One of the great things about the holidays is being able to experience the traditions that you’ve enjoyed through the years all over again. Every family has its set of Thanksgiving Day traditions that they’ve put in place and there are other traditions that we all associate with this holiday.  

In this episode of the podcast, we’ll talk about some of those traditions and let Joel tell us how they apply to financial planning. This one should be a lot of fun and we hope you’re able to learn a little something during the show.

So first up is football. That’s a big part of the day for many Americans, and the Detroit Lions have played on Thanksgiving Day for almost 90 years. But that doesn’t mean they’re good at it. Over the past 20 years, they’ve won just 25% of their games on the holiday. The same can be true for investors. Just because you’ve been saving or investing for many years, that doesn’t mean you’ve been doing it correctly or will always do it the correct way. Goals will change throughout life, especially

It might not be true for your family, but one tradition that happens frequently and might become more common is arguments among family members. Now a lot of this happens over politics and other beliefs so how does this relate to financial planning? Let’s look at estate planning for the answer. Many times, a lack of proper planning can lead to arguments and disagreements between family members when a person passes. It’s important to have a plan in place and we think it’s even a good idea to leave a letter for your family.

Another thing we always see around Thanksgiving is the National Dog Show on television. Believe it or not, these dogs cost their owners on average around $250,000 to get to the point where they’re showing at this top competition, which goes to show you that people prioritize their spending in many different ways. Whatever you choose to allocate your money to, you need to have a plan in place that accounts for this after you have your income planning in place. That way you won’t be left worrying if your dog doesn’t take the top prize.

Of course, you can’t talk about Thanksgiving without expressing gratitude and we work with so many great people that appreciate everything they have and want to give back to family and charities. We’re also so grateful that we can sit down with clients and pick up so much wisdom from them.

Hopefully, we are able to provide you with wisdom as well that help you position yourself for a successful retirement.

0:23 – Thanksgiving update

2:28 – Tradition: Detroit Lions losing on Thanksgiving

5:06 – Tradition: Family members arguing

9:07 – Tradition: Westminster Dog Show  

12:36 – Tradition: Being thankful