It’s a simple fact in the financial world that time is both your ally and your enemy. Our friend and financial planning guru Andrew Westerkom – formerly known on the Austin airwaves as Charlie Hodge – said too many people put off taking the simple steps of saving and making basic investments, thinking that “someday” they’ll be able to put the perfect plan together.
“The cost of waiting is the biggest price you can pay. There is no time like right now,” he said while prepping One Man Brand host Ray Seggern for some financial planning basics to enact now that he’s living in his comfortable but costly “dream home” in Austin’s Crestview neighborhood.
Another simple and undeniable truth: over the last 100-plus index has grown at a reliable rate, a nice 40 degree upward angle that shows how short-term downturns that tend to last less than year are always recovered in the long term. Sitting out that growth and missing out on the benefits of compounded savings and interest is akin to shooting yourself in the foot financially.
For Ray, he advised making contributions to a 529 plan for educational savings that won’t be taxed upon withdrawal. That’s an important consideration for someone with two daughters who still have their college years ahead of them.
Westerkom said he’s grateful that longtime friends like Ray and listeners and local entrepreneurs who came to know him during his radio years are eager to get his advice on how to secure their financial futures by working with him at RBC Wealth Management.
“You build relationships and treat those relationships and friendships with care,” he said. “When you forge a relationship you can switch a career and they’ll stick with you. I’m new to this but with established relationships they take your call. And when you show up with a solution, they’re all ears.”