The summer of financial planning: MEGO

For one thing, we worked on our will. The major, although by no means only, issue, is what would happen to the Daughter if something were to happen to both her mother AND her father. This is such happy business.

Then we worked with not one, but two financial planners. OK, I personally only went to one of them, trying to figure out how I can retire in a couple years and still be able to help the Daughter through college. And what would retirement look like, since I don’t play golf?

My young bride would also like to retire eventually, and she attended some additional workshops to get a better idea what her benefits would be.

We’re developing an “asset allocation strategy that is consistent with your risk tolerance, time horizon and investment objectives so there is coordination amongst all your investment so that all your accounts are working together vs independently.”

ZZZ, what?

My risk tolerance, it must be stated, is EXTREMELY low, When I was getting those quarterly statements during the great recession, the sole (not that much of an) upside was that others were taking even a worse financial bath.

I should note that my wife LOVES this stuff, reviewing our life insurance programs – she used to sell insurance before she became a teacher again. She taught for a couple years in the mid-1980s, then returned to it at the beginning of this century after back to graduate school.

But for me, MEGO – My Eyes Glaze Over. I told our financial advisor straight off that the process was akin to going to the dentist; it’s important but painful. That initial 100-minute meeting was probably twice what my attention span could take.

That said, he was surprised, given my stated disdain for the process, that I knew Stuff. Just because it bores me doesn’t mean I’m unaware.