cash flow

Money Two Ways: Balances and Flows
photo shows an apple tree in an orchard

There are two ways to think about money. It helps to understand both if you want to be comfortable financially.

Balances. Balances are what we have: the number on our investment statement or bank account, our 401(k) value, or what our Roth IRA is worth. Some think a certain total is required in order to retire, to be financially independent, or to meet some other goal.

Flows. Flows are the income and the outgo, month by month or year after year. These include recurring items like paychecks or Social Security coming in, travel expenses or utilities going out.

While these terms certainly work, one of our favorite analogies is the orchard and the fruit crop. The orchard is like the balance; it’s what we own. The fruit crop is the flow. We like to say that if the fruit crop is big enough to live on, we don’t need to worry what the neighbor would pay us for the orchard.

What does this mean? That once we’re ready for retirement, for instance, we pay more attention to flows than balances.

So if Social Security and a pension more than meet your cash flow needs in retirement—if the flows run a surplus—you might feel comfortable financially even without a fortune in balances. On the other hand, if you spend more than what’s is coming in, you may feel financially stressed no matter what your balances are.

One of the key elements of our work for you is turning balances into flows. We think about the size of our retirement accounts all throughout our working careers. But in planning for retirement, we like to figure out how much cash flow can come out of those retirement balances. In other words, how big of a fruit crop could your orchard deliver?

Clients, if you would like to talk about your balances, flows, orchard, or fruit crop, please email us or call.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which strategies or investments may be suitable for you, consult the appropriate qualified professional prior to making a decision.

Investing involves risk including loss of principal.

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Money Two Ways: Balances and Flows – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text is available at https://www.228Main.com/.

What a Nice Problem to Have!
photo shows a pile of small American cash bills

Money isn’t just money. This is one the unspoken understandings that drives our work at 228 Main.

(Green paper folding money is actually pretty gross, when you think about it. We exchange germ-ridden linen for goods and services? It’s weird.)

For many people we know, money represents work. It’s sweat and time and livelihood.

For some, money means travel, through time and chapters of our lives.

It’s supporting children and parents and ourselves and our communities.

It moves around among us and makes new things.

However, money can be a top stressor for many Americans. We’d like to offer a little reframe: money can be a wonderful problem to have.

In recent months, fresh flows of cash have been springing up in many households as the pandemic kept us less mobile and less active. Others have discovered more flexibility after paying down debt across the last year. And those stimulus checks arrived whether we needed them or not!

We’ve been hearing from some of you about those big financial questions of life, too, as some are wondering about whether a financial legacy takes the form of an inheritance for later or gifts splashed around to children or loved ones now.

Generational wealth is a powerful tool and privilege. It also highlights the tensions we feel around money: what is the utility of money, in our lives? What can it get us and others? What can it do for us and other?

How do you best use your money? There isn’t one answer—and we certainly aren’t here to tell you your answer—but oh my, what a nice problem to have!

Clients, may your wealth bring you only the best of dilemmas. We’ll be here to try to help you along your way.

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Play the audio version of this post below:

What a Nice Problem to Have! – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text is available at https://www.228Main.com/.

If These Walls Could Talk (About Retirement)
photo shows four small model houses in the grass in decreasing size left to right

It’s generally a good thing when more cash is coming in than going out.

When our planned retirement income is greater than our expenses, we have the basis for a solvent retirement. The equation could be stated pretty simply: income > expenses.

The bigger part of our work and time and energy is devoted to striving to build your capital. More capital means more cash flow from your capital. We’re trying to get you access to the income you’ll need and want.

But lifestyle decisions may have a bigger impact on our finances, by way of expenses—that other side of our equation.

I recently decided to buy a different home, selling one I had originally purchased for a life chapter now ended. There is no sacrifice involved: the new place thrills me, although it is less than half the size of the old one. It actually feels like an upgrade to my quality of life.

The new place also features less than half the utilities, taxes, maintenance, insurance, and other expenses. Those add up to more than $1,000 in savings per month for me.

When downsizing helps you wipe out mortgage debt, that might improve your annual cash flow by thousands of dollars.

The effect of this lifestyle change on my retirement picture is amazing. Projected Social Security benefits cover a larger fraction of the budget. So a reduction in my need for income produces a much larger reduction in the capital I need to retire comfortably.

Reducing expenses means our money goes farther. Perhaps it means we can retire at a younger age or live with greater flexibility.

Clients, I still intend to work to age 92. And I’m looking forward to a new chapter where my living arrangements make more sense to me.

We are happy to talk with you about your retirement plans and planning, whenever you are ready. Email us or call.

HOW TO RETIRE: PANDEMIC EDITION
photo shows a small wooden wall clock and a calendar with sticky notes and push pins

What a year! The events of 2020 have reached into every facet of our lives. Many careers have been changed or upended.

People working happily at advanced ages have told us they are leery of workplace exposures, so many are on leave or have retired. Others have been displaced from jobs they would have preferred to keep. And some are helping descendants cope with “distance learning” or a loss of childcare options instead of working at jobs.

One friend retired just before the pandemic, planning an ambitious travel schedule. That isn’t happening. And another, who had planned to retire, now works from home: they figure they might as well keep working, since they cannot travel or engage in activities they had planned for retirement.

No matter what 2020 has thrown at you, the basics of retirement planning have not changed. It is a five-step process. We need to figure out…

  1. how much money it takes to run the life we prefer,
  2. monthly income amounts and timing from Social Security or pensions,
  3. lump sums required for one-time goals or needs, like a bucket list trip or boat,
  4. lump sums available from savings, investments, 401(k) plans, and other wealth, and
  5. the sustainable monthly cash flow that might be withdrawn from net long-term investments, after the lump sums are accounted for (we help people with this step).

There are nuances to each step—options to analyze, lifestyle decision to make. Retirement planning works out best when it is a process over time. We have noticed that people learn more about their objectives and their finances as time goes on, and things change. So your retirement plan adapts and changes over time, too.

If the pandemic has shaken things up for you as it has for others—or if it has just gotten to be that time—call or email us when you are ready to work on your plans and planning. Clients, if changes need to be incorporated in your plans, let’s keep talking.

We’re glad to help.

Dealing with Financial Emergencies, Three Things

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The dramatic and unexpected events of 2020 have tested our adaptability and resourcefulness like no other. There are patterns in those who are navigating these times successfully.

1. Realize there are usually lessons in history to guide us; maintain perspective.
2. Avoid hasty decisions that could have negative long term consequences.
3. Look for the opportunity in the challenge, not vice versa.

By taking time to think about the context, understand our own situation, and get accurate information about whatever the new reality is, we usually can make better decisions.

In personal finance, tapping high interest credit cards to maintain spending in the face of income reductions may be necessary for some items. But any outlays that can be avoided, or are discretionary, should be deferred, not financed. The average credit card interest rate remains in double-digit territory, a huge drain.

In your investments, long term holdings should not be disrupted by short term considerations. When the situation changes in ways that everyone knows, the new circumstances are likely to be priced into the market already. So there may not be an edge in taking action. If you do not need the funds in hand for pressing purposes, you might leave them be.

The stress of the situation may be alleviated by working on things within your control. Practicing healthier habits with regard to exercise, nutrition, sleep, and alcohol can also reduce stress, while giving you a sense of conrol.

Finally, contact with other people is a necessity for social beings such as humans. It may be especially useful as you talk things out or need someone to bounce ideas off of. We would be happy to visit with you by phone or email, Zoom video or in person – about whatever is on your mind. Email us or call.