“When can I retire?” It may be the #1 question financial planners get asked. Some advisors try to provide a simple answer, “Just save this much monthly”. But the reality is lifestyle preferences and economic uncertainty make the question difficult to answer definitively. When it comes to predicting a client’s financial needs in retirement, it’s been said that guesses make messes.

Over time, lifestyles evolve, people encounter life-altering choices, and the economy goes through unseen peaks and valleys. The result is that accurately estimating an individual’s retirement needs is very difficult. A simple miscalculation of $500 per month can have a significant impact on retirement projections, potentially altering them by hundreds of thousands of dollars. A miscalculation of +/- a few thousand dollars per month (which is very common among business owners) can potentially have a multimillion-dollar impact on retirement goals.

One of the biggest challenges to financial planning is projecting accurate financial goals. That’s why it’s better to focus on getting clients organized so they can begin building a solid financial foundation. By helping them create a strong footing for their money decisions, clients find that they are less stressed when it comes to their finances. They are able to focus more on the things that make life worth living.

Helping clients truly understand what they should be doing with their finances today empowers them to envision what it takes to retire comfortably tomorrow. Clients want to retire to a stress-free lifestyle, one they can really enjoy. And that often starts by helping them start living with less stress in the present.