Collin County Living Well Magazine May/June 2017 | Page 54

Just One Question…
How Will I Know I Will Be All Right?
By John J. Checki Jr., CPA, CFP®, CRC® and J.J. Checki III
A
client asked, “We have
worked hard. We had and
educated our kids, and are
enjoying our grandchildren.
Heck, we have been saving
and investing, since we graduated
from college. Now we would like to
make some plans to see if we can
retire. We have one question: ‘How
can I be sure I won’t run out of money
while we are doing what is important
to me and my family?’ Oh, one more
question, ‘How do we pay our bills?’” we planning on doing when we are not
working? Do we want to travel, buy a
second home in Colorado? What are
our spending habits and needs? What
do we do for fun? And how expensive
is that? Hobbies, do we have hobbies,
or horses, or boats, or motorcycles or
collect cars or art or watches? How is
our family doing? Taxes, do we pay
our taxes on time or do we owe some?
Any legal actions pending or do you
anticipate any developing? And, how
do we make our decisions? terview. The only way to get to know
the possible solution is to know the
problem and the solution that makes
the most sense to you.
The Obstacles The Possible Solution Case One: Modest Lifestyle
and Inheritance Late In Life
How much money do we have? How
long do we plan on living? (No kid-
ding.) Who are we planning on sup-
porting? (Yes, there are some people
approaching retirement and still have
their children and/or grandchildren
living with them.) Health, just how
healthy or sick are we and what is our
family history? Do we still have a mort-
gage, car loans, credit cards with bal-
ances, a Home Equity Loan? What are
52
I don’t know how some folks wing it
when it comes to planning ahead, and
I don’t recommend closing our eyes
and running as fast as we can either.
We have a process, and a series of
questions that help us help you identify
your Values, Goals, Assets, Liabilities,
Hopes, Dreams, Process (how you like
to process), Relationships, Health Is-
sues, Hobbies, Family, Travel, and
whatever else pops up during the in-
COLLIN COUNTY Living Well Magazine | MAY/JUNE 2017
Illustrate the Issue
After years of having people reach
retirement age, whether by choice or
by notice, we now have a process,
methods, and experience (which is
constantly being updated), to help us
give you some illustrations of how this
has worked and could work.
Some people chose their families well
and inherited money. The lucky ones
inherited later in life. They were col-
lege educated, taught school, saved,
and approached retirement age,
and just in time, a trust kicked in and
helped them retire. The key was not the
inheritance. They had modest expecta-
tions and lifestyle, they had worked,