Page 39 - The Informed Fed--Hearn (edited 10.29.20)

Philosophy #6: Don’t Just Say It or Think It. DO IT!

Our experience has been that most of us are all in or all out. Which
makes good sense. Most don’t like lukewarm coffee; they like it hot.
Same goes for a soft drink; it needs to be icy cold or we’re not interested
in having one.
Some become obsessed with saving and others don’t give it a second
thought. Effectively utilizing your employee benefits is an exercise in
understanding the details and giving oneself an occasional tune-up, so to
speak. You don’t wash your car every day, but you don’t wait until there
is an inch of dirt collected before you wash it. Spend some extra time in
the beginning working on the details and then it’s easy to keep a refresher
going from time to time. Procrastination is something we all battle, some
more than others. We have found that if you take the time to write down
the tasks you need to accomplish and check them off as you go, it will
go a long way in nipping the old procrastination habit in the bud. How
do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! Same goes with killing
procrastination. Most folks get frustrated when they are saddled with a
laundry list of must do’s and keep putting them off until they get to the
point of no return.
This reminds us of a case we were working on a couple of years ago.
This employee was trying to make a decision on their TSP rollover. We
were able to structure a lifetime income benefit through an annuity that
included an upfront bonus of 5% and a guaranteed roll-up percentage of
8%. We understand that these decisions are difficult ones, but this
employee missed out on the 8% roll-up because they procrastinated.

Philosophy #7: Establish Your Goals and Stay on Track

We have heard it said that the only thing for certain in this life is
death and taxes. That is debatable because one part was left out. Change.

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