Your Financial Plan Is Wrong!

A friend of mine is a pilot and the other day I asked him if he always created a detailed flight plan before every flight. He said, “Yes, of course.”

Then I followed up by asking, “How often does the flight go exactly according to plan?”

“Never!” he said.

It is the same way with financial planning.

In a spreadsheet, we can chart a smooth, straight line from today’s reality to tomorrow’s dream. We plug in assumptions about rates of return, inflation, and taxes – even about how long we think we’ll live. But let’s be honest… the odds of every one of those assumptions being right is precisely zero.

The truth about financial planning is that every plan is wrong – but the need to plan is still essential because it gives us direction. By knowing where we are and where we want to go, we can make course corrections and be a little “less wrong” as we go.

Financial planning isn’t about perfection. It’s about flexibility. It’s not about predicting the future. It’s about preparing for it.

Just like a pilot who hits unexpected weather and adjusts mid-air, we too make adjustments based on what we see, what we know, and what we learn along the way.

If you’re feeling frustrated that things haven’t gone exactly as planned, that’s okay. They weren’t supposed to.

Keep going. Stay flexible. And make adjustments along the way. We’re not aiming for perfection — just progress.