There are lots of golfers that play the game and have a wonderful time and never keep score. This is usually a sign of someone who is just starting out learning how to play. We all remember how much fun it was just to be on the course and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. Everything changed when we made our first real par. Now we had a goal, we wanted to do it again, again and again. No longer were we content to simply hit the ball, we wanted to make a par. We started keeping score: Boggie, boggie, double boggie, par. Ah, what a wonderful game.
The scorecard became a method for us to track our improvement. Unlike the pros who circle every birdie on their card, we would proudly circle a par. At the end of the round, we would boast of the number of pars, paying no mind to any of the other numbers on the card.
Some golfers keep score but the score on the card does not represent their true golf prowess. When they hit a bad shot they simply pull another ball out of their pocket and play as if the first shot never happened. We call them “mulligans.” For some strange reason, we all do better on our second try at the same shot. I have heard it called “same player, more experience.” It is almost impossible to know what kind of golfer you are if you do not keep score and if you do not count every shot.
The same is true financially. It is easy to think we are doing much better than we are if we are not really keeping score. Do you know where you are financially? Do you have an idea of where you should be? Do you know what you need to be doing to get you where you want to be by retirement? I have a tool called Retirement: Ready or Not which will allow me to give you some insight into your financial scorecard, so to speak. In less than 10 minutes either online or in person, I can help you take a look at your present financial picture.
You will see where you are today, where you need to be by the time you retire to live like you are living today, what rate of return you will have to earn for your current plan to work doing nothing more than you are doing today, how much you will be able to spend and live like you are living today and have your money last until your life expectancy.
Give us a call and let’s take a look at your scorecard to see if there are areas we can help you improve your financial score without impacting your present lifestyle.