How Solid Is Your Financial Plan

There's a lot of crazy stuff in the news. If you're old enough, you've experienced these crazy times before. The investment markets' economies go up and down. These kinds of things happen. With all the craziness going on in the markets and the world, what news—financial or otherwise—are you concerned about? In this episode of the Finance for Physicians Podcast, Daniel Wrenne talks about how to make sure your financial plan is solid. Topics Discussed: What are I Bonds? Savings bond earns interest based on fixed and inflation rates Financial Plan: What is it? Foundation to going in good direction, making good decisions Why is it so important? Aligns values and goals for living out your ideal life What does it provide you? Clarifies your values, goals, and risks What does it not provide you? Path to getting rich Balancing Act: What’s most important? Think about today vs. tomorrow/priorities Components: Have/write a plan and clarify values to make progress toward goals Values Exercises: Every few years (at minimum) review your values Are your finances organized? Strive for balance, not perfection Awareness: Where’s your money going between saving, spending, and giving? Uncertainty: Be aware by knowing when you’re drifting from values and goals Links: Financial Vitals Check What Should You Do About Inflation Is Money A Tool Or The End Goal 3 Exercises To Help You Clarify Your Values White Coat Investor Dave Ramsey Contact Finance for Physicians Finance for Physicians Full Episode Transcript: Hello, everyone. Hope your day is going well today. We've gotten a lot of questions lately that revolve around a lot of the craziness going on in the markets and just the world in general. There's a lot of news out there that people are fearful of, concerned about, and that sort of thing. Today, I wanted to talk about your financial plan and how that ties into this. I think having a really good financial plan is the key defense against some of this fear. We'll help you navigate a lot of these questions that come up. I wanted to talk about the concept, explain what I'm talking about a little bit more, and go through that today. Hopefully, it'll help you in general, especially when things get a little hectic like they are now. There's a lot of stuff coming up in the news. It's a little bit of a crazy time. If you're old enough, you've seen these crazy times before. The investment markets' economies go up and down, so these kinds of things happen. By day, we're financial planners, we get to talk to people one-on-one, and we hear a lot of the concerns. The questions we often hear are like, well, should I change my investments? How do I deal with this inflation? We talked about that in the last episode. I'll link to that in the show notes. Should I buy into these XYZ investments? Lately, people are asking about I Bonds. Those kinds of questions are normal. They're good questions. Even not in scary markets, there are a lot of questions we get like, how am I doing? I want to make sure my investments are efficient. The challenge we have with questions like these and even other types of que...