We’re right in the middle of football season and many people are spending lots of time on the weekend following their favorite team. Since it’s fresh in our minds, let’s see if we can’t get a little financial value out of what we’re watching. On this show, we’re going to take some strategies from the game and apply them to our financial planning.  

The Financial Red Zone

If you’re a football fan, you know that it’s critical for your team to perform well in the red zone. These final twenty yards require a high level of execution and give you very little room for error. Success in the red zone usually means your team will win the game.

In finance, it’s very similar. We consider the 5-10 years before retirement and the five years into retirement to be the financial red zone. Paying attention to the details like saving more and budgeting becomes a priority, but so does avoiding mistakes. The years are crucial because you don’t have the time to correct poor decisions like taking too much risk. Now is the time to be protecting what you have and making sure everything is in place for retirement.

The Hurry-Up Offense

You typically see this faster-pace approach when a team is running out of time and needs to gain a lot of ground in a short period. When the game speeds up, teams and players become more prone to making mistakes. We see this unfold in finance when people feel like they’re behind in saving and investing. If they don’t think they have enough money for retirement, they begin to take on more risk and look for the home run.

Don’t get into that dangerous mindset of gambling with your retirement because this money is meant to last you for the rest of your lifetime. We all want more money and probably need some element of growth, but we all don’t need aggressive growth and the risk that comes with it.  

The Victory Formation

There’s no better feeling than having a win in hand and getting in the victory formation to run out the clock. When a team gets to this point, they know there’s no need to try anything that might put the win at risk so they take a knee and finish it off. Why play a game that you’ve already won?

With retirement, we all want to get to the point where all we need to do is just not mess up. People fall into two groups: those who have saved enough to retire and those who have not. You need to know which one of these you’re in because if you have saved enough and don’t need to grow your money anymore, then we want to make sure you don’t blow it. You only have one shot to get retirement right.

Good Coaches Make a Difference

People all across the New England area know how important good coaching is to the success of a team or franchise. We’ve seen it first-hand for nearly 20 years in Foxboro. Players can have all the talent in the world, but if they don’t have a gameplan to get the most out of that talent, then you often see them underachieve.

In financial planning, an advisor is there to be your coach. We often see something you don’t see or know something that you aren’t aware of. It’s always best to have a second set of eyes on your portfolio to ensure that you’re on the right track. Our goal is to make sure you’re doing everything you can in the most efficient way possible to guarantee you retirement success.

Sure, no one has mistaken us for Bill B. in a sleeveless hoodie, but we like to think we have the same positive impact on the people we work with.

Here’s what we discuss in this episode:

1:00 – The Financial Red Zone

3:17 – The hurry-up offense

5:08 – Victory Formation

7:03 – Good coaches do make a difference

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