by Bruce W. Helmer, RPC (President)

If you don’t have young kids around, you may have forgotten about Eeyore, the donkey in the wonderful Winnie the Pooh books. Eeyore walks around with a cloud over his head; he’s always pessimistic. Eeyore’s philosophy of life is, “If something can go wrong, it probably will.” The world is full of needs planners, and their alma mater was the Eeyore school of financial planning.

Here’s how needs planning works: You decide that it is time to plan for your retirement. You make $50,000 a year working and, following traditional financial thinking, decide that you need 70 percent of that income for retirement. Therefore, instead of $50,000, you decide you will need $35,000. Now that’s a “Gloomy Place,” as Eeyore’s meadow is called.

At retirement your cost of living may be lower than ever, but isn’t that the time to enjoy the fruits of your years of labor? How much fun can you have on $35,000 per year? My point is this: You may need only $35,000 per year, but how much do you want? Your financial plan should be designed to help you get what you want, not just what you need.