HOW NOT TO GET LOST IN CITIES AND FINANCES

10/1/2012

Have you ever gotten so lost … in a car, on a train, on a walk… that your misadventure became a horror story to retell at parties and family gatherings?

I am notorious for getting lost while driving. It’s partly because I like to operate with intuition and faith. That can work well in my career, as finding the most affordable life insurance takes into account a whole range of things that sometimes must be sensed in order to lead someone to the right product. But I have found that when motoring outside my stomping grounds of rural Nebraska, it is really easy for me to lose all sense of direction and find myself going in circles, often on busy streets, inevitably during rush hour. Not fun!

As my family grows, I am also finding myself in strange big cities more often with (gasp) a car seat in the back. And the car is usually not even my car; it belongs to the daughter who is having her second baby, or the daughter who has coaxed Grandma to travel 1500 miles to come babysit. Strange cars that turn on that alarm if you don’t lock it just so, have mirrors that seem impossible to adjust, or are hard to find in a parking lot. Those unfamiliar cars just make driving in a big city, with a baby in the back seat, so much more stressful!

So you can imagine my relief when my husband sent along his Garmin navigational system to help me navigate the streets of San Francisco on my recent babysitting trip. How my 60 year old husband got so tech savvy, I don’t know. But this purchase he excitedly made with credit card points, literally helped make my trip a joy. I could find the places my one year old granddaughter would enjoy, and knew that I could get her back home. If she started to scream, I could look at the remaining trip time to see if a song would suffice, or if I needed to toss her some crackers. We explored and partook in more of San Francisco than I ever dreamed I would have the nerve to do with a baby in the car.

Above all, having this navigational device in the background relieved my stress. I realize now that I had been more worried than I let on about this trip, even to myself. But just knowing I had the freedom to venture out and do some fun things with with my spirited granddaughter, rather than be stuck in the house, made this trip a wonderful memory that I now rehash with relish every day.

Do financial concerns weigh on you, even when you don’t realize they are there? Do you feel lost about how to make ends meet, or how to prepare for retirement? Are you afraid to enjoy life and live it fully because you really don’t know where you are at, or are afraid you will lose your way if you take a new path? If so, your life does not have to be this way!

Outlook Life has recently partnered with an agency that developed an outstanding “financial navigational system” for people needing financial direction. With some input from you, it allows us to estimate where the “red line” is going to happen in your life, when your retirement income will run out. It also gives us the ability to make some tweaks, showing you how you can extend your income later, by taking baby steps now. We even have a new product that, when plugged into this comprehensive financial program, shows great promise in helping that red line disappear, so that you never have to worry about outliving your retirement income.

None of us have been promised a comfortable life, and at Outlook Life, we see more than our share of clients who seem to have gotten the short end of the stick in so many ways. But for everyone who feels lost because you don’t know what financial direction to go, there are maps and navigational devices that can help keep you from living under that stress. Our professional counselors at www.outlooklife.com are ready to help. Please call 866-866-0242 or email peg@outlooklife.com at any time. We are not pushy and you will find we really do know what we are doing.

Have fun exploring this week!

Peggy Mace, CEO, Outlook Life, Inc