you live? Will you have enough money to maintain your lifestyle?

Questions that piercing can leave you paralyzed. You may be frozen with no answers, or have one answer, and a whole bunch of wishes. Just like the weather, wishing won’t change much. It won’t make it stay cold outside. Our communal wish for spring won’t change the temperature a single degree.

If you’re looking for a solution, allow me to introduce a formula: planning > wishing.

You have questions about what will happen when you retire, and a comprehensive retirement plan is built to help answer them. Will you have enough money when you retire? Will it pay for long-term care, housing, and health care expenses? What about taxes? What will your children receive if you pass away?

Your retirement is coming. It may not feel like it, but it’s coming, sure as a change in season. Find an advisor you can trust and work through a comprehensive retirement plan, one that frees you from wishing and paralysis and lets you – hopefully, maybe by May – smell the flowers.