The Ability to Pivot with Confidence

Imagine spending an intentional number of years planning and saving for retirement, only to retire in January or February of 2020, just before the COVID pandemic became a reality. Or imagine planning retirement trips with your family and/or best friends, only to learn you need to use that trip insurance because medical treatments will render someone incapable of traveling. Imagine receiving a “voluntary retirement offer” so good it doesn’t make sense to turn down, but you are not quite at Medicare eligibility age. Imagine being offered a generous sum of money to sell the business you started out of the trunk of your car—and from which you never quite saw yourself walking away.

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? Do you know what they all have in common?

An unexpected pivot is needed.

Each scenario also elicits a wide range of emotions—fear, concern, skepticism, uncertainty, cautious optimism, or excitement—all of which come alongside the unexpected. The one emotion we do not want our clients to experience during this pivot is financial fear.

The ability to pivot with confidence is what we aim to provide. In our office, we talk a lot about planning, and each plan is tailored to your unique goals and aspirations in life. If, or when, you are faced with the unexpected, we will sit down and listen. We will ask whether this changes your core values or simply changes the dollars and/or goals themselves. It is OK if it changes either or both, because we will then tailor the plan with these new values and goals in mind.

This June, I celebrate 20 years since I first began meeting with individuals and families to craft financial plans. This came after a substantial pivot in my own life where I pivoted from the world of academia – working on my PhD studying the impact of financial education for young adults – to a career as a financial advisor. My graduate degree in financial planning gave me the confidence to move from the university classroom to the boardroom table across from families with their own financial questions.

You have shared with me your financial lives as well as your personal lives. We have laughed together and, at times, shared tears. You have shared the scary, unexpected moments and the exciting surprises. Together, we have crafted plans to help you stay the course or pivot when needed.

We write these articles and share these anecdotes not to sound clever, but to offer glimpses into the lives we have had the privilege to be part of. We share these stories so you do not feel alone if your plan is not following the perfectly straight line you had hoped. We also share them so that, if you find yourself in need of a pivot, you know you have a trusted partner to listen and guide you through financial changes with confidence.

Thank you for sharing your lives with us. We look forward to many more years of planning, celebrating, cherishing, and yes, pivoting with you.

Amanda Howerton, CFP® is a Senior Advisor with Rather & Kittrell.  She is available at [email protected].