Can You See The Abundance?

My dad loves nature and began his career as a forester, so I see trees differently than most people.  The trees are telling me now about the abundance coming in our immediate future.  Can you see the promise of future prosperity around you?

 As a kid, any family drive in the car or stroll around the back yard involved a conversation about trees.  What kind of trees were growing where and why, what each type of tree was good for, and how to identify them both up close and at a distance.  My mind had been so well-trained for it I actually took dendrology as my required science class in college.  So when I drive past a section of woods, I don't just see the forest, I see the trees.

This time of year in Atlanta the fruit trees are all in bloom.  There are wild cherry trees in the woods here, as well as some wild pear trees that have escaped from more domesticated ancestors.  There are burned out homesteads where the only evidence of their civilized past are daffodils along the path from the street to the house where the sidewalk used to be and the gnarled remains of an old fruit tree in the front yard.  South of here are the fields of peach trees.  I haven't driven past, but I'd bet they are blooming as well.

If you know what you are looking for, those flowers are signals.  “Come back this summer,” they say, “and there will be fruit here.”  How is it that people will go hungry this summer as fruit rots on the ground around these trees?  Because if you don't know what you are looking at, you literally will not see it.  You may not notice the flowering tree at all.  If you do, you may not tie that to the idea of summer fruit.  You see the same thing I do, but your brain misses what it means, because your brain isn't looking for fruit outside.  If you want fruit, your brain takes you to the grocery store.

At our house in Smyrna, there was an apple tree in the front yard.  Every year we had our own mini apple festival, baking apple pies and apple tarts, but it was always more than we could take advantage of.  In the years we lived there, I only had one family knock on the door to ask if we minded if they picked apples.  Of course we were happy to share, as we had more than we needed.

Just as there are flowering fruit trees around you that you aren't seeing, there are business and financial opportunities around each of us that we aren't seeing.  Become a student of business, as I have been a student of trees, and you will begin to see the abundance all around you that today you cannot see.

Client Case Study:  Stuck in a Loop

Most of us have had no formal financial education, and talking about finances with peers is taboo.  So how do we decide how to manage our money?  Most of us follow the patterns our parents modeled for us.

 My client Jamie was in a pattern in her business and personal life of alternating between feast and famine.  During our conversation she realized this was recreating the pattern she’d experienced in childhood, where sometimes her family had money and sometimes they did not. 

Jamie and I are working together on strategies to try to stabilize her business income by putting some clients on retainer, outsourcing the collections process, and taking on smaller, less glamorous projects in between the big gigs.  We are stabilizing her personal income by taking smaller, even amounts out of the business each month and by building up a personal emergency fund.

A good referral for me is your friend, who sometimes picks up the check for the whole table and sometimes complains about being too broke to go out at all.  She wants to talk to me about leveling out variable business income and stabilizing her personal finances as well. 

If you have a friend who’s sometimes broke and sometimes a baller, connect us so we can schedule a free twenty minute call.

*Client name and some details have been changed to protect privacy.

Client Case Study:  Wills

While financial coaching can be a great help for those getting out of debt and establishing a small business, those folks who believe they are doing everything right can benefit as well.

 My client Tom was confident he was doing everything correctly.  He's a 401(k) millionaire who maxes out his retirement account, and he doesn’t believe in consumer debt.  He only agreed to give financial coaching a try to see if there were any blind spots in his approach.

During his session he realized he still had not taken care of his will, which is important since he has two small kids.  Having a will will allow him and his wife to select who will raise their children should anything happen to them rather than leaving this decision to the state.  Tom knows that no one knows his family as well as he does, and he and his wife definitely wanted to make this decision themselves.

I recommended he speak to some friends he has who are lawyers in his local area for recommendations to an estate attorney who could help him get all of his documents in place, such as a will, a trust, power of attorney, and health care documents.  While no one really wants to think about the possibility of an untimely death, Tom agreed if he really wanted to think of himself as the guy who has it all under control he needed to step up and take care of this area as well.

A good referral for me is your coworker, who may think he’s got it all under control.  He wants to talk to me to get a checkup and make sure that’s correct.  Connect us so we can schedule a free twenty minute call.

*Client name and some details have been changed to protect privacy.

Client Case Study:  You Can't Hide from the IRS

For seven years Al Capone was a crime boss in Prohibition-Era Chicago.  But in 1931, Capone was charged with income tax evasion. The moral of the story is that you might be able to evade law enforcement, but you can’t escape the IRS.

My client Anna is a full time student and part time hairdresser.  Two years ago she received a 1099 from her employer, but she wasn’t sure what to do with it, so she did nothing.  Anna didn’t understand that one copy of the 1099 goes to the employee, and a duplicate goes to the IRS.  So they know exactly how much she made that year, and they have a pretty good idea how much of that money is theirs. 

Anna had been getting letters from the IRS, but was unsure of what to do with them, so had been storing them unopened in the glove box of her car.  I convinced her to take them to a CPA so she could see what she owes and work out a payment plan.  If you have a client who is ignoring their financial issues, refer them to me for a free initial call.

*Client name and some details have been changed to protect privacy.

Client Case Study:  Student Loans vs. Emergency Fund

When is paying off debt as fast as possible NOT a great idea?  When you have no emergency fund and are facing a layoff.

 My client Sam* was torn between paying extra off his student loans OR saving that money in case of an emergency.  He was leaning toward  making the big student loan payment, since he had a 401(k) he could tap into for cash if he needed extra funds. 

We discussed the fact that every time he takes cash from his 401(k), he’s increasing his tax bill, losing 10% as a penalty, and reducing his ability to retire one day.  As we talked he realized that if he paid extra money toward his student loans and then got laid off, he then wouldn’t be able to pay the minimum payments if he didn't have cash on hand.  But if he saved that money instead, he’d be able to use that cash to make the payments in case of a layoff. 

And of course there's nothing lost – if Sam isn't affected by the layoff after all, he can make the big payment toward his student loans then.  It would mean a tiny bit more in interest, but that's a small price to pay to know he's covered in case he's affected by the layoff.

If you have a friend who’s trying to decide where to focus financially and needs some help deciding, connect us so we can schedule a free twenty minute call.

*Client name and some details have been changed to protect privacy.