Anna Kareis, APMA®’s Post

Show 👏🏻 Me 👏🏻 Your 👏🏻 Dogs 👏🏻

Are an extra few million setting themselves up for failure because of poor communications? I think so! The 2024 Planning and Progress Study is out and reveals some really interesting things about different generations' monetary expectations. The bit I find most interesting is the stuff at the top that talks about who expects to receive money and who expects to leave it behind. I'll sum it up for those who are feeling lazy. 22% of Boomers and Gen Xers expect to leave money behind to the next generation. And you know what that's cool, fine, whatever. No one is obligated to leave money to anyone. And let's be real, a lot of folks aren't even set up well enough to make it through retirement, let alone to leave anything behind. However, things get a lil bleaker when you scroll down and see that 28% of Millennials and 36% of Gen Z's are expecting some form of inheritance. That disconnect represents millions of people who are expecting money that others aren't planning to leave to them. Because of those mismatched expectations, these folks in younger generations are likely making different decisions than they would if they had the full picture. Maybe they're not saving as much as they could be or spending more than they would. While that might not seem like much now, that money not having time to grow could have a major impact on these younger folks' retirement outlook. And they're not even aware there's a problem! If only it were as simple as having honest conversations with our family members to solve these kinds of problems. 🤔 Full study here: https://bit.ly/3WWaEdI

Are you making one of these retirement planning mistakes?

First of all, I have a new banner and it's super cute! Compliments are welcome, critiques will get you unfollowed. Choose wisely. Second of all, life as a biz dev director is sometimes disheartening. For those of you who I haven't complained to, biz dev director is sort of a catch all title for all the pots I've got my grubby fingers in for the team. Most of the time it is made up of COI relationships, marketing, events, and client/prospect experience. However, I do have a lot of ADHD so things shift. Anywho the thing that set me off most recently is on the marketing side of things. We work really hard to have a monthly theme with informative posts, cute graphics, and aa coordinating email campaign. But the most popular post of the year is the birthday post for the head of our service department. And it wasn't even a close race either. This man is the people's prince. So now me and the girlies have to go to the drawing board and figure out a way to incorporate him in all the marketing to keep the people interested. Life is rough.

“Anna, you say that your initial consultations are always free and you always try to leave folks better than you found them even if they don’t become clients, so what’s the catch?” Well the catch is that I’m kind of a weirdo who talks fast and tells weird stories. 🤷♀️

Whew, your girl gave her credit card a workout this weekend! Between a few end of summer sales and a few shows coming through later this year, there was a lot to take advantage of. Did I need all of these things? No. Did I fall victim to the get it now before it's gone? 100% Do I regret it? No. That's the power of knowing that you're still moving towards your goals even if you spend money on things that make you happy. Anyone else do a little spending this weekend?

When you receive the dreaded cryptic message right before you clock out, so you have to hit them with the ol' Uno Reverse. Surprise, now we're both nervous!

Sick and tired of the whole "my spouse is stay at home, so why would they need life insurance?" conversation. So, you're telling me that you wouldn't like the option to take an extended leave of absence if your spouse passed away suddenly? That you wouldn't find some extra financial resources to cover your sudden childcare needs helpful? Come off it! Your spouse being at home is likely a big factor in what's allowed you to be successful thus far. Don't shoot yourself in the foot by failing to protect that.

I really feel for all the folks that went through the current market volatility without hearing from their financial advisor. Our team saw it coming and sent out a mass email to all of our clients on Friday the Second. It didn't tell clients anything we haven't said before, but at least they knew that we were aware of the situation and had a plan. Sad that not everyone with an advisor can say the same...

Your savings account is probably the iceberg lettuce of your financial plan. Iceberg lettuce gets a bad rap, but it's fine. It's a good filler with a lot of water content and is better than having no lettuce at all. Much like iceberg lettuce, your savings account is probably fine. It holds the money you're not spending which is better than a deep freezer or spending the funds. But there are better options for a salad than iceberg lettuce. Options like Romaine, Kale, and Arugula likely have higher nutritional content and more flavor. Iceberg is a fine option, these are better. There are also potentially better options than your regular schmegular savings account. For funds you'll need short term, you might consider a high yield savings account. If it's money you won't need any time soon, you might consider investing it into a diversified portfolio. Like I said, your savings account is probably fine. Is fine good enough?