My son is 4 years old and he loves to build with his Mega Bloks® (think: giant LEGO® blocks for younger kids). Mostly we build “the tallest tower in the world” and depending on how much help he receives it can be a tall, wobbly tower just waiting to be knocked over – which suits him just fine. The other day, he decided that he wanted to build a large castle design that was pictured on the side of the bag of blocks. Normally, the blocks look like this before building.

I suggested to him that we should organize our blocks into groups so that we would be sure we had enough to finish the castle. Given his age and high energy level, I thought I’d be lucky to have the blocks in generalized groups but he bought in to the process and got excited about it.

In the end, we had more than enough blocks for the castle and we actually discovered that the castle in the picture did not have enough stability but that was no problem for us, we knew just what we needed to add to create a strong castle better than the picture.

Probably because I am a Financial Advisor, this immediately made me think about the financial planning process. We all have some idea in our mind of what we hope for in retirement. Maybe you hope to retire early to pursue a passion like writing a book or serving in a non-profit. Maybe you want to retire to a warmer, sunnier climate. Or maybe you just want to know that your golden years will not be full of the fear of running out of money.

Whatever the retirement goal, stated or unstated. We work and save towards it, but so many forget to stop and make sure they have all of the resources that they need. We fail to ask the questions either by ourselves or with an advisor, “Do my resources and actions match up with my retirement goals?”. It is never too late to ask these questions, though the earlier you do the more peace of mind you are likely to achieve.

In some cases, we meet with clients who after taking stock of their resources and current savings, need to make a few adjustments. There are a few obstacles to overcome, maybe they’ll need to work a few more years than they thought or save a little more than they currently were. For others, who have worked and saved, they may be missing out on life, saying no to things they would like to say yes to because they are unaware of what they have and/or how it fits with their goals. Both groups are missing out on peace and a better chance of success because they do not have a plan. Quite simply, they don’t know what they don’t know.

Admittedly, it is fun to have the conversations where you tell a client to live a little, to dream big and help them achieve even larger goals, wants, and wishes. But is also really exciting to work through the financial planning obstacles with a client and see them go from uncertainty to clarity and peace with a plan that works for them and a goal that is achievable where they thought it was not possible.

Whatever your hopes and dreams are for the future, the probability for success goes way up if you have an actual plan. Often times, it is helpful to have someone walk alongside you as you hope, dream, and plan for your future. At Moore & Shirley Financial Planning, LLC we love creating a financial plan to make our clients dreams and goals a reality.