How serious are you when it comes to planning for your financial future?
Blog post
11/13/24THOR Wealth Management recently commissioned a survey of young couples – we will call them emerging wealth couples – and this blog is meant to give you a little bit of insight into the results. If you want the complete results, you can click here and then enter your email address and a full copy will be emailed to you.
One of the subjects we delved into was that of saving and retirement – they kind of go together! What we found can be useful and insightful for those couples who are wondering if they are on track for a secure retirement.
Budgeting
A key question in the survey was whether young families use strict budgets in their daily lives. While the responses to this question were dispersed broadly over the possible answers, the following key insights emerged:
- 63% of those families that use a strict budget feel financially more literate and capable vs. 33% of those families that do not use a strict budget.
- 54% of the families using a strict budget feel they are definitely saving enough for retirement while only 26% of the families not using similar practices feel confident.
- 67% of the families using a strict budget ALWAYS contribute regularly to their retirement accounts vs. 30% that don’t always use a budget.
So, the takeaway here for young couples is not to be intimidated or disdainful of setting up a budget. The positives far outweigh the negatives.
Planning for the Future
A second key aspect of the survey was that emerging wealth families tend to prioritize the future, which goes hand in hand with budgeting. Here are a few facts from the survey:
- 82% of emerging wealth families have a dedicated savings plan for their children’s education.
- 75% of the same couples have a plan in place for wealth transfer to the next generation.
- 86% have life insurance policies in place to protect their financial future.
All three of these bullet points are critical in making sure your future is financially secure. Planning for significant events/expenses such as those mentioned is really the only way most families can handle these topics. “Winging it” will likely not be sufficient. How does your situation stack up?
Conclusion
So, the theme that emerges from the entire survey as well as the points mentioned above is PLANNING!! To emphasize this point even further, the survey also showed that emerging wealth families that are using a wealth advisor are more confident and in better financial shape. Do you have that same confidence and feeling? Here are a few points from the survey:
- 87% of young families using an advisor plan to retire by age 60 versus only 54% who manage their finances independently.
- 42% of the same advisor directed families feel like they are saving enough for retirement against only 20% for those managing their own funds.
- 92% of families who have hired an advisor have a dedicated savings plan for their children’s education while 67% of those who are DIYers have an education plan in place for their children.
With so much at stake (your financial future) and the deluge of increased costs young families are dealing with today including rising prices at the grocery store, skyrocketing housing prices and insurance costs seemingly rising every time your premium comes due, planning is becoming increasingly important. What’s the old saying – “plans are nothing; planning is everything”!
If you have questions and would like to talk with us further, please call us at 513-271-6777. For more THOR reading, click here to go to the Blogs and Market Updates section on our website. Follow us on social media: